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 Saturday, 18 May 2013 |
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The Marcus Roberts Trio at Dizzy's Jan 24 - 29 |
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Written by Ronaldo Oregano
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Monday, 23 January 2012 |
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"And what became clear by the conclusion of this fascinating program was that Roberts...opens up a creative window on both the past and future. By retaining the substance of these works, without mimicking their styles, by finding within them new musical challenges for the present and the future, rather than a by-the-numbers need for precise historical reproduction, he is identifying the entire jazz repertory as a timeless arena for creative endeavor." -Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times  Marcus Roberts © Andrea Canter
The Marcus Roberts Trio will appear at Dizzy's in New York on Tuesday, January 24th through Sunday, January 28th with 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. sets nightly and additional 11:30 p.m. sets on Friday & Saturday. The trio features Marcus Roberts on piano, Rodney Jordanvon bass and NEA Jazz Master, Jason Marsalis on drums.
 Marcus Roberts with Roland Guerin © Andrea Canter
Marcus Roberts began his professional career performing with jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. He had already recorded six albums before signing with Columbia early in 1994. During this time, he enjoyed the distinction of being the first jazz musician to have his first three recordings reach number one on Billboard's traditional jazz chart. He has recorded a wealth of original solo and band material, with a continuing commitment to exploring the American solo piano tradition with his versions of classics by Ellington, Monk, Jelly Roll Morton and James P.Johnson.
Marthaniel Roberts was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on August 7, 1963. Blind since the age of five, Roberts was first exposed to music in the local church, where his mother was a gospel singer. His parents bought a piano when he was eight, and he began nine years of formal training at age twelve. While a music major at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Roberts studied with Leonidus Lipovetsky, who, along with Van Cliburn, was a student of the noted Russian piano teacher Rosina Lhevinne. Roberts also cites such diverse pianists as Art Tatum, Vladimir Ashkenazy, James P. Johnson and Mary Lou Williams as early influences.
Aspiring to a career in jazz, Roberts won several state-wide competitions and even earned plaudits from Florida's governor. In 1982 he won the competition at the annual convention of the National Association of Jazz Educators in Chicago, where he met pianist Ellis Marsalis, patriarch of the noted jazz dynasty. Wynton Marsalis heard Roberts play at the convention, and the trumpeter asked his father to have Roberts contact him.
Marsalis went on to have a profound influence on Roberts' artistic development, as he took the young pianist under his wing. By 1985 their relationship had evolved to the point where Marsalis invited Roberts to take over the piano chair in his quartet vacated by Kenny Kirkland.
Roberts was surprised by the opportunity, but so was Marsalis, because by the time the pianist had joined the ensemble, he had learned its entire repertoire from tapes the trumpeter had sent him. Roberts maintained a busy touring schedule with Marsalis from 1985 to 1991 and appeared on virtually all the trumpeter's jazz recordings made during that period. He continued to garner awards, including the $10,000 first prize at the first Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 1987. Jason Marsalis © Andrea Canter
In addition, Roberts' work on behalf of the Jazz at Lincoln Center program has been most impressive. One of the highlights of the summer 1993 Classical Jazz Series at Lincoln Center was the debut of Roberts' remarkably ambitious seventy-minute Romance, Swing and the Blues, described by the New York Post as "...a rich, life-filled and quite absorbing extended work." Its triumphant performance occurred on August 7, the pianist's thirtieth birthday, and it marked the beginning of a very promising new decade for Roberts. A vast knowledge of the jazz canon served the artist well during his tenure as music director for the nineteen-member Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra's coast-to-coast U.S. tour in the winter of 1994. Roberts selected the nightly programs and served as emcee for the mostly sold-out thirty-city tour. Throughout 1994 he devoted much of his time to the work of Gershwin, including a spectacular performance as a soloist with Leon Botstein's American Symphony Orchestra in Variations on I Got Rhythm at an Avery Fisher Hall concert titled Common Ground: Jazz, African-American and Jewish Composers (1930-1955).
Roberts is active as an educator, conducting seminars and clinics throughout the United States. Roberts also has a special interest in working with the blind and has recently contributed his time to projects with The Lighthouse and the American Foundation for the Blind, two nationally recognised organisations for people with impaired vision.
Another important contribution that Roberts has made to jazz music is a large body of original music. He has written numerous suites of music, such as "Romance, Swing, and the Blues", "Deep in the Shed", "Time and Circumstance", "In Honor of Duke", "From Rags to Rhythm", and "The Sound of the Band", as well as a very large number of original songs and arrangements. He has received various commissioning awards, including ones from Jazz at Lincoln Center, Chamber Music America, ASCAP, and the North Carolina Association of Jazz Educators.
Roberts has been instrumental to the training and development of a large number of young musicians, including such great jazz artists as trumpeters Marcus Printup and Nicholas Payton, trombonist Ronald Westray, bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Jason Marsalis. A few years ago, Roberts became more involved in the formal instruction of young musicians and composers, first serving as a "Housewright Scholar" at the School of Music at Florida State University and then joining the faculty there the next year as an Assistant Professor where he still teaches when he is not on tour. Finally, Roberts and his trio regularly provide master classes, workshops, school shows, and residency programs all over the world. Their goal is to help to expose as many young people as possible to jazz music.
Dizzy's is located at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center Broadway at 60th Street, on the 5th Floor. For Reservations Call: 212 258-9595 or -9795. Seating is available on a first-come first-served basis either at tables or at the bar. For more information, visit: www.jalc.org/dccc |
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