Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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ROBERTS, Marcus

(b 7 August 1963, Jacksonsville FL) Pianist, composer. Blind from age five, he started on piano at eight, attended Florida State U, played with Wynton Marsalis '85-91 and became the first artist to have his own first three albums all go to no. 1 on the Billboard jazz chart, not as great an achievement as it should have been, given that most meaningless of charts. The first album, The Truth Is Spoken Here '88 on Novus, had Reginal Veal on bass, Elvin Jones on drums, Marsalis, Charlie Rouse and Todd Williams contributing; there were five originals, two Ellington tunes and a solo on 'Blue Monk' which sounded tentative, although Roberts had won the first Thelonious Monk Competition. Deep In The Shed '89 featured the Marsalis band (the ex-boss billed as 'E. Dankworth'), Roberts sounding a bit like McCoy Tyner; Alone With Three Giants '90 had Monk, Ellington and Morton tunes; As Serenity Approaches '91, If I Could Be With You '92 and Plays Ellington '93 were all also on Novus.

He played an extended work 'Romance, Swing And The Blues' at Lincoln Center in 1993, directed the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra on tour, and in '94 played Gershwin with the American Symphony Orchestra. He switched to Columbia for Gershwin For Lovers '94, an agreeable low-key trio album; Portraits In Blue '96 on Sony Classical saw him rewriting Gershwin's 'Rhapsody In Blue' and reviving James P. Johnson's 'Yamekraw'. If the Gershwin was rewritten on the premise that Gershwin would have written differently if he had known more about jazz, Roberts should concentrate on finding his own voice; and Time And Circumstance '96 was an original 76-minute concept, 14 pieces about a lifelong love affair, with talented youngsters David Grossman and Jason Marsalis on bass and drums, the latter is also featured on the ambitious album Blues For The New Millennium '97. Further albums on Columbia were the solo piano Joy Of Joplin '98 and trio sets In Honor Of Duke '99 and Cole After Midnight 2001.

Then there was an eight-year gap until he formed his own label, J-Master Music. The trio now included Roland Guerin on bass and Marsalis on drums. New Orleans Meets Harlem Volume 1 2009 was described by one critic as 'both pedantic and full of strange creativity'. He insists on being an archivist (Fats Waller, Scott Joplin), not just reprising but reshuffling all the idioms to show that they have all been part of a great mainstream, but fans still wish for more of his own writing. Further albums apparently in the can but not yet released were the solo A Touch Of Romance and trio sets From Rags To Rhythm and Together Again, the latter adding guest Wynton.