Robert Earle Pleasant, professional musician and educator in New Jersey and Arizona, died Feb. 1, 2021, at Lund Home, Hospice of the Valley, Gilbert, Arizona, from effects of COVID-19. He was 86.
Born and raised in Chicago, he studied piano at the American Conservatory there and later trumpet with William Babcock of the Chicago Symphony. He majored in composition at the Berklee School of Music (now Berklee College of Music) in Boston.
After completing his service with the U.S. Army he headed east, eventually ending up in Monmouth County. He taught piano, organ and vibes to generations of students at his Middletown Professional Music Studios in Middletown and in the Mesa, Arizona area. A long-time resident of Sea Bright, he was a popular piano player in the Jersey Shore’s better clubs and hotels.
He played vibes with his jazz quartet, Flight, as well as arranging and composing much of its music. Bob was a prolific composer in both jazz and classical traditions. In 1982, he was named composer-in-residence for the New Jersey State Orchestra. That orchestra gave both his “Symphony No. 1” and an orchestral prelude, “Celebration of Life,” their world premieres in Asbury Park in the late 1900s.
After relocating to Mesa in the late 1900s, he continued to teach piano and organ, but relished having more time to do what he called “feeding my composing habit.” He composed three more symphonies, piano sonatas, orchestral preludes, suites for various instruments, tone poems based on American folk music and Hemingway’s “The old Man and the Sea” and a set of contemporary rags as his output grew. He once described his music and his own works as “uncharacterizable.” He also ventured into electronic music, continuing to teach and encouraging other to stay young and hip.
An adventurous only child, he caught the travel bug very early, often riding Chicago’s trolleys and trains to see how far he could go. When he was 9 or 10, he and a school buddy hopped a freight train and made it as far as Ohio before they were discovered and escorted home.
Bob crisscrossed the country several times on extended road trips and loved traveling almost anywhere, whether Vegas, Mexico, or, once, Tahiti. Goodness the stories. He was a true free spirit and enjoyed life to the fullest
In his Mesa retirement community, Bob served several terms as president of the Dreamland Villa Singles Club. He enjoyed camping, books, puzzles, local casinos and his cat, Kitty. Many days in his fuller “retirement” were spent on his front porch reading, usually mysteries, as well as watching birds and listening to the nature he could hear.
His three marriages ended in divorce. He was predeceased by his only son, Robert Earle Pleasant Jr., Tucson. He is survived by one grandson, Robert John Pleasant, of Oklahoma.
He enriched the lives of his many friends. and he will be greatly missed.
The article originally appeared in the March 11 – 17, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
