Born: December 27, 1960 Primary Instrument: Saxophone
Saxophonist, Multi-Instrumentalist and Composer. Born Robert David Crail II on December 27, 1960 in Long Beach, California.
Crail's received his early musical training while attending middle and high school in Long Beach. Many of his classmates went on to become professional session, jazz and symphony players. During his formative years played in a number of groups ranging from rock and jazz to punk. Early bands included: Maxilla, Cathedral of Tears and Tender Fury.
After high school Crail attended California State University, Northridge eventually earning a B.A. degree in Music Education. Crail is the founder of The Watts Learning Center after school Drumline group in South Los Angeles.
Crail relocated to Los Angeles in the early 1980’s and has since performed and recorded with a wide range of artists.
Crail has performed and recorded with: Ice Cube, Ziggy Marley Tone Loc, The Beach Boys, America, Stanley Clarke, Patrice Rushin, George Duke, Tom Scott, David Sanborn, Slim Jim Phantom, Wanda Jackson, Top Jimmy, Juke Logan, Big Jay McNeely, Joe Houston, L.Shankar, Dave Wakeling, The English Beat, The Specials, When In Rome and many others.
Crail has also worked with a number of actors who play music. Most Notably: Harry Dean Stanton, Bob Saget, John Gries, Garrett Morris and John Stamos.
As a composer and arranger Crail has written for television, film, live performance and albums. His work covers a wide range of musical genres.
Film credits include: “In Your Eye” (short) directed by Alex Proyas, “Godsquad” (short) directed by J.F. Kinyon and “Martini Master” (short) directed by Andrew MacBeth.
Television credits include: ADT, Sanwa Bank, MTV Networks, AT&T, WeTV, Xenon Entertainment and PBS’ “Roadtrip Nation.”
Crail wrote and played the alto sax solo on the underground hip-hop classic “Mista Dobalina” by Del, The Funky Homosapien.
Crail leads his own quartet performing on saxes and flute playing straight ahead jazz and be-bop.
He also writes, produces, and performs original music in the style of early rock n’roll with “Bobby and The Blackouts.”
In 2012 Crail began performing and teaching in Mainland China.
Bob Crail is the father of several grown children. He and his wife Marianna split their time between Santa Monica, California and Tianjin, China.
