- Barbara Ann “Bobbie” Humphrey is an American jazz flautist and singer who plays jazz fusion, funk and soul-jazz.
- He has recorded twelve albums and founded the jazz label Paradise Sounds Records. In 1971, she was the first female instrumentalist signed by Blue Note.
Bobby Humphrey Biography In English
Birth Details –
Place – Marlin, Texas
Date of Birth – April 25, 1950
Education – High School
Early Life
- Humphrey was born in Marlin, Texas and raised in Dallas. He graduated from Lincoln High School, Dallas in 1968.
- His flute education included classical and jazz in high school. She continued her studies at Texas Southern University and Southern Methodist University.
- Dizzy Gillespie saw his play at a talent contest at Southern Methodist and inspired him to pursue a music career in New York City.
- She followed his advice, moving to New York in June 1971 and getting her first break performing at the Apollo Theater on Amateur Night.
Career
- Within weeks of arriving in New York, Humphrey was signed by George Butler to the Blue Note. He had already begun playing regularly throughout the city, including joining Herbie Mann on stage in Central Park and making impromptu appearances on The Tonight Show.
- She has played with Duke Ellington and George Benson. Benson and Humphrey were guest musicians on the single “Another Star” from Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life (1976).
- Black and Blues, recorded with the Mizell Brothers in 1973, was one of his best-selling albums for Blue Note.
- On this album she moved from straight jazz to straight jazz on her first two albums produced by George Butler. He sought out the Mizell Brothers after their work on Donald Byrd’s Black Bird, which combined funk with jazz.
- Black and Blues was recorded in three days at the Sound Factory. On “Harlem River Drive” and other songs, Humphrey’s playing was improvised.
- Humphrey’s work, notably Black & Blues, has been sampled by Eric B & Rakim, Grand Puba, Diggable Planets, Mobb Deep, Ludacris and Ice-T. In 2002, Common invited her to play on his album Electric Circus.
