Robert J. “Bobby” Naughton passed away peacefully on December 3, 2022. He was 78 years old.

Bobby was born in Boston, June of 1944 to William and Rose Mary Naughton. He grew up along with his brother Bill and his sister Brenda in Milton, MA. He studied piano from the age of seven through his teens. He played gigs in rock bands and lounge bands before he was old enough to drive. After serving in the U.S. Army, he played organ with a blues band. He studied painting in art school, then began playing vibraphone in the 1960s, accompanying Sheila Jordan and Perry Robinson. In 1969 he began releasing music on his own label, Otic. He played vibraphones and piano on his first album. He composed the score for the silent film Everyday by German artist Hans Richter. In 1972 he played in the Jazz Composers Orchestra. Beginning a year later, he began working with Wadada Leo Smith and continued this collaboration into the 1980s. He played concerts with Smith as recently as 2020 at the Knoxville Big Ears Festival. In 1976, he co-founded the not-for-profit Creative Musicians' Improvisers Forum, which supported musicians and presented concerts. In 1978 and 1982 he toured Europe with Anthony Braxton in the Creative Music Orchestra. He recorded again in 2008, with drummer Laurence Cook and bassist Joe Fonda, leading to the album Pawtucket. Bobby’s music is part of the national libraries of Germany, the United States and Israel.

Bobby is lovingly remembered by the friends and colleagues he made music with, by his siblings Bill Naughton and Brenda Johnson and by his nephews and nieces.

A private Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in Saint Gregory Church, Dorchester followed by interment at Milton Cemetery.