Bobbi Humphrey

The First Lady of the Flute

Featuring Special Guests The Forte Jazz Band

Blue Pyramid Productions and SevenVenues are pleased to announce BOBBI HUMPHREY, THE FIRST LADY OF THE FLUTE, appearing live on stage at the Attucks Theatre on Saturday, February 14, 2015. The concert is a Valentine’s Day treat for lovers of Bobbi’s special brand of soulful jazz. She has been performing for over three decades to audiences around the world. Bobbi Humphrey is a talent to be reckoned with. Her accomplishments include performances at Switzerland’s Montreux International Music Festival, working on the Bill Cosby Show, performing with such greats as Duke Ellington, Lee Morgan and Stevie Wonder while selling over five million units.

Opening for Bobbi Humphrey is the Forte Jazz Band, a Tidewater favorite. Forte Jazz Band is an eight-piece ensemble that has performed for over 20 years. Hailing from Smithfield, VA, the group is currently touring the East Coast and promoting its new album entitled “Chase the Rhythm.” Forte’s style is a combination of smooth jazz, standards, and jazz-laced concoctions of R&B.

Bobbi Humphrey has been named First Lady of the Flute by critics and listeners alike. For three decades now, Bobbi Humphrey has been playing her special brand of music to audiences around the world. Humphrey’s professional career began in 1971 when she was the first female signed to Blue Note Records. Certainly, a lady playing a flute must have seemed something of a novelty at the time. Humphrey proved, however, she was not just a novelty but a talent to be reckoned with. In 1973 her LP, Blues and Blues became a huge commercial success and garnered strong crossover appeal. Also in 1973 she was invited to the prestigious Montreux International Music Festival in Switzerland where Leonard Feather, noted critic of the Los Angeles Times, acclaimed her the surprise hit of the festival. Since then Humphrey has continuously proved her sustaining power, for today, she is the only successful female urban-pop flutist on the scene. She was acclaimed Best Female Instrumentalist both in 1976 and 1978 by Billboard and Record World and Best Female Vocalist by Cashbox, certainly a milestone for any instrumentalist.

Born in Marlin, Texas and raised in Dallas, Humphrey’s training on flute began in high school and continued through her years at Texas Southern University and Southern Methodist University. It was there that Dizzy Gillespie spotted her when he served as a judge in a school-wide competition. With Gillespie encouraging her to pursue a career in New York City, Humphrey wrote a letter to New York’s famed Apollo Theatre and received a telegram soon afterwards telling her, “We have reserved a spot for you on Amateur Night.” She didn’t take further convincing, nor did she have trouble finding her spot in the music industry.

The title of one of her epic LPs, “The Good Life,” is an apt description of her career. Humphrey has played with the best, ranging from Duke Ellington (her third day in New York) to Lee Morgan to Stevie Wonder (featured on “Songs in the Key of Life” LP in 1977). Between 1971 and 1976, Bobbi recorded six albums for Blue Note Records. In 1974 she recorded the successful Satin Doll LP.  

1977 was another big year for Humphrey. For the third consecutive year she was voted Best Flutist in Ebony Magazine Readers Poll. She was signed to Epic Records, and she was invited back to the Montreux Music Festival and honored with the Key to the City of New Orleans. It was not only a year of musical growth but of commercial expansion as well because in 1977 Humphrey formed Bobbi Humphrey Music Company to publish her compositions as well as other composers. She also formed Innovative Artist Management to handle her business affairs.  Humphrey has also gone on to gather numerous awards and citations for her music. These awards have included the keys to various U.S. cities and a Congressional Appointment to the Community Advisory Committee.

In addition to her accomplishments in the music industry, the business world has also recognized Bobbi’s talents. She has received various awards for her business accomplishments and high ethics from the City of New York, Dollars and Sense magazine, and was featured in the financial section of Billboard Magazine. However, Humphrey’s longevity on the charts has been her greatest award. Her LP “Freestyle” was one of the hottest LPs during the summer of ‘78. And with her LP, “The Good Life”, the summer of ‘79 was not only good, but hot!

The eighties were a period of rapid creative and business expansion and community activism. Whether from the stage of Carnegie Hall or an intimate jazz room in Europe or Atlanta, live performance remains her first love. Yet, she enjoys composing and producing musical jingles for several major corporations such as Halston and Anheuser-Busch and doing solo work for the television on such shows as the Cosby Show. Though petite, one can see that Humphrey has the talent and heart as big as the State of Texas. Former New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins said it best, “Bobbi Humphrey’s dedication to artistic excellence is matched only by her social activism and concern for those in need. This includes her working on various political campaigns, performing at senior citizens’ homes, fund raising concerts for the United Negro College Fund and speaking before the General Assembly of the United Nations about the Ethiopian famine in the eighties.”

Ever growing and seeking new challenges, Bobbi produced one of her most exciting and personal LPs entitled “City Beat” in 1989. “City Beat” remained on the Billboard Magazine Black Charts for sixteen weeks. She served as producer, wrote many of the songs and gathered some of her musical friends to share in the treat. As the beat went on, the nineties held the promise of some of Bobbi’s greatest musical and commercial expansion.

In 1990 her company, Bobbi Humphrey Music, Inc., signed a production agreement with Warner Brothers Records in which she brought new artists to the label and produced new material. Following the success of Bobbi Humphrey Music, Inc.’s selling in excess of five million units of the Campbell records, Ms. Humphrey boldly launched her label, Paradise Sounds Records in 1994. She recorded her first release “Passion Flute,” which was recently re-released and continues to be one of her fans all-time favorite recordings. The album’s concept is to showcase Bobbi Humphrey within a cool jazz setting, mostly at mid-tempo though there is a surprising up-tempo version of her huge hit, “Harlem River Drive.” There are also two original ballads in which Bobbi features the smooth singing of Dwayne Whitehead. Another song features two great artists and friends of Bobbi, Gwen Guthrie on vocal and Ralph MacDonald on percussion. From the first track, “Steppin’ Out” which features Bobbi’s flute on a hauntingly smooth yet strong hook to the last track “Rainbows,” a soaring ballad. Her passionate and pure flute playing is ever present. In “Passion Flute,” her fans old and new will surely find a greater passion.

Blue Pyramid Productions and SevenVenues are pleased to welcome Bobbi Humphrey to the historic Attucks Theatre. Located on Norfolk’s historic Church Street, the Attucks Theatre was originally known as the “Apollo Theatre of the South.” Designed by African-American architect Harvey Johnson, the theatre opened in 1919, and showcased a host of legendary performers such as Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Mamie Smith, Nat King Cole and Redd Foxx. The Attucks Theatre is named in honor of African-American Crispus Attucks, the first American patriot to lose his life in the 1770 Boston Massacre. For 34 years, the theatre remained a vibrant performing arts facility but ceased functioning in 1953. In 1977 the United States Congress deemed The Attucks Theatre a National Historic Landmark, and after a restoration period of three years, the theatre was reopened in 2004 by a partnership between the City of Norfolk’s Department of Cultural Facilities and the Crispus Attucks Cultural Center, Inc.