Bob Brough

2022 TMA149 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

By Alex Dean

What has always been exceptional to me was Bob’s sound. I remember hearing him play with “Time Warp” at York University, possibly in the 80’s, and was taken with how Bob’s sound would fill the room. I knew we both had studied with Classical Saxophonist Paul Brodie, as many players did at the time (Bob had also played in Paul Brodie’s revered classical saxophone quartet) but I had never heard a sound as striking. I also think it was then that Bob got his nickname “The Senator” as a reference to Bob’s occasionally long-winded explanations for the sounds he wanted and how his explanations sounded a little like speeches from the Senate floor. It was a long-standing joke that if Bob wasn’t available during an election, it was because he had been called back to Ottawa!

As I started to work more on the scene in Toronto, Bob would often be on the same gigs. When I played Alto, Bob would be on Tenor and vice versa. Occasionally Bob would play Baritone, always with a great sound and creating wonderful melodies. I remember playing next to Bob in Jim Galway’s “Wee Big Band” at the Moss Park Armoury on Sunday mornings. I’ll never forget listening to Bob play Duke Ellington’s Star-Crossed Lovers on Alto, I think it was the only thing that could get me out of bed on a Sunday morning! I also played next to Bob in a jump blues band called “The Jive Bombers” over the last 30 years where he could play the blues like no one else.

Through the 80’s, 90’s, and into 2000’s Bob was gigging and contributing to many influential recordings. He always brought a joyful capacity to both commercial and jazz gigs. Bob’s playing has a quality that transcends harmony or what would be considered a learned approach, he knows music, he understands music, but when he plays it’s like the first time, and it comes straight from the heart.

It’s wonderful that Bob is acknowledged for who he is, a talented Artist (and I hope he’s okay with the use of that word) and a distinguished member of our musical community.