Marcus Roberts Trio

Jazz From Lincoln Center

Marcus Roberts Trio

by Paul Chuffo and Lauren Krenzel

1) Music: it Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing (3:34)

2) Vox: Jason Marsalis (int. At 15:43)

“Marcus is not a cliche pianist.// He has a completely original style that’s his, and I think that because of that, he gets overlooked sometimes//. (Edit to 18:16) Marcus is in a league of his own.”

3) Bradley:

IN A 14 YEAR CAREER, MARCUS ROBERTS HAS EXPLORED ALMOST EVERY ASPECT OF JAZZ PIANO. GOSPEL, RAGTIME, STRIDE, SWING, POP AND BEBOP – FROM ALL OF THESE INFLUENCES, HE’S FORGED A STYLE OF HIS OWN.

AND WHEN HE PLAYS THE MUSIC OF DUKE ELLINGTON, YOU CAN HEAR THE PAST, PRESENT AND PERHAPS THE FUTURE OF JAZZ.

MARCUS ROBERTS AND HIS TRIO PLAY ELLINGTON AND BEYOND – IN THIS EDITION OF JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, I’M ED BRADLEY.

4) Music out

5) Bradley:

THE INFLUENCE OF DUKE ELLINGTON HAS GONE WELL PAST HIS OWN RECORDINGS. EVEN THE ECLECTIC INNOVATOR THELONIOUS MONK HAD ELLINGTON AT THE CORE OF HIS PLAYING.

HERE’S MARCUS ROBERTS.

6) Vox: Marcus Roberts 10/31/99

“I do feel that each generation, there is some attempt to challenge the previous generation, // to add what came before or to see if there are perhaps better methods to solve certan problems.// (12:15)

7) Bradley:

ROBERTS HAS ABSORBED THE LESSONS OF THELONIOUS MONK, AND NOW HE USES MONK’S APPROACH TO DUKE ELLINGTON TO MAKE HS OWN STATEMENT.

HERE’S “I LET A SONG GO OUT OF MY HEART.”

8) Music: I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart 4:31

9) Bradley:

DUKE ELLINGTON’S “I LET A SONG GO OUT OF MY HEART” – ROLAND GUERIN ON BASS, JASON MARSALIS AT THE DRUMS AND MARCUS ROBERTS AT THE PIANO.

10) Music: gospel music – Mahalia Jackson “Prayer for Peace”

11) Bradley:

IN 1963, MARTHANIEL ROBERTS WAS BORN IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA. BLIND FROM AN EARLY AGE, HIS FIRST EXPOSURE TO MUSIC CAME FROM THE CHURCH WHERE HIS MOTHER WAS A SINGER.

AT HOME, HE PLAYED PIANO. AROUND AGE TWELVE, ROBERTS BEGAN STUDYING CLASSICAL MUSIC AND THEORY. OVER THE NEXT NINE YEARS HE DEVELOPED A POWERFUL TECHNIQUE – AND A PASSION FOR JAZZ.

ROBERTS FELL IN LOVE WITH “STRIDE,” THAT VIRTUOSIC, TWO-FISTED PIANO STYLE OF THE 20S AND 30S. HE MODELED HIS PERCUSSIVE SOUND ON JAMES P. JOHNSON, ART TATUM, AND MARY LOU WILLIAMS. HE DEVOURED THE RHYTHMS OF JELLY ROLL MROTYON, THE ELEGANCE OF ELLINGTON AND THE MODERN SOUNDS OF MONK. AT THE KEYBOARD, ROBERTS PUTS IT ALL TOGETHER.

WRITER STANLEY CROUCH.

12) Vox: Stanley Crouch

“The importance of what Marcus Roberts does is that it neutralizes any conception - old and new, // the point in art is not this generation or that, it’s regeneration. And I think that Marcus understands this perfectly, which is why he’s developed such ease moving back and forth between various so-called schools of playing.”

13) Bradley:

HERE’S ANOTHER TUNE WHERE MARCUS ROBERTS AND HIS TRIO START WITH MONK’S CLASSIC ARRANGEMENT OF AN ELLINGTON STANDARD. THEN THEY CREATE THEIR OWN RESPONSE TO – “IT DON’T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING.”

14) Music: It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing (3:34)

15) Bradley:

“IT DON’T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING” – THE MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO.

TRUMPETER WYNTON MARSALIS.

16) Vox: Wynton Marsalis”

“Marcus is unbelievable, as everyone knows who hears him, he’s adding a lot to the vocabulary of the piano. // Playing in different times in two times at once, no one has ever done that. Just that alone, that’s the ultimate syncopation. // And the future generation of pianists, he’s leaving a lot for them to deal with.”

17) Bradley:

IT WAS 1982 WHEN MARCUS ROBERTS FIRST MET THE MARSALIS FAMILY. ELLIS AND WYNTON HEARD HIM WIN THE PIANO COMPETITION IN CHICAGO. WYNTON TOOK A LIKING TO THE YOUNG PIANIST. IN 1985, HE INVITED ROBERTS TO JOIN HIS QUARTET.

FOR THE NEXT SIX YEARS, ROBERTS TOURED AND RECORDED WITH THE BAND. HE LEARNED A LOT ABOUT THE MUSIC BUSINESS AND FOUND IN WYNTON MARSALIS A COLLEAGUE DEDICATED TO THE JAZZ CANON.

WRITER AND PROFESSOR ROBERT O’MEALLY.

18) Vox: Robert O’Meally (ROM int. at approx 10:00)

“Roberts is part of the new wave of musicians who really feel obligated to know their antecedents, and sort of know the history of their instrument and it’s practitioners, and it’s exciting to have him hit the keyboard and have it resonate back to Jelly Roll Morton and you can hear Ellington and Monk in there.” (:23) [That’s okay,] but at the same time, it’s clear he’s listened to Sun Ra, and he knows what that’s about, too.”

19) Bradley:

WE’RE ABOUT TO HEAR A TUNE DUKE WROTE IN THE STUDIO WITH SAXOPHONE GIANT JOHN COLTRANE. THE POST BOP SOUND IS SURPRISING FROM ELLINGTON BUT IT CAPTURES TRANE’S RESTLESS SPIRIT.

HERE’S THE MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO WITH ELLIGNTON’S 1962 “TAKE THE COLTRANE.”

20) Music: Take the Coltrane (Duke) (7:25)

21) Bradley:

THE MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO – ROLAND GUERIN ON BASS, JASON MARSALIS AT THE DRUMS AND MARCUS ROBERTS ON PIANO WITH DUKE ELLINGTON’S “TAKE THE COLTRANE.“

WHILE ROBERTS HAS PLAYED IN BANDS OF ALL SIZES, HE’S KNOWN AS A GREAT SOLO PIANIST. HE CAN WEAVE THROUGH THE MUSIC, ENDLESSLY CHANGING TEMPO AND FEELING. IN THIS NEXT ELLINGTON TUNE, HE SHOWS ALL HIS STUFF – PLAYING GRAND, SWEEPING LIENS AND RETREATING INTO INTIMATE PASSAGES ON DUKE ELLINGTON AND JUAN TIZOL’S 1930 HIT “CARAVAN.”

22) Music: Caravan 4:55

23) Bradley:

MAJOR SUPPORT FOR JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER IS PROVIDED BY THE LILA WALLACE-READER’S DIGEST FUND, HELPING PEOPLE TO MAKE THE ARTS AND CULTURE AN ACTIVE PART OF THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES. ADDITIONAL SUPPORT COMES FROM N-P-R STATIONS.

OUR CELEBRATION OF THE DUKE ELLINGTON CENTENNIAL IS MADE POSSIBLE WITH SUPPORT FROM THE DORIS DUKE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION.

FOR MORE ABOUT THE MARCUS ROBERTS AND DUKE ELLINGTON, CHECK OUR WEBSITE AT YOU CAN E-MAIL TO OR WRITE TO US AT JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, NEW YORK CITY 10023.

YOU’RE LISTENING TO JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I’M ED BRADLEY.

[Midbreak @ tk – (incl. :10 as bed for local stations ID’s)]

26) Bradley:

PLAYING DUKE ELLINGTON’S MUSIC IS NATURAL FOR MARCUS ROBERTS IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE. BESIDES HIS LOVE FOR DUKE AS A COMPOSER, MARCUS HAS STUDIED ALL THE GREAT PIANISTS WHO INFLUENCED ELLINGTON, INCLUDING RAGTIME GRAND-MASTER, SCOTT JOPLIN.

AND LIKE DUKE, ROBERTS ISN’T AFRAID TO TAKE LIBERTIES ON A JOPLIN SONG, REGARDLESS OF THE COMPOSER’S WISHES.

27) Vox: Marcus Roberts

“There’s just one important note about Scott Joplin and that is that he hated to have his pieces improvised on. // Obviously, his wishes were completely ignored and I will follow in that same tradition//.”

28) Bradley:

THE MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO TWISTS, TURNS AND GIVES A THOROUGHLY MODERN SLANT TO “THE ENTERTAINER.”

29) Music: The Entertainer (Joplin) 5:20

30)Bradley:

SCOTT JOPLIN’S “THE ENTERTAINER” – ROLAND GUERIN ON BASS, JASON MARSALIS ON DRUMS, AND PIANIST MARCUS ROBERTS.

31) Music (under): Duke Ellington with John Coltrane, “The Feeling of Jazz”

32) Vox: Marcus Roberts

“Duke Ellington is the highest level in American Culture that we have produced. Period. End of discussion. He had the most philosophic view of how jazz music should develop, utilized every single jazz style as it was being developed on a higher level than most of the people that created them.”

33) Bradley:

DUKE ELLINGTON IS A STAGGERING FIGURE IN THE HISTORY OF JAZZ. WHETHER YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS, LONGEVITY OR INFLUENCE WHEN CONTEMPORARY MUSICIANS APPROACH DUKE’S MUSIC, IT’S HARD TO IGNORE THE GREAT INTERPRETATIONS OF THE PAST.

FOR A STUDENT OF JAZZ LIKE MARCUS ROBERTS, THIS IS THE GREAT CHALLENGE. ONSTAGE IN IOWA CITY, ROBERTS WITH SIDEMEN JASON MARSALIS AND ROBERT GUERIN TRY TO INVENT NEW WAYS TO HEAR “THE FEELING OF JAZZ.”

34) Music: The Feeling of Jazz (Ellington) 13:09

35) Bradley:

WITH AN EXTENDED IMPROVISATION ON DUKE ELLINGTON’S “THE FEELING OF JAZZ” -- ROLAND GUERIN, JASON MARSALIS AND MARCUS ROBERTS, THE MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO.

ROLAND GUERIN HAS SPENT 8 YEARS PLAYING BASS WITH MARK WHITFIELD, NICHOLAS PAYTON, GERRY MULLIGAN AND OTHERS. HE INVENTED A NEW TYPE OF BASS GUITAR AND LEADS HIS OWN QUINTET. DRUMMER JASON MARSALIS IS ALSO A BAND LEADER. AT THE AGE OF 21, HE’S THE YOUNGEST OF THE MARSALIS BROTHERS, AND CONTINUES THE FAMILY LEGACY OF PRODIGIOUS MUSICAL TALENT.

THOUGH THIS TRIO HAS BEEN PLAYING TOGETHER ONLY A SHORT TIME, THEY OFTEN SEEM TO READ EACH OTHER’S MINDS. ECHOING ROBERTS’ APPROACH, THEY FLOW EFFORTLESSLY THROUGH MOOD SWINGS AND TEMPO CHANGES.

JASON MARSALIS

36) Vox: Jason Marsalis

“There are cues that we do use to change tempos and to change moods so to speak, and sometimes we just use our reflexes. Like Marcus may do something which will change the setting so to speak, and we may go with him, I mean it’s to the point now that the basic concept of the trio is equal participation, from all three members. At this point we know each other’s instinct pretty well.”

37) Bradley:

THAT KNOWLEDGE IS PUT TO GOOD USE AS THE TRIO SHIFTS THROUGH THE FINALE OF MARCUS ROBERTS SUITE, “TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCE.”

THE MOVEMENT IS CALLED “RENEWED VISION.”

38) Music: Time and Circumstance (Robets) (edit in at 1:09:21-8:10)

39) Bradley:

“RENEWED VISION” – FROM THE MARCUS ROBERTS SUITE, “TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCE.”

THOUGH HE’S BEST KNOWN AS AN INTERPRETER, MARCUS ROBERTS HAS BEEN WRITING ALMOST SINCE THE BEGINNING OF HIS JAZZ CAREER. WE’LL CLOSE THIS HOUR WITH A SONG HE WROTE TO HONOR HIS MUSICAL ICONS – COLE PORTER AND NAT “KING” COLE.

FOR THESE TWO MASTERS OF AMERICAN SONG, ROBERTS PLAYS IN TWO DIFFERENT TIME SIGNATURES AT ONCE, PAYING TRIBUTE AND INVENTING AT THE SAME TIME.

HERE’S THE MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO WITH “COLE AFTER MIDNIGHT.”

40) Cole After Midnight (Roberts) 3:25

41) Bradley:

MARCUS ROBERTS’ “COLE AFTER MIDNIGHT” FEATURING ROLAND GUERIN AT THE BASS, JASON MARSALIS ON DRUMS AND MARCUS ROBERTS AT THE PIANO.

42) Music: something from a Marcus trio CD

43) Bradley:

JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER IS PRODUCED BY JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER AND MURRAY STREET ENTERPRISE, NEW YORK. THE PROGRAM WAS EDITED BY LAUREN KRENZEL. OUR SENIOR PRODUCER IS STEVE RATHE.

THE RECORDINGS WERE MIXED BY DAVID ROBINSON AND BY EDWARD HABER AND MICHAEL DeMARK. DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY DAVID GOREN AT STEPHEN ERICKSON’S STUDIO.

{alt} DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY STEPHEN ERICKSON.

{alt} DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY ASSOCIATE PRODUCER PAUL CHUFFO.

THE PRODUCTION TEAM INCLUDES AVE CARRILLO [AHH-vay cah-REE-yo], GWENDOLYN DEAN, ROB GRADER, TRACEY SCHUTTY AND GERRY KORNBLUTH.

THANKS TO APRIL SMITH, CHRISTA TETER, SUSAN RADIN, BILLY BANKS, LAURA JOHNSON, RCA RECORDS, DaCAPO PRESS, AND A & J STUDIOS.

THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR OF JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER IS ROB GIBSON. THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR IS WYNTON MARSALIS.

I’M ED BRADLEY. THIS IS N-P-R, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.