Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Robert James Neloms was born on March 2, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan and received piano lessons from the age of five and as a youth played in Country & Western Bands. In 1959 he received a scholarship from Downbeat to attend the Berklee College of Music.

From 1961 to 1963 he worked as a studio musician for Motown and afterwards he was active on the West Coast, founding the jazz rock band The Flower in San Francisco, California and also performed with Sly Stone. In 1969 and 1970 Bob returned to continue his studies at Berklee College, then continued to work in the Boston area.

1973 saw his move to New York City and performing with Roy Haynes, Pharoah Sanders, Pepper Adams and Clifford Jordan. Leading his own bands he enlisted Ricky Ford, Eddie Henderson and Bob Mover. In 1977 he became a member of the Charles Mingus band, with whom he went on tour and on whose last albums he participated, like Cumbia & Jazz Fusion and then became a member of the Mingus Dynasty recording of their first album. He worked with Danny Richmond, Billy Bang, Ahmed Abdullah , Allen Lowe, James Newton , Abbey Lincoln , Buddy Tate, and Hamiet Bluiett on the Soul Note label.

In 1981 he recorded his solo album for India Navigation titled Pretty Music. From the mid-1980s onwards he was mainly active as a music teacher, but occasionally performed as a soloist or in a duo with the bassist Vishnu Wood in New York. Currently residing in Birmingham, Michigan, pianist Bob Neloms continues to be active in modern jazz and music education.

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