Robert Martin

Robert "Bobby" Martin (born June 29, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Martin sings and plays keyboards, horn, saxophones and other instruments. He is mainly known for collaborating in the 1980s with the musician Frank Zappa, although he is also a prominent 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. He recognizes as musical influences Ray Charles, Stravinsky, Coltrane, Rachmaninoff, Mose Allison, Cannonball Adderley, David "Fathead" Newman, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa and Etta James. Biography Childhood Martin was born in Philadelphia in June 1948, the son of opera singers. His grandmother worked at RCA in Trenton, New Jersey, giving Robert access to a variety of 78 RPM records. Growing up in the 1950s in this city, and with a deeply musical atmosphere at home, he was exposed to a broad spectrum of music. "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 – it was the most intensely visual music I had ever heard." Apart from the exposure to classical music he gained through his parents and through performances of the Philadelphia Orchestra, he also listened to other kinds of music. His father was a fan of Big Band music, he regularly watched Dick Clark's American Bandstand show, and he listened to the excellent jazz that was played in the city's clubs. The presence of avant-garde rock and Philadelphia soul in his discography exemplify the breadth of his musical life. He began his interest in music very early. At home his parents had a Lester Spinet piano, and as soon as he was tall enough to reach the keys, he taught himself 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.