Norm Bobrow

American jazz impresario, radio host, singer, drummer, and bandleader (born December 18, 1917 Brooklyn, New York – died April 13, 2008 Seattle, Washington) A great promoter of swing music, Bobrow started the Husky Hot Club in Seattle in 1939, featuring the local Gay Jones Orchestra. On February 4, 1940, he organized the first formal jazz concert on the West Coast at Seattle’s downtown Metropolitan Theatre. After serving as program manager of the Armed Forces Radio station in Kodiak, Alaska, during World War Two, Bobrow returned to Seattle where he hosted a 15-minute weekly news-commentary radio show at KRSC station. In 1946, Bobrow sang with the Gay Jones Orchestra for the first commercial recording of the newly founded Linden label. During the early 1950s, he led his own big band in Seattle. In 1955, he opened a popular downtown night spot, the Colony Club. There he met singer Pat Suzuki; they fell in love. Bobrow became Suzuki's manager. Both moved to New York in 1958, but split up a year later. Bobrow worked for New York radio stations, then lived in Barbados for a while. In 1968, he returned to Seattle, hosted a show on KING-and presented concerts by local musicians at the Olympic Hotel (now the Four Seasons) and the Broadway Performance Hall.