1. Robert Hutcherson was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player.
24 Facts About Bobby Hutcherson
1. 2.
Bobby Hutcherson influenced younger vibraphonists including Steve Nelson, Joe Locke, and Stefon Harris.
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Bobby Hutcherson was born in Los Angeles, California, to Eli, a master mason, and Esther, a hairdresser.
4.
Bobby Hutcherson was exposed to jazz by his brother Teddy, who listened to Art Blakey records in the family home with his friend Dexter Gordon.
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Bobby Hutcherson's older sister Peggy was a singer in Gerald Wilson's orchestra.
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Bobby Hutcherson went on to record on a number of Gerald Wilson's Pacific Jazz recordings as well as play in his orchestra.
7.
Bobby Hutcherson was inspired to take up the vibraphone when at about the age of 12 he heard Milt Jackson with Thelonious Monk, Percy Heath, Kenny Clarke and Miles Davis playing "Bemsha Swing" on the Miles Davis All Stars, Volume 2 album.
8.
Still in his teens, Bobby Hutcherson began his professional career in the late 1950s working with tenor saxophonist Curtis Amy and trumpeter Carmell Jones, as well as with Dolphy and tenor saxophonist Charles Lloyd at Pandora's Box on the Sunset Strip.
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Bobby Hutcherson won the "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition" award in the 1964 Down Beat readers' poll, and Blue Note released Bobby Hutcherson's Dialogue in 1965.
10.
Bobby Hutcherson lost his cabaret card and taxi driver's license in 1967 after he and Joe Chambers were arrested for marijuana possession in Central Park, so he moved back to California, but continued to record for Blue Note.
11.
Bobby Hutcherson's recorded output slowed somewhat during the past few decades, although he did release albums for Atlantic and Verve in the 1990s, three for the Swiss-based label Kind of Blue in the 21st century, and continued to tour.
12.
In 2004, Bobby Hutcherson became an inaugural member of the SFJAZZ Collective, featuring Joshua Redman, Miguel Zenon, Nicholas Payton, Renee Rosnes, and Eric Harland, among others.
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Bobby Hutcherson toured with them for four years, and made an appearance at the SFJAZZ Center's grand opening in 2013.
14.
Bobby Hutcherson has a son, Barry, from his first marriage to Beth Buford.
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Bobby Hutcherson wrote the waltz "Little B's Poem" for Barry in 1962.
16.
Bobby Hutcherson attended an African Methodist Episcopal Church as a youth and converted to Catholicism later in life.
17.
Bobby Hutcherson died from the condition in Montara, California, on August 15,2016.
18.
Bobby Hutcherson did this to perfection in the bands of Dolphy, McLean, and Archie Shepp.
19.
Bobby Hutcherson brought a fire and a passion back into the instrument that had been lost since the prime of Lionel Hampton.
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Bobby Hutcherson was firmly rooted in the bebop tradition, but constantly experimenting and expanding upon that tradition.
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Bobby Hutcherson has an innocence that's childlike in a way.
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Bobby Hutcherson contributed mightily to several of the key sessions that document these developments.
23.
Bobby Hutcherson connects to the source of what music is about.
24.
Milt Jackson was the guy, but Bobby Hutcherson took it to the next level.