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Bobby Few

Jazz pianist Bobby Few was raised in a neighborhood in the Shaker Heights section of Cleveland, Ohio, along with the influential free jazz player Albert Ayler. Growing up, they listened to Lester Young and Charlie Parker together. Both started gigging while still in high school, and went on to record together as they moved further into the musical exploration and passion of free jazz. Few performs on Ayler's Music is the Healing Force of the Universe, and a few years later played with Archie Shepp. He has also performed with bassist Alan Silva, drummer Sunny Murray, Steve Lacy and Noah Howard, among others.

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Radio & Podcasts

A Tribute to Bobby Few

Read "A Tribute to Bobby Few" reviewed by Bob Osborne


A tribute to pianist, composer and improviser Bobby Few, who died in January 2021 aged 85. Whilst not well known outside of the jazz world he has a CV which many would envy working with some of the leading names in the business. There is music featured from across his career and impressive discography. Playlist Bobby Few “Let It Rain" from Let It Rain (Self Released) 00:00 Undivided “Moves Between Clouds" from Moves Between Clouds (Multikulti Project) 05:35 ...

147
Album Review

Bobby Few: Lights and Shadows

Read "Lights and Shadows" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Bobby Few has had an impressive career as a pianist. Though he studied classical music, he weaned himself from that when he first heard jazz. His playing now rides several styles that open in a swell of harmonic inventions and rich chord structures. His ability has seen him in the comfort zone with Steve Lacy, Archie Shepp, Alan Silva, Noah Howard and, more recently, Avram Fefer.

Few goes solo here with six of his own compositions and one ...

303
Album Review

Bobby Few: Lights and Shadows

Read "Lights and Shadows" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Count pianist Bobby Few as one of those jazz artists deserving more recognition. Chalk his low profile up to expatriation--he's lived in Paris since 1969. Unless you've followed the career of Albert Ayler--Few played on Ayler's Music is the Healing Force of the Universe (Impulse!, 1969)--or soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy (Few was the pianist in Lacy's sextet from 1982-92), chances are that this distinctive stylist hasn't cascaded, with his lush and tumultuous approach, onto your listening radar.Though appearing ...

257
Album Review

Bobby Few / Avram Fefer: Sanctuary

Read "Sanctuary" reviewed by Marc Medwin


The duo of pianist Bobby Few and saxophonist Avram Fefer has been well documented for several years now, but this first quartet date is a cut above the rest in terms of recorded sound. Even given CIMP's high standards, the set is wonderfully transparent and gritty by turn, at just the right moments, often within the same piece of music. The recording seems to be a bit less dry than others on the label, the added bit of room atmosphere ...

198
Album Review

Bobby Few & Avram Fefer Quartet: Sanctuary

Read "Sanctuary" reviewed by Derek Taylor


A misplaced piano, a dropped soprano and an aurally-intrusive air-conditioning system all conspired to derail this CIMP session by the jointly-led Few-Fefer Quartet. Fortunately, cool heads prevailed and the music persevered. The co-leaders' associations go back to the mid-1990s in Paris, though audio evidence of their collaborations proved slow in surfacing. Boxholder stepped into fill the gap, releasing a small cache of albums, but this date marks the duo's debut with conventional jazz quartet instrumentation. Coincidentally, it's also Fefer's first ...

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Profile

Bobby Few is Coming Through

Read "Bobby Few is Coming Through" reviewed by Clifford Allen


The course of an expatriate artist can go in several different directions; there are those for whom the experience of living and working in another country provides a deeper understanding of 'home' and 'place,' and for whom a return is necessary, and there are those who find that these things can be found in self and experience, wherever one is. For every group like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, which found a return necessary, there are those like Steve Lacy, ...

161
Album Review

Bobby Few, Avram Fefer, Wilber Morris: Few and Far Between

Read "Few and Far Between" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Our loss is Europe's gain--an old story in jazz. But sometimes we get lucky, and they come back home and give us some music.Pianist Bobby Few has made Paris his home for thirty years, though he has been heard over here on Steve Lacy Sextet recordings. Now Boxholder Records--who have, over the past couple of yers put out a string of very high quality live CDs, is offering up Few in a live trio setting, with saxophonist Avram ...

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226

Recording

Kali. Z. Fasteau new CD: "Animal Grace" with Louis Moholo, Bobby Few & others on Flying Note (FNCD 9014)

Kali. Z. Fasteau new CD: "Animal Grace" with Louis Moholo, Bobby Few & others on Flying Note (FNCD 9014)

Source: Kali. Z. Fasteau

“Live in Harlem" with Louis Moholo-Moholo & “Live in the Alps" with Bobby Few, Wayne Dockery & Steve McCraven FLYING NOTE Records proudly announces the release of Animal Grace (FNCD 9014). “Live in Harlem" was recorded at Big Apple Jazzspace on a warm Sunday, June 17, 2007. The synchronicity of Kali's duets with the great South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo is amazing. The last time they had played together was in the 70s with Don Rafael Garrett and others in ...

122

Performance / Tour

Bobby Few / Avram Fefer US Tour Dates - May 26 - June 9

Bobby Few / Avram Fefer US  Tour Dates - May 26 - June 9

Source: All About Jazz

Bobby Few and Avram Fefer will perform in the following cities, behind two brand-new duo CDs on the Boxholder label: “Kindred Spirits" and “Heavenly Places." Thursday May 26 NYC Merkin Hall (collaborative concert with Tom Chiu) www.heartheworld.org Friday May 27 MAPLEWOOD, NJ - Burgdorff Cultural Center www.undergroundconcerts.com Saturday May 28 NYC Jazz Gallery www.jazzgallery.org Tuesday May 31 CLEVELAND, OH NightTown www.nighttowncleveland.com Wednesday June 1 CHICAGO, IL Cassidy Theater, 78 East Washington Street FREE! 7pm presented by Chicago Cultural Center http://egov.cityofchicago.org/ ...

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Recording

Bobby Few Releases "Few And Far Between: Live At Tonic" on Boxholder Records

Bobby Few Releases "Few And Far Between: Live At Tonic" on Boxholder Records

Source: All About Jazz

On a June afternoon a few days after his triumphant solo piano performance at the fifth annual Vision Festival in New York City (just released by Boxholder Records as Continental Jazz Express), Bobby Few met with saxophonist Avram Fefer and bassist Wilber Morris to perform and record this trio performance at Tonic. In his four-star review of Few and Far Between in the June issue of Down Beat, James Hale writes:

“Bolstered by the sturdy bass of Wilber Morris, saxophonist ...

"Sometimes lightning strikes twice. As proof, legendary expatriate Bobby Few has teamed with fellow sound explorer Avram Fefer for two fresh releases of very different character, and with near-perfect results."

Chad Kushins (AllAboutJazz.com)

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Lights And Shadows

Boxholder Records
2007

buy

Sanctuary

CIMP Records
2007

buy

Sanctuary

CIMP Records
2006

buy

Bobby Few & Avram...

Unknown label
2006

buy

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