Honoring Robert (Bobby) Routch, 75, who died Aug. 5, 2024.

From Michael Rabinowitz:

RIP Bobby.

First heard him in a Sunnyside release when I lived in Brooklyn in the ‘80s and his jazz playing was fluid and expressive on an instrument rarely heard in that idiom.

When he subbed in with The Charles Mingus Orchestra around 2001 Sue Mingus immediately was impressed with his expressive playing and enthusiasm for Mingus’s music and he became a regular member of the band. We played festivals together and toured Europe in 2004. The tour was partly a book launching of Sue Mingus’s Tonight at Noon. When we were in Germany Bobby read excerpts of Sue’s book in German. That was Bobby; continuing to surprise me with another talent. Bobby & I became close and we I had great respect for his musical acumen in both jazz & classical music. We once played in a woodwind quintet and he knew all the instrumental parts of the pieces we played.

Unfortunately I lost touch with him over the past years. The world has lost quite a natural talent. I feel fortunate to have had the chance to work with him closely. His full expressive French Horn sound will continue to ring in my memory & soul. I’ll end with one if his many sayings: “May your cane always be able “