Rob was the band pianist, joining us in 2005 after working alongside some of the band members in a local amateur dramatic performance with Risbro’ Youth Theatre.  His talent was very humble, being a classically trained pianist and amazing clarinettist, getting him to take a jump and join a Big Band that played Swing Music put his musical skill to the test.  Of course, the challenge was accepted and away he went.

Rob joined the local theatre group as the rehearsal pianist to begin with, Guy’s and Dolls being the first production he worked on.  This then escalated with his love of playing, with him becoming the shows pianist for every show that followed.  I guess his musical legacy was passed on to his eldest son, Chris, who took on the daunting responsibility as Musical Director for the theatre’s production of Seussical in the summer of 2018.

When Rob was convinced to give Big Band Swing a try, he honestly didn’t know what to expect as the music was all new to him.  “I’ve got to learn some strange chords” and “I’ve not seen that symbol before” when referring to a triangle on a chord marking.  That was the other thing that made us chuckle.  “Why  do big band charts not have any written music, but just a series of chords”.  Well Rob, that’s for you to become an artist squire and let those fingers flow.

Over the years, this certainly became second nature to Rob, taking on jazz solo’s as well as the written ones in an exemplary manner.  His nemesis within the band pad was Count Basie’s ‘The Kid From Redbank’ he always referred to it as the only big band chart that scared him.  His signature tunes within the band were Count Basie’s ‘All Of Me’ and Nina Simone’s ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’

 

Sadly in October 2016, Rob was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour and underwent “awake craniotomy” this was followed by radio, chemo and immunotherapy.  On November 11th, just 3 weeks after his operation, at our annual charity concert,  Rob turned up, suited and booted, donning his now known signature Fedora hat and asked if he could play a couple of numbers.  These were to be Rob’s choices and they were Henry Mancini’s ‘Pink Panther Theme’ and Count Basie’s ‘All Of Me’

                             

We were honoured to be invited to play at Rob 50th Birthday party as a surprise in 2015.  A hall filled with friends, family and fellow musicians.  This was repeated again in March 2018 for Rob  & Sarah’s 25th wedding anniversary,  this was planned by Sarah in 2017 but by the time the date came around, Rob was sadly deteriorating with his Brain Tumour.  The hall was again filled with the same love, this time sadly, Rob couldn’t take to the keys.  But sat there with a HUGE smile on his face soaking up the music of the bands he had links with; Sway, Big Band Swing and Who’s Got The Dog.  As well as a celebration of Rob’s birthday, Rob & Sarah’s anniversary and Rob’s love of music, it was also a fund raising night for the two research groups that heled Rob so much over the months.  The night raised well over £10,000.

 

Rob’s last gig with BBS was December 2017, a fund raising night for the local homeless, to raise money for them to have a Christmas dinner.

 

Rob was part of the bands family;  reliable, dependant, funny and an amazing talent.  Something we will always miss.

God Bless you Rob.