Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Hungarian born, Romani musician Robi Botos was raised in a musical family and is self-taught. Robi began his musical career when he was a child, growing up in Budapest. At age seven, Robi first took up piano – it quickly became apparent that this would be an instrument Robi would truly connect with.
Shortly after immigrating, Robi caught the ear of the great Oscar Peterson and quickly became his protégé. Robi possesses a deep tradition in Romani, Hungarian and European folk and classical music. This fusion of North American bebop and modern jazz, along with the deep tradition of folk music in Eastern Europe and romantic classical music, has formulated a sound and approach that is formidable and unsurpassed. Many of jazz’s greatest musicians consider Robi to be one of the top young leaders on the piano worldwide.
Robi’s second album for A440 Entertainment, is Movin’ Forward. It features a dream-team rhythm section of Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums and Robert Hurst on bass, with the great Canadian saxophonist Seamus Blake. Jeff and Robert are Grammy-Award winning musicians and jazz legends. Movin’ Forward features a mix of originals, Roma-influenced songs, as well as funky, and straight-ahead swing compositions.