Chicago Tribune
Howard Reich
Arts Critic
Marcus Roberts travels back in time
April 21, 2011
“On Friday evening, Roberts will reach for another personal milestone: his first performance with the Count Basie Orchestra — which is why thoughts of Basie are flickering in his memory. 'Basie gave an amazing concert at Florida State when I was a student … and he actually spent his entire intermission talking with me,' recalls Roberts, still marveling at his good fortune at being received backstage by the legendary musician.”
"'All you have to ask yourself is: What do you want your musical identity to be informed by? Whose expertise can help you understand who you are?' In Roberts' case, the list of influences is long, including ragtime master Scott Joplin and jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton, stride-piano genius James P. Johnson and iconic pianist-bandleader Duke Ellington, keyboard virtuoso Fats Waller and bebop-era revolutionary Thelonious Monk.
“But Roberts never has mimicked these inimitable players. Instead, he has incorporated into his work the New Orleans sensibility of Morton, the hypervirtuosity of Johnson, the ebullience of Waller, the rhythmic and harmonic inventiveness of Monk, and so on.” [Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1874), James P. Johnson (1894-1955) and Scott Joplin (1868-1917) are profiled at AfriClassical.com]
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