Bob LaMendola plays bass in Jazz Survivors

Bob LaMendola, bass
If Bob performs right, you may barely notice his playing.  The essence of his musical approach is to become like the frame of a beautiful cathedral ~ you don't see it but you know it's there holding everything up. 
Maybe it was inborn. Like many who grew up in the '60s, Bob started playing guitar after seeing  the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. But friends in his hometown of Rochester, N.Y., noticed that when he sang a song from the radio, he sang the bass line. 
So after he moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1987, he switched to the bass and connected up with the others to start the band in 1995. After a while, he became the band's booker, contact man, paperwork preparer and bottle washer. Who knew it would last three decades? As he always says, "I do that stuff so the other guys will let me play music with them."