Robert Greenidge on stage with Jimmy Buffett in 2008.
This morning Robert Greenidge passed. I was sitting at my breakfast table when I heard the news. I remember just saying out loud “WHAT?” My male Persian cat Mick was sitting under my feet looking through the window at the birds outside and he looked up at me with his big eyes in alarm. I looked back at him, gave him a reassuring rub on the head, and just softly said “No.” Not again I thought to myself.
I don’t remember when I first spoke to Robert but it was over thirty years ago. There have been so many times and so many places. There are so many memories all tied to music. Without music and I have to say Jimmy Buffett I would have never met Robert. Many of the people in my social circles know who Robert is and many of them have met him over the years. For the uninitiated, Robert started performing on steel pan at age eight and performed internationally beginning in his teens. During 1970 he represented Trinidad and Tobago as a soloist and as a member of Trinidad and Tobago National Steel Orchestra. Robert over time would go on to play on recordings by a favorite of mine Robert Palmer, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Kenny Chesney, Taj Mahal, and two of the Beatles as in Ringo Starr and John Lennon. John’s album ‘Double Fantasy featured Robert on pans playing on the track “Beautiful Boy” which is a great track! Robert played with Carly Simon. In fact I was standing in my kitchen a few days ago and the Echo Show was playing random songs. I heard the track and I said out loud “That is Carly Simon and that is Robert Greenidge.” There were many other people Robert played with but probably he was best known as a member of the Coral Reefer Band with Jimmy Buffett.
Robert on stage with Jimmy Buffett in 2018.
Robert has a playing sound that no one can duplicate. It is like his voice. While many can copy his songs no one can play them like he did. He had a special tone and such a knowledge of music. So without re-stating history and things many people know I want to share some of the moments I spent with Robert either up close or with a few thousand people at shows from Key West to many parts of the country.
Mike Utley, Andrew, Robert Greenidge. This sunburned photo was taken about 15 years ago right behind a stage on the beach. This is the duo best known as Club Trini. Greenidge and Utley were long-time, core members of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band. The duo founded Club Trini as a side project to release their own instrumental-heavy, island-infused albums. They recorded several acclaimed albums together, including Mad Music (1986) and Jubilee (1987). Later other recordings followed and even multiple solo projects came from Robert. I contracted these guys for the better part of a decade to play in Key West as Club Trini with the rest of the band filling in for various sets each year. I have memories of the many years that the scaled down version of Club Trini would thrill hard core fans like me in the parking lots and concourses of so many Jimmy Buffett shows. They would suddenly appear riding a golf cart or two with battery powered and acoustic instruments. They would play a short set of their original songs and the fans would have a blast. The photo below is a winter Club Trini gig at the Charlotte Coliseum many years ago with Mike Utley and Peter Mayer singing. This all happened in the hour or so before a Jimmy Buffett show on the main stage and they were so much fun.
Club Trini in Charlotte in the winter before the Jimmy Buffett show. Mike and Peter Mayer on guitar.
Mike, Andrew, and Robert in Key West. That is JL in the photo bomb over Mike’s shoulder. This photo is one of my favorites and was taken by Rob O’Neal in 2013. This was one great day.
Good times on the beach in Key West. That is JL’s chair in front that has been all over the world as a part of the Jimmy Buffett tours of many years. Yes I sat in it once and that is not really allowed. You can tell the three of us were having a good day as we did so many days.
Virginia Beach in the hospitality area before the Jimmy Buffett show. I was always great to see the guys and on this night I was talking business planning a couple months ahead in Key West for the gig down there and later I might have had a margarita or several.
I still love this photo. This is long time Coral Reefer Doyle Grisham, Andrew, Robert, and Mac McAleer in the hospitality area before a Jimmy Buffett show in Charlotte. Yes we were having fun and laughing. A Jimmy Buffett show had a way of doing that to your soul when you were with friends.
I remember a night in Key West maybe twenty years ago or so. I was picking up Robert and Mike at the airport in Key West. They were flying in from California to Miami then on to Key West. Well it was raining like holy hell. It was raining from Miami to Cuba and not lightly. Flights were getting snarled and a couple had made it in between lines of showers. I had the flight number so I was tracking them as they left Miami. The short story is it took three trips to the airport before their plane arrived sans their luggage and Robert’s Pans. I took the weary travellers back to the Casa Marina and dropped them off. I talked to the people at the airport and found out the luggage was coming on the next flight around 9:00 that night. I went in and sure enough the bags come in along with the pans. They were all easy to pick out by the way the numbered tags were on the bags. Score. The pans were safe and so was their luggage. So many years of that went by…so many stories.
I have a couple of stories of my times with Robert I will share. I have spent many nights at Louie’s Backyard in Key West on the “Afterdeck” which is a large deck behind Louie’s on the water. There is a small bar that is lit up at night but the deck is not really well lit at all. This makes it a place for people to sit in the moonlight if there is a moon and have conversations a few feet from tiny Dog Beach and the salt water. On the first occasion I was in a small group of musicians having a conversation. It was at least two o’clock in the morning and very dark. The sky was lit up with stars and you could see the glow on the horizon coming off the coast of Havana. Robert and I were standing there and several of us were having various conversations when I pulled out my new then Apple iPhone. This was 2011. We were looking at the stars and guessing what was what constellations we were looking at. I had this “new” at the time application on my phone that you could hold up to the sky and it would show you what you were looking at. Everyone thought that was cool. Then I looked at Robert and said “Hey man I have this new application from Peterson I want to show you,” I had just downloaded the app for 99 cents on a introductory deal for the $9.99 application. Peterson had been making strobe tuners for many years to tune musical instruments but this was the first one for a phone. I showed it to Robert and he said “Is that thing any good?” I said “I don’t know I just downloaded it and I haven’t tested it yet.” He said, “I can test it.” I said “Yeah?” By now several people were listening to the conversation. Robert said ” I am going to sing you a B.” I said “OK” and I held the phone up in front of his face in the dark. He hummed a tone. The tuner simulated strobe stopped dead on a “B” note. Perfect. Everyone in the circle went “Wow.” We all started laughing and I slapped him on the back. I said “You dog, you are too damn good.” What many people don’t know is Robert had “perfect pitch.” He could stand on the stage and hear a bad note from a distance on ANY instrument. I remember a conversation I had with Doyle Grisham one day in Key West. We were talking about musicians and he asked me who I thought the best musician on the Coral Reefer band stage was. I thought for a minute and before I could answer he said “Robert.” He said ask anyone on that stage and they will all agree. I shook my head. ‘Yeah” I said, “Perfect pitch.”
This story is a nice Segway into another story. One year the band Ramajay Intercoastal was on the stage. I was standing in the sound wing with Robert and he was watching Quincy Yeates play steel drums on stage with the band. I leaned over to Robert as I could tell he was enjoying it. I asked if he would play a song with them if I asked. He said “Yeah if you ask.” So Quincy came off the stage for a minute for some reason during the set and I walked over and asked if Robert could play one song with him. He looked at me and said “Man I don’t know if Robert can play my “shit.” By that he meant steel drums are custom and do vary in construction. I looked at him and said “Why don’t you try him?” He agreed and I walked back to Robert and I said “Get ready you are coming up.” I told him what Quincy said and he had a good laugh. At the end of the next song I walked over to Tall Paul and asked if he would invite Robert out for song. He smiled and I was barely walking back to my corner before he was bringing him out. Robert walked over and I don’t remember what song they played. Robert not only played the song fluently on Quincy’s pans he even took a solo all while smiling and laughing. Quincy loved it. We all did.
One more story that comes to mind is a night in 2006 in Key West. I was at Louie’s Backyard and the bar had finally closed at 3:00 AM except it was still open because there were people there. Robert and I were having some drinks in the dark and the time was just flying by. I asked Robert what time his flight was in the morning as in this morning. I seem to remember he said something like 6:30 AM! I looked at him and laughed! I said “Man it is just after 5:00 and you leave in an hour and half? “No worries Mon, I can be at the airport in ten minutes.” I think I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair. I told the bartender “I’ll have what he is having.” We toasted a final drink and the light was starting to come up on the horizon.
I am going to tell you my version of a story about Robert. Robert loved steel pan and teaching. Over time in Key West he had several sessions in the fall at Meeting of the Minds to show off the talents of the students of the Bahama Village Music Program. https://bvmpkw.com/ From the web page: The Bahama Village Music Program is now in our 23rd year of bringing free musical education and instruction to children aged 6 and up in our community. BVMP is more than just an educational institution, our program creates a great sense of community spirit and pride, fosters important mentor relationships between local teenage musicians and their students, encourages parent participation, and enhances student’s self-esteem. Our target community, Bahama Village, is rich in cultural history and community involvement, inspiring our students to become not only better musicians, but also better human beings. Bahama Village Music Program’s mission is to provide quality music education to children who would otherwise not have access to private music instruction.
If you really wanted to see Robert smile you could just see it when these kids came out and played on stage. I texted him and asked him if he wanted to do it again in 2019 and he said “Yes!” He told me to call Nora and make it happen. So I did. Go read Nora Revelin’s bio over on the link above. She is a wonderful lady. The kids had a great time but I know this was a thrill for Robert. I should mention that the Meeting of the Minds event proceeds that were raised in 2019 all for charity went to several great places. One of them was a $5000 check to the Bahama Village Music Program. Thank you Mr. G.
Nora and Robert after the show. Photo by Rob O’Neil 2019.
All Bahama Village Photos shown here were taken by Rob O’Neal.
Robert, Andrew, Steve in Key West.
In the last week the world has lost two great people. I have lost two friends. Memories like these of all the years that just flew by are good ones. I count myself fortunate to have known some really cool people like Robert. I have so many stories of good times and knowing good people like Bobby G. I loved giving him a hug when I would see him. I will miss my friend, I really will. Life is short. Call your friends if you can’t see them and take lots of photos.
Until next time , I’ll see you, down the road.