Bobby Syvarth
Born in Brooklyn, New York. Community Hospital. The head nurse said, "Leave this one alone." She could tell right away that Bobby Syvarth was bad to the bone.
Raised in Northern New Jersey listening to New York City radio stations. 102.7FM WNEW. Scott Muny. Pete Fornatale. Vin Scelsa. Dave Herman. Pat St. John. Dennis Elsas...and of course Howard Stern on WNBC and K-Rock.
Present at Yankee Stadium, 1977 World Series, game six. Witnessed Reggie Jackson blast three home runs on three consecutive pitches as the Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for their first world championship since 1962. That's what the Brooklyn Dodgers get for moving to La La Land...breaking my poor mother's heart.
On November 14, 1981, viewed and listened in awe as Billy Joel performed "She's Got A Way" solo piano and voice, on Saturday Night Live. From that moment on Bobby Syvarth has been endeavoring to compose the perfect pop love ballad. Bobby's father, who worked for CBS, parent company to Joel's lablel, Columbia, bamboozled him into thinking this was a special belated 12th birthday gift, that he went to great lengths to set up. Nice scam to pull on a kid.
July 5th, 1984. First rock concert at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. Billy Joel. The thick cloud of marajuana smoke in the air gave Bobby his first contact high...or was it the amazing performance of "Only The Good Die Young?" Billy's closing remarks, "Don't take any shit from anybody" have stuck with him till this day.
August 15th, 1991. Approximately 20th row in Central Park New York City, to witness Paul Simon's concert in the park. Needless to say, blown away.
In September, 1993, Bobby was fortunate to attend a songwriting master class with Paul Simon. "The thing I remember most about that," says Bobby, "is how annoyed Paul was when some ying-yang asked him what he was doing with Julio down at the schoolyard."
Early influences were the island of Manhattan. The borough of Brooklyn. The New York Yankees and every tune Bobby heard on the New York airwaves.
Later, the great musical artform of Jazz took hold of Bobby's ears. No more big rock concerts at The Garden. Now it's late nights downtown at the Blue Note, or the Zinc Bar...or checking out friends at the Deer Head Inn.
Bird Lives.
The Groovedude has spoken.
In the future, Bobby plans to perform on Saturday NIght Live, and complete the cycle by inspiring some problem child to embrace music, become infected by the sound of the Martin acoustic guitar, and torment those who stick to the middle of the road.
Bobby Syvarth - The Long Version
Bio:
Bobby Syvarth began his career as a musician while enrolled in the music business program at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. In September, 1990, a song-writing master class with Paul Simon unlocked a growing passion within Bobby for the art of song-writing, and the sound of the acoustic guitar. It was then that a choice was made to dedicate his lifetime to music!
Bobby had been performing as a solo act for several years and had composed a large catalog of original songs by the time he graduated college in 1994. The time spent at William Paterson University would prove to have a profound and lasting effect on Bobby's path as an artist. It was there where he was first turned on to the sound of Jazz by fellow students and passionate professors. You might call William Paterson University the poor man's Berkley! WPU is without a doubt one of the finest musical atmospheres in the Universe!
So, with a solid education and fair warning to look out for the sharks, Bobby dove head first into the business of music. While gigging around the Northwest New Jersey/New York City scene, Bobby became friends with RCA Recording Artists FROM GOOD HOMES and was invited to come on tour with them as the guitar/backline tech. One look at their tour schedule and the wanderlust set in. Bobby hung up his gigging hat for about a year and got on the tour bus. It was real life graduate school in the music business. Major label life on the road with all the ups and downs imaginable. The tour took the guys across the North American continent several times...from Vancouver, BC, to San Diego, CA. then back to the east coast. FGH did gigs with a virtual who's who in music...The Dave Matthews Band, Rusted Root, Hootie and the Blowfish, Barenaked Ladies, Weir & Wasserman's Ratdog, Widespread Panic, Joan Osbourne, Bob Dylan, The Samples, Cake, and many others. For Bobby it was literally time spent "waiting in the wings". The musical education that was gained by quietly listening to the top artists in the pop world, from backstage, was priceless.
By the summer of 1996, Bobby said goodbye to the road and was back to performing his own music full time. A $20,000 deal with the New Jersey based indie LCD Music put him in the studio for the next year, and in 1997 "Nice Hat" was released. Recorded by Don Sternecker at Mix-O-Lydian studio in Lafayette, New Jersey, "Nice Hat" features many of the regions finest musicians, including members of FROM GOOD HOMES and some of the jazz cats Bobby worked with while at William Paterson University. "Nice Hat" was well received by a growing number of fans and critics, and in 1998 Bobby was named Best Male Vocalist by the Friends of Northwest New Jersey Musicians.
By 1998, a hard swinging band called The Bobby Syvarth Combo was built around Bobby's vision to incorporate jazz improvisation into his pop music. The combo gigged non-stop in the New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania region. With a solid rhythm section built around Bobby (acoustic guitar) Jai Dillon (bass) and Alan Bowers (drums) the Combo invited various jazz musicians to "sit in" on the gigs. A steady Sunday night hit at the Sarah Street Grill proved to be very fertile creative ground. Cats from the William Paterson Jazz program would make the trip from NJ, through the Delaware Water Gap into PA and get into some serious play! After too many magical nights of killer music vanished into thin air, a $15,000 deal was struck with LCD Music and Sarah Street Grill owner Dave LaPoint to capture the magic. In October 1998, The Bobby Syvarth Combo recorded 4 nights of music (October 29 - November 1, 1998 to be exact) and the magic was captured. The resulting record titled "Alive At Sarah Street" featured future Sugar Hill recording artists RAILROAD EARTH members Tim Carbone (violin), John Skehan (acoustic guitar/mandolin), and Carey Harmon (percussion and harmony vocals), as well as Chris Cuzme (sax/dijereedoo), Tim Kropp (trumpet), Dan Sears (flugel horn), Steve-O Nelson (washboard), and future touring keyboardist for THE SAMPLES Len Mooney (keyboard/accordian). This second release on LCD Music firmly established Bobby as a creative artist and earned wider recognition for Bobby and his music. The song "Dyin' Automobile Blues" received national airplay on NPR's CARTALK. The CD climbed to the number one spot on WVIA-FM Scranton AAA/Jazz playlist report in June 2000, and the CD received very strong airplay throughout the region. By the end of 2000, the buzz surrounding Bobby Syvarth was louder than a swarm of killer bees. In December, 2000 Bobby was invited as the special guest to perform with Blue Note recording artist STANLEY JORDAN at The Whitney Chapel within Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey. This sold out show was broadcast on 91.9 WNTI-FM, worlwide online!
"Opening for Stanley was just an incredible experience, and another great step in my evolution towards jazz. Witnessing Stanley's sound-check, his pre-show intensity and absolute brilliance in front of the audience was another real life lesson in how to be a classy artist!"
"Where we live inevitably shapes what we do-unless we cannot register the visual rhythms of the life around us, or the textures of the surfaces our fingertips touch."*
The eros of place. At the turn of the millennium, Bobby found himself living in a most inspiring place, with several coincidences leading him full speed and head first into the future. Just as life on the road as a guitar tech was real life graduate school in the music business, living in the Delaware Water Gap was real life graduate school in Jazz artistry. Perhaps the best kept secret in the Jazz world, the Delaware Water Gap region of Pennsylvania is home to more than a few legendary and influential figures in the art form of Jazz...and a subculture of musicians, teachers, artists, and sophisticated audience members who hold the highest standards, and offer support and encouragement. In the Delaware Water Gap, music is a form of art, not a commodity to be marketed on MTV. A great place to live!
Jazz, and the sound of the acoustic guitar. Bobby's two greatest inspirations. What an amazing coincidence that C.F. Martin & Company, the greatest acoustic guitar maker in the world, is located about twenty minutes south of the Delaware Water Gap, in Nazareth, PA. The eros of place!
In 2001, with a baby girl on the way, and suffering a little bit of burn-out from the smokey bars and clubs where musicians work, Bobby decided to take a break from the gigging scene for a while. What to do? Build Martin Guitars!!! In one of those fateful twists and turns that life has to offer, Bobby walked into the Martin Guitar factory in search of a "day gig". His experience as a guitar tech won him a coveted spot at the end of the line, stringing, setting up, and inspecting Martin Guitars. "It was fantastic. I had my hands on guitars all day long. The smell of raw wood permeated the place. At lunch time, I'd grab something off my work bench and practice...I even wrote a couple of songs IN THE FACTORY!", said Bobby. "I made friends with the senior guitar tech at the factory and would see who's guitar he was tuning up on any given day. He'd ask me to feel out whatever axe was on his bench...Steven Stills, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson...none of them know it, but I tested their guitars!"
During the time period away from performing, Bobby immersed himself in musical study as well. Further explorations into jazz improvisation and music theory, along with continued songwriting, combined to leave Bobby re-invigorated and quite determined to make his own unique contribution to the musical world!