Florida A&M University music scholars, Dwayne Bosman and Dwight Bosman are composers, arrangers, jazz artists and music educators.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Dwayne’s and Dwight’s passion for jazz started at an early age. They grew up listening to the sounds of great jazz artists such as Earl “Fatha” Hines, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and their father Lloyd Smith, who was a well known businessman and a side man in Basie’s and Ellington’s orchestras. Paula V. Smith, the twins’ mother and the first African American Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division for the U.S. Department of Labor under the Regan Administration, was also an avid jazz lover. Influenced by famous musicians, like family friends, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, by age 14 the twins were performing professionally as The Bosman Twins. Over the years, The Bosman Twins have shared their love of music and the stage with entertainment legends Freddie Cole, Branford Marsalis, Fontella Bass, Roy Ayers, David Peaston and the late trumpeter, Lester Bowie. Whether performing with their own band or accompanying other notable jazz professionals, their unique style and renditions of jazz, rhythm and blues, funk and gospel have earned them national and international acclaim.
In April of 2015, The “Legendary” Bosman Twins released their first album of original music, entitled “When Lions Roar” and from the album “Many Moons,” a cinematic jazz video was released. During their inaugural CD release weekend, The Bosman Twins sold out all 4 shows at The Ferring Jazz Bistro, inside the Harold and Dorothy Steward Center for Jazz.
The Bosman Twins are extremely proud and grateful for awards and recognitions received and opportunities provided to share their music with the rest of the world. Most recently, they received three distinguished awards. In January 2016. The Bosman Twins received the prestigious Excellence in the Arts from the St. Louis Arts and Education Council, and in November of 2015, they were inducted into the St. Louis Jazz Hall of Fame and received the George Smith Diversity Award from the Musicians’ Association of St. Louis Local 2-187. In 2009 The Bosman Twins received the Legend Award from the St. Louis Argus Foundation and were recognized by the St. Louis City Chapter of the NAACP as being among the “100 Most Inspiring St. Louisians”. In May of 2010, The Bosman Twins traveled to Stuggart, Germany with City of St. Louis Mayor, Francis Slay and delegation, where they opened The American Days Festival at the U.S. Consulate General performing for DPO Doria Rosen and other illustrious guests. These distinguished gentlemen of jazz are composers, arrangers, recording and performing artists who share in the legacy and tradition of great jazz through education, creativity and innovation. The Bosman Twins are true ambassadors of music.
Awards and Recognitions
2014 “A Conversation with The Bosman Twins” - St. Louis Magazine- December Issue
2013 Best Jazz Artist in St. Louis – Riverfront Times
2011 Excellence in the Performing Arts – Better Family Life, Incorporated
2010 Opening “The American Days – Twin Cities Festival in Stuggart, Germany
2009 NAACP 100 Most Inspiring St. Louisans
2009 Legend Awards – St. Louis Argus foundation
Salute to Excellence in the Arts Award - Links, St. Louis Chapter
Salute to Black Men Award – Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated
Artists in Residence – State of Vermont, Fontella Bass and the Bosman Twins
Salute to Black Men Award – Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated
Young Black Achievers Award – Iota Lambda Sorority, Alpha Zeta Chapter (1999)
Voted “The Best Jazz Band” by the “People’s Poll” – Riverfront Times 1996 and 1997
Ebony Magazine – Featured Artist (1998)
National Geographic Magazine – Featured Artist (1996)
Celebrity Star Walk – Sir Winston Churchill Pub, (1990) in Freeport, Grand Bahamas
Featured on KETC/TV “Skyline Salutes the Sheldon”
Emmy Award KETC/TV and Andy Ruhlin “Jazz AT THE MOOSE” Featuring the Bosman Twins
Music Directors for Adolph Coors Companies “Climb UP TO COORS” Talent Contest
Career Tour Highlights
Vienna Jazz Festival – Vienna, Austria
Lavallette’ Jazz Festival – Paris, France
The Soho Jazz Festival – London, England
St. Louis Blues Festival – St. Louis, MO
Juneteenth Heritage & Jazz Festival – Tulsa, OK
The Congressional Black Caucus Annual Conference - Washington, D.C.
18th & Vine Heritage Jazz Festival – Kansas City, MO
American Days Festival Twin Cities Festival – Stuggart, Germany
Books
Sammy Stein, 2017 All That’s Jazz Sheffeld, England, Tomahawk Press
Bruce R. Olson, 2016 That St. Louis Thing Vol 2. St. Louis, MO Lulu Publishing
Dwight’s son, Dwan Bosman, is also a musician based in the Atlanta area. As a result, Dwight and Dwayne have performed in the Atlanta area several times as well. But the Bosman Twins still enjoy public performances. In addition to their upcoming weekend sets at Jazz at the Bistro, the brothers organize special performances twice a year at BB’s jazz, Blues and Soups here in St. Louis.
“For the concerts at BB’s, we have friends fly in and play from Portland and Atlanta,” says Dwight. “And it becomes a special thing, and people enjoy it because it only happens every now and then. And we really want to make our Jazz at the Bistro appearance special too.” “We’ll be doing a variety of music,” says Dwayne. “In addition to straight ahead jazz, we’ll also be playing some ballads and blues. And we’ve got a tribute to Thelonious Monk as well as one for Ellington’s music. But we always make sure that we’re not playing the same tunes you hear everyday from other bands. We’ve got a great band and we’re looking forward to it and raring to go.”
Discography
Fontella Bass Live in Italy
Fontella Bass & the Voices of St. Louis – “Travellin”
The Bosman Twins Play Standards
When Lions Roar – The Bosman Twins
Mesmerizing, dazzling, and exhilarating are the words that continuously come to audience’s minds to describe the Bosman Twins. Masters of several woodwind instruments, the multi-award-winning, internationally renown brothers are true ambassadors of music. Whether performing as a duo, with their quintet, or accompanying jazz greats, their renditions of jazz, R&B, funk, and gospel have gained them international notoriety.
style: straight-ahead / contemporary jazz
“St. Louis is a city that is based, in large part, on its rich history with Jazz. Names like Grant Green, David Sanborn, Jeanne Trevor and Miles Davis highlight the tapestry of diverse Jazz artists that have emerged from our great city. Adding to that lineage, with their musical prowess, expert techniques, dedication to the craft and just downright fun demeanor is St. Louis’ own Bosman Twins. Dwayne and Dwight Bosman have been entertaining St. Louis along with the rest of the world for many years…and two things are absolutely clear: 1) They are awesome and 2) When you think Jazz…think Bosman Twins.”
- Jason Church
General Manager WSIE 88.7
“The Bosman Twins share the stage, giving each other generous space, whilst maintaining that connection which only truly gifted musicians have. Their music can roar and whisper, yet it always strikes at the soul. Jazz is a music of the spirit and the Bosman Twins make it a music of the heart too”
-Sammy Stein, author, critic , reviewer.