SKF NOTE: Bobby Colomby is a record producer of note. He is also an excellent drummer, best known, perhaps, as an original member of Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

Bobby Colomby

Bobby Colomby: …Thelonious Monk[‘s]…music to me is very personal. Whatever he plays – it could be a standard or one of his incredible compositions – all of them have been great, he puts his own stamp on it. It becomes a Monk tune. On an instrument that so many people play – look at the union book – he absolutely has captured his own style, and no one has been able to come close to being that innovative on that instrument.

So he, to me, is one of the two or three great all-time musicians – and for a reason, not just by his reputation.

His music has meant a lot to me. I learned how to play the drums by playing with his music. I know songs that he forgot he wrote.

My brother was his manager for many years and I was the original Monk groupie. I was always sitting around saying, “Yeah, T., whatever you say!” He’d say, “Go n there and get me a glass of…” and I’d say, “Yes sir! On the double!” I just love his music.

Source: Bobby Colomby “Blindfold Test,” by Leonard Feather. Down Beat, November 4, 1976