Bobby West

As is often the case of musicians who not supported in their home country of the US, Bobby left for a lauded career abroad, performing for nearly 3 decades in France (Club New Morning in Paris, one of the oldest jazz clubs in Europe), Germany, the U.K., Portugal, Japan, Dubai, Oman, Zagreb, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, Oman, Croatia, Spain, Shanghai, Taipei, Morocco and the Netherlands.

He now divides his time between living and performing abroad and in the US including his hometown of Los Angeles—performing, recording and creating original compositions of passion, originality and ​authenticity for which he is known.

When Bobby West was born in Louisiana, the doctor said his fingers were so long that he’d either be a piano player or a pick pocket. Fortunately for us, he chose the piano.

By the age of 6, Bobby was known as a prodigy. At age 8, Bobby’s mother broke with generations of the West family in Louisiana, moving to South Central Los Angeles at a time still reverberating from the recent past of Central Avenue's legendary jazz scene. Bobby was in the generation of musicians instrumental in creating the arts and music scene in Leimert Park, still thriving today at the venerable The World Stage.

It was here that Bobby fine tuned his craft and “voice” as a pianist, composer and arranger of exceptional gifts, earning the respect of his peers as he emerged from the hot house and idealism of the 1960s/1970s music in African American Los Angeles and far beyond.

Bobby graduated from Louisiana University School of Composition and HBCU Grambling State University.

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