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Moreover, in 2003 Roberts—whose friends
call him the “J Master”—premiered a visionary
jazz-trio version of George Gershwin’s
“Concerto In F,” with Seiji Ozawa conducting
the New Japan Philharmonic (the CD is available
only in Japan). In 2004 Roberts and Ozawa
revisited the retooled concerto with the Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra, by many observers’
estimates the greatest symphony orchestra in
the world. In addition, Roberts has taken a faculty
position at his alma mater, Florida State
University, in Tallahassee; and he composed
and performed major jazz suites, such as “From
Rags To Rhythm” (commissioned by Chamber
Music America) and “The Sound Of The Band”
(commissioned by ASCAP and Jazz at Lincoln
Center).
More important, perhaps, Roberts plunged
into a major overhaul of his technique. He built
the trio that is now at the core of his work and
artistic identity, and reimagined how to release
his music. Roberts isn’t the only major jazz figure
to have stepped away from the limelight,
with forebears such as Sonny Rollins and
Thelonious Monk famously taking significant
periods of time to regroup. The key issue is what
the artist produces when he returns, and in
Roberts’ case the results prove impressive.
Though New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol. 1
builds upon Roberts’ long-time fascination with
historical periods and landmark compositions,
he and his colleagues—drummer Jason
Marsalis and bassist Roland Guerin—have radically
re-envisioned works such as Jelly Roll
Morton’s “New Orleans Blues,” Duke
Ellington’s “Black And Tan Fantasy” and
Monk’s “In Walked Bud.”
Yet this historically informed approach to
jazz improvisation long has drawn critical fire,
with the Los Angeles Times in the early 1990s
questioning Roberts’ “heavy involvement with
impressions of other pianists, at a relatively early
stage of his career, [which] would seem to work
against the development of his own personality.
How, amid all these Duke and Monk and
Morton acknowledgments, can there be a
Marcus Roberts style”
Then, as now, Roberts rejects the underlying
premise of the criticism—that exploring the
works of jazz luminaries diminishes contemporary
perspectives. To the contrary, Roberts
argues that every field or discipline builds on
past achievements, and that past masterpieces
open windows to new insights.
“I would argue we’re not looking back,”
Roberts said. “Jelly Roll Morton has not been
explored, really, at all. Genius is a timeless
thing. It’s never a question of looking back to
something. It is figuring out a way to bring the
genius of what these masters did into our generation,
and figure out a way to use that information
for our own art and our own imagination in
the contemporary society we live in.”
Roberts has leapt whole-heartedly into
this mission on New Orleans Meets
Harlem, Vol. 1 (he expects to release a
second-volume follow-up). The trio brilliantly
fractures rhythms and reconceives strands of
Joplin’s “The Entertainer”; applies contemporary
harmonic language to Ellington’s “Pie
Eyes Blues”; and makes room for a piano soliloquy
worthy of Chopin or Liszt in Morton’s
“Jungle Blues.”
Furthermore, Roberts’ pianism—always
notable for the fleet virtuosity of his right hand
and the stride-inspired buoyancy of his left—
shows a new tonal sheen and sensitivity of
expression. This is part of what Roberts aspired
toward in his time away. He reworked his playing
by studying Bach “Preludes” and “Fugues”
to obtain better command of individual melodic
lines. Chopin etudes helped him master touch,
tone and various technical challenges; and
Mozart piano sonatas allowed him to perfect a
lighter approach to the keyboard.
But during his time away from the recording
studio, Roberts was after something even more
formidable than honing his pianism: He wanted
to create a trio in which each player reaches for a
similar level of tonal luster and control, an
ensemble in which each musician plays so
important a role that no individual stands out.
Instead, the trio itself becomes the primary
instrument, albeit a malleable one in which the
musical focus constantly shifts from one player
to the next, often from one phrase to the next.
For Roberts, that is the challenge that has
preoccupied him since the end of the last century,
when he, Marsalis and Guerin decided to
commit to the long hours of rehearsal involved
in forging this kind of trio, with all the intricate
cues and explorations of repertoire this entails.
They spent years developing their musical discourse
to a point in which they could improvise
fluidly, not only with one another other but
with a symphony orchestra, as in the Gershwin
concerto.
“In 1999 we hunkered down and tried to
deal with some music,” said drummer Marsalis,
who had been playing with Roberts periodically
since the mid-1990s. “What Marcus wanted to
do was essentially have a group that would
make a great statement in jazz music and
explore what in his view was a high level of
musicianship. We constantly got together to
practice, work on fundamental things, try to
develop our sound and our swing.”
If there was a model, Marsalis said, it was
celebrated trios of Ahmad Jamal and Oscar
Roland Guerin (left), Jason Marsalis and
Roberts at the Village Vanguard in 2003
JACK VARTOOGIAN/FRONTROWPHOTOS
36 DOWNBEAT June 2009