Bio:
Bob Reynolds is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and Grammy Award-winning member of the band Snarky Puppy. Widely known for his work with both Snarky and John Mayer, he is a prolific composer and recording artist with 9 top-selling solo albums to his credit. The New York Times called him “a self-assured saxophonist and an unassuming yet effective composer.” An independent recording artist, Bob’s albums showcase his melodic improvisational style, tuneful songwriting, and, as the LA Times put it: “hip-swiveling” grooves. His 2013 album Somewhere In Between, a seamless blend of jazz, blues, rock and pop, reached #1 on iTunes’ jazz charts, and in 2017 he released the albums Guitar Band and Hindsight, both of which landed in the top ten on the Billboard Jazz charts. His latest release, Quartet, features his working band and debuted at #3 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart. They recently completed their first tour to sold-out audiences across Europe.
Born in Morristown, New Jersey in 1977, Reynolds grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, where he started playing saxophone at age 13. Although he listened to a range of music as a kid, by his late teens he was a dedicated jazz student. After high school he honed his skills at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where he mentored with George Garzone, Hal Crook, and others. Bob is a passionate educator and in-demand clinician. He co-founded an annual retreat for saxophonists and, through his Virtual Studio, he helps musicians become confident improvisers. Bob lives in Los Angeles and shares insights on balancing a music career with raising a family through his popular YouTube vlog.
It's a rare saxophonist who's as comfortable in an arena full of rock fans as in an intimate jazz club. Bob Reynolds is a rare saxophonist.
Reynolds spent years touring the world in John Mayer's band, winning new fans with his solos on crowd favorites like “Vultures,” “Wheel,” “Gravity” and “Covered in Rain.” Watch his performances on YouTube and you'll see hundreds of accolades from admiring fans—not a normal occurrence for a saxophonist in a rock band. Reynolds' partnership with Mayer reminds many of Sting's collaborations with Branford Marsalis in the 1980s. Both he and Mayer are big fans of that band.
Reynolds has recorded and performed with everyone from Usher, Josh Groban and the Jonas Brothers to Amos Lee, Willie Nelson and Nellie McKay. He calls himself a "melody architect" and refuses to be boxed in by conventional genre labels. A child of the 80s, Reynolds' music is a blend of his early influences (Sting, Bruce Hornsby, Tears for Fears), R&B and soul (Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder), and jazz (Stan Getz, Joshua Redman, Chris Potter).
At the same time as he's been touring the world to packed stadiums and playing with A-list superstars, Reynolds has stayed true to his jazz roots with performances in clubs across the U.S. Three of his five albums were recorded live with a who's who of the jazz and rock worlds, including keyboardist Aaron Goldberg, guitarist Mike Moreno, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Keith Carlock, who's toured with both Sting and Mayer. Reynolds' records reflect his affinity for the jazz tradition at the same time as they display his skill with pop music. He makes the music he wants without compromise.
For Reynolds, music is about communication with the listeners. One of his album titles, Somewhere in Between, suggests his ability to cross genres. The album features jazz heavyweights Eric Harland on drums and Aaron Parks on piano, along with keyboardist Oli Rockberger of Mister Barrington and, on two tracks, John Mayer. It's a seamless and fearless blend of jazz, blues, rock and pop.
Inventive. Unconventional. An instantly recognizable player with his own musical vision who still finds a way to fit in no matter what the situation. As a leader or a band member, Reynolds is focused on melody, connection, and emotion.
Bob Reynolds is a rare saxophonist.
Contact Information
Management/Booking:
Booking – US
Gunter Schroder
Music Works International
Phone: +1 781-300-7580 [email protected]
Booking – Europe
Bella Concerts
Otterkringerstrasse 132/1
1160 Vienna
Austria
+43 1 9974253 [email protected]
UID: ATU68957006
Quotes, Notes & Etc.
“A self-assured saxophonist and an unassuming yet effective composer…”
NEW YORK TIMES
"...Reynolds flexes an assured hand with melding hip-swiveling jazz and funk as a bandleader."
LA TIMES
“Some of the freshest, most compelling, and most soulful music I have heard recently. Bob Reynolds is an amazing musician, with something very exciting and original to say.”
Joshua Redman, Grammy-nominated saxophonist
“Bob is one hell of a saxophonist! His sound is rich and his execution is effortless.”
Michael Brecker, Grammy-winning saxophonist
The Recôncavo is an almost invisible center-of-gravity. Circumscribing the Bay of All Saints, this region was landing for more enslaved human beings than any other such throughout all of human history. Not unrelated, it is also birthplace of some of the most physically & spiritually uplifting music ever made. —Sparrow
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers: Personal recording engineer for Prince, inc. "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"... Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory
I'm Pardal here in Brazil (that's "Sparrow" in English). The deep roots of this project are in Manhattan, where Allen Klein (managed the Beatles and The Rolling Stones) called me about royalties for the estate of Sam Cooke... where Jerry Ragovoy (co-wrote Time is On My Side, sung by the Stones; Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin of course; and Pata Pata, sung by the great Miriam Makeba) called me looking for unpaid royalties... where I did contract and licensing for Carlinhos Brown's participation on Bahia Black with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
...where I rescued unpaid royalties for Aretha Franklin (from Atlantic Records), Barbra Streisand (from CBS Records), Led Zeppelin, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Ray Barretto, Philip Glass, Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd for his interest in Bob Marley compositions, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam and others...
...where I worked with Earl "Speedo" Carroll of the Cadillacs (who went from doo-wopping as a kid on Harlem streetcorners to top of the charts to working as a janitor at P.S. 87 in Manhattan without ever losing what it was that made him special in the first place), and with Jake and Zeke Carey of The Flamingos (I Only Have Eyes for You)... stuff like that.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay. They paid.
MATRIX MUSICAL
The Matrix was built below among some of the world's most powerfully moving music, some of it made by people barely known beyond village borders. Or in the case of Sodré, his anthem A MASSA — a paean to Brazil's poor ("our pain is the pain of a timid boy, a calf stepped on...") — having blasted from every radio between the Amazon and Brazil's industrial south, before he was silenced. (that's me left, with David Dye & Kim Junod for U.S. National Public Radio) ... The Matrix started with Sodré, with João do Boi, with Roberto Mendes, with Bule Bule, with Roque Ferreira... music rooted in the sugarcane plantations of Bahia. Hence our logo (a cane cutter).