Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bobby Martin was born on May 15, 1903.  He played trumpet as a child with June Clark and Sonny Greer. By 1925 at the age of 22 he was in New York City playing and recording with Sam Wooding, as well as touring Europe through 1931.

From 1932 to 1936 he played abroad with Willie Lewis, and formed his own band after returning home in 1937. His quartet held an extended gig at the Palace in Greenwich VillageYork with pianist Richard Edwards, drummer Ural Dean, and guitarist Samuel Steede. This era of Martin’s life, as is much of his life, is poorly documented, however, because during a tour of The Netherlands at the Mephisto Club in Rotterdam, his entire book of arrangements was burned in a club fire.

Bobby continued to tour Europe into the early Forties, then held residencies in New York City and New Jersey. He opened his own club briefly in the decade as well.

He married vocalist Thelma Minor, but then left the music industry in 1944. Not much is known of him after this time, however, he never recorded as a leader and  transitioned in March 1983.

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