E-mail a friendMarcus Roberts
airdate October 30, 2009
Known as one of jazz' most diverse artists, Marcus Roberts celebrates classic standards and traditions of the genre. The Grammy-nominated pianist has a large body of original music and performs with orchestras all over the world. After losing his sight at age 5, he began playing piano a few years later and studied classical piano at Florida State. He got his big break as trumpeter Wynton Marsalis' sideman. Roberts has developed outreach programs for children of all ages and, when not on tour, is assistant jazz studies professor at his alma mater.
Celebrated jazz pianist explains the level of study it takes to understand music. (1:19)
Full Interview (7:24)
Marcus Roberts
Tavis: When he was just five years old, Marcus Roberts lost his eyesight, but that has never, ever deterred him from his dream of becoming a musician. As an eight-year-old, he began to teach himself how to play the piano and later would attend the same Florida as some guy named Ray Charles. He's now the front man for the Marcus Roberts Trio.
In just a moment, he'll be joined by the band for a performance from this new CD, "New Orleans Meets Harlem." But first, Marcus Roberts, an honor to have you on this program, man.
Marcus Roberts: Oh, it's my pleasure, man.
Tavis: I've been waiting for this a long time to get you on the West Coast.
Roberts: Yeah, we been talking about it (laughter).
Tavis: For a few years (laughter) back and forth, so I'm glad it worked out. You're on the road playing now?
Roberts: Yeah. We were just in San Francisco, then we're gonna head to Japan in a couple of days and play a club over there.
Tavis: Japan, to Tokyo?
Roberts: Tokyo, uh-huh.
Tavis: Oh, I want to go, I want to go.
Roberts: It's a nice place. You'd like it.
Tavis: I would love it, I think. How much time do you spend on the road?
Roberts: It's hard to say because some of it we're doing workshops and educational stuff. I don't know an exact number. Maybe 50 dates a year. I don't know.
Tavis: And you're still teaching?
Roberts: Yeah. I teach at Florida State. They got some real talented young people there. I love teaching. I been doing it really my whole life. Then when I'm not teaching, you know, we're out here trying to play and get people into jazz music and kind of rebuild our audience.
Tavis: When you say rebuild our audience, what do you mean by that?
Roberts: Well, I just feel like jazz is a wonderful music that was once the premier music of the culture. It's still popular with some people, but I think we've lost a little traction and we're just trying to reintroduce people to the music so they know that the music is out here. Even though everybody has a different vision of what jazz is, the good news is there's probably some kind of jazz that's gonna suit your personality.
Tavis: What's it like sitting in Marcus Roberts's class? I guess one doesn't really sit. One has to perform and participate, but what do you teach and what's your class like?
Roberts: Well, the way I work, I have the young people come in usually in groups, because jazz is a community music; it's a group music. So we'll have somebody playing piano, somebody playing bass, somebody playing drums and horn players playing trumpet and trombone and saxophone.
They come in and my job is really to teach them how to use the ability they have to unlock what they don't know about jazz so that what they do know comes out and shines when they perform in front of people. That's my job, to prepare them hopefully for the stage or to teach, but in such a way that they're really grounded in the fundamentals of the music.
Tavis: Tell me more about your journey of unlocking what you did not know about jazz when you started at eight.
Roberts: Well, it started in church. Usually the way we used to work, I mean, we didn't have music or nothing, so you listened to people and I tried to figure out what they were doing every Sunday. When I became even a professional musician, that's still the way I like to work.
I mean, I can read Braille music notation, but I prefer to get a CD or a recording of something that I'm gonna learn and get into the sound of it because to me that's the essence. Like if you can communicate the sound of something, the belief system behind something, and then reorganize that into your own subconscious view of that information, then you can communicate that, I think, very effectively to the people.
Tavis: What do you think that you hear that the rest of us don't? Given that you rely so much on your ears, to your point now, versus reading music per se, what do you think you hear that we don't? That may be an impossible question. Let me ask it anyway.
Roberts: Well, it's hard to say. I mean, what you hear in music really has more to do with the amount of study that you do. I'm always wanting to hear - like the way I work on music is to break it down, the specific detail of it, so if I learn a piece, I don't just learn the piano part.
I learn the bass part, the drum part or, if I'm composing a piece, I'm trying to hear all these instruments in my head at one time so that you can break it down or have a general view of the whole thing. So I think that allows you to take any component of what you hear and do something with it. It's very important to have a global picture of the music.
Tavis: Ray Charles had his own style and I assume that Marcus Roberts does as well. I'm gonna put you on the spot now. Tell me the secret - maybe you don't want to divulge this - but when the guys in the band are playing with you, what's the secret for them knowing what you want for following you, for working with you when you're in a live performance? How are they following you?
Roberts: Well, the truth is, this trio is a little different. We actually all follow each other and we use quick reflexes. I mean, jazz music is a lot like, you know, sports or something. Like if somebody throws a long pass, you know you got to get way down the field to catch it. It's gonna come down to mechanics, but also reflexes and the ability to have a creative imagination to get in position to catch that football.
In music, we try in my group to feed off of each other and make room for each other so that that way the piano and the bass and the drums sound like more than three instruments really, like if it's really handled the way we want. We all believe in a similar thing even though we have different backgrounds.
Tavis: That's why I love Marcus Roberts. The cat plays jazz and he's giving us a football metaphor (laughter) to explain how the band works and that's why I love this brother. Tell me about the new CD, "New Orleans Meets Harlem."
Roberts: Well, it's music that we've been playing for a while, but we've got some really great new arrangements that we've been working on over the years. We put this CD out to celebrate Mark, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Martin, Scott Joplin and Fats Waller and also to showcase how their styles and their contributions have influenced our group.
You can find the CD on our website at marcusroberts.com and also you can sign up for our mailing list because we're trying to build that up. You know, we're trying to get as many people into the history of jazz, but also make it clear that the history of jazz conforms our generation and our time in history right now.
Tavis: Marcusroberts.com is the way to find him. The new CD is called "New Orleans Meets Harlem." Speaking of Thelonious Monk, for those who watch this show regularly - I hope that's you - earlier this week, we had a great conversation with the writer, the author, who wrote a great brand new book about Thelonious Monk by Robin D.G. Kelley. But now Marcus Roberts and the trio will play a Thelonious Monk classic, so stay with us.
From the new CD, "New Orleans Meets Harlem," here is the Marcus Roberts Trio performing the Theolonious Monk classic, "Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are." Enjoy. Goodnight from Los Angeles and keep the faith.
[Live Performance]
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