Robert Martin (singer)

Robert Martin (born June 1948), also known as Bobby Martin, is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is mainly known for collaborating in the 1980s with the musician Frank Zappa, although he is also a prestigious session musician, composer of music for cinema, theater, television and advertising, musical director and music teacher. He also directs music production company Think Method Production with Stephen Boyd.^[1] He recognizes as musical influences Ray Charles, Stravinsky, Coltrane, Rachmaninoff, Mose Allison, Cannonball Adderly, David "Fathead" Newman, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa and Etta James.

Biography

Chilhood

He was born in Philadelphia in June 1948, the son of opera singers. His grandmother worked at RCA in Trenton, New Jersey, thereby accessing a number of records. Growing up in the 1950s in this city, and with a deeply musical atmosphere at home, he was exposed to a great variety of music.^[1] "The first piece of music I remember hearing, identifying and asking for was" The Firebird "by Stravinsky. I used to ask my mom to play that piece – I loved it. " . Apart from the classic background of his parents, he also listened to other kinds of music. His father was a member of a Big Band, he saw Dick Clark's American Bandstand show, he listened to the great jazz that was played in the city's clubs, the Philadelphia Orchestra...^[2] The presence of avant-garde rock and Philadelphia soul in his discography are a sample of the wide range of records among which he moves.^[3]

He began his interest in music very early. At home his parents had a piano Lester Spinet and as soon as he had enough height to reach the keys, learned to play by ear. "I recognized chord progressions and melodies, and I could reproduce them after I had listened to them." He started taking piano lessons at age 8, although he already knew how to play and compose blues. After learning to read music he left the lessons, because "I preferred what I was able to learn on my own." He is completely self-taught with his voice and with almost all the instruments, especially the wind of metal and wood, except the french horn, which he perfected at the Curtis Institute of Music.^[4] It is not surprising that, although he was an outstanding student at the High School, a member of the National Honor Society, and a great sportsman (wrestling champion and baseball player tempted by professional teams), he preferred to pursue music.

He learned to play french horn at school casually. When he was in third grade he did a test at school to choose children for the band. Martin was given a french horn and passed the test. However he was not happy because he was passionate about the blues and wanted to play the saxophone since he listened to Ray Charles saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman. Finally at age 13 he convinced the head of the band to let him play the saxophone. After a few weeks he had mastered the instrument enough to become the main tenor of the band.^[2]

Later entered the Curtis Institute of Music to carry out classic studies intensive.^[3] In Curtis, he had Mason Jones, the principal french horn orchestra interpreter of the Philadelphia Orchestra, as teacher, as well as performing the classical repertoire under the baton of Eugene Ormandy, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel and Seiji Ozawa.^[2][5]

Career

He started his professional career in his own city, before heading to the west coast. He collaborates as a session musician in recording studios at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. Between 1969 and 1974, Martin interpreted the french horn in a variety of successes of that time. At this stage he collaborated on many issues that would help the formation of the so-called Philadelphia soul. We can hear him in many classic Philadelphia sound hits like "Me and Mrs. Jones", "Back Stabbers", "Love Train", "If You Don't Know Me by Now", and others. We can found him on topics produced by the successful team of producers and songwriters Gamble and Huff of Philadelphia International Records. There he also collaborated with his namesake Bobby Martin, arranger, producer and composer of the label.^[3]

Regarding his role as singer, Etta James was his great mentor, encouraging him to sing with her in all live performances over a period of fifteen years.^[5]

In the 1970s he was part of the group from Woodstock, Orleans.

In 1981 Dave Robb, Martin's partner in the Orleans group in the 1970s, told him that Frank Zappa needed a musician for the 1981 tour. He was scheduled to audition for the next day. In it, Zappa put him to the test with the keyboards, tenor saxophone and horn. He asked him to transpose parts of keyboard to horn or saxophone, as well as follow polyrhythms and metric modulations. But what really decided to incorporate him into the band was his vocal ability, especially being able to sing the melody one octave higher than expected, in a natural voice. Since then he has performed on all Frank's tours and albums until the last Zappa's tour in 1988.

Between trips with Zappa, he obtained the position of musical director of Cybill Shepherd and Bette Midler, and acted with Paul McCartney, Michael McDonald, Stevie Nicks, Boz Scaggs, Etta James (on tour with The Rolling Stones), Patti LaBelle, Bonnie Raitt , Kenny Loggins, and many others.

Since 1986, Robert owns and operates his own studio and has diversified into programming, engineering, mixing, mastering and producing music for advertising, film and television.

En 1986 toured with Michael McDonald.

Martin is a member of the band Banned From Utopia, an homage of Frank Zappa former musicians dedicated to interpret his music. It's formed by:

• Robert (Bobby) Martin -Frank Zappa 1981–88 – vocals, keyboards, sax, french horn
• Ray White – Frank Zappa 1978–84 – vocals, guitar.
• Tom Fowler – Frank Zappa 1973–75, 1978 – bass.
• Albert Wing – Frank Zappa 1988 – tenor saxophone and soprano.
• Robbie Mangano – guitar, vocals.
• Joel Taylor – drums.

In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, Robert Martin was a special guest at the Zappanale Festival in Bad Doberan, Germany. In 2010, Robert performed with Collectif LeBocal and The Central Scrutinizer Band.^[6]

He composed the music for Cybill, television program on CBS awarded the Emmy and the Golden Globe. He also composed for Baywatch, Martial Law and three seasons of the serie's Lifetime Television program Intimate Portrait. Regarding this musical aspect has stated: "pay the bills".

Discography

• Discografía en allmusic:
• Discografía en United Mutations:

References

External links

• Official website