HUMBERTO AMORIM - JAZZ IS TIMELESS

O pianista de jazz Marcus Roberts, nasceu no 7 de Agosto de 1963, em Jacksonville, Flórida e sua musica foi extremamente influenciada pela musica gospel que sua mãe cantava no coro da igreja que frequentava. Marcus perdeu a visão quando tinha apenas 6 anos de idade. Seus pais lhe deram de presente um piano, quando ele completou oito anos e num periodo de apenas quatro anos ele se tornou auto-didata com excelente resultados.

Nesta mesma, epoca começou a tocar na igreja Batista, todos os domingos. Somente aos doze anos começou a aprender piano formalmente. Decidiu ser pianista de jazz depois d eouvir as execuções dos jazz masters Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Mary Lou Williams e tantos outros, pelo radio.

Clicl para ve-lo em ação tocando uma de suas canções favoritas,"Aint Misbehaving".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3vNpBWdN7s

Jazz pianist Marcus Roberts was born August 7,1963 in Jacksonville, Florida. His music has always been influenced by the early exposure to his mother's gospel singing and the music of the local church. Marcus lost his sight at age five. His parents bought him a piano when he was eight years old and he was self-taught for four years. During that time, he played in the local Baptist church every Sunday. When he was twelve years old, he started his first formal piano lessons. He decided that he wanted to be a jazz pianist after listening to the music of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Mary Lou Williams and others on the radio.

After graduating from high school, Roberts left Jacksonville to attend Florida State University (FSU) where he studied classical piano with Leonidus Lipovetsky, who had been a student of the noted Russian piano teacher Rosina Lhevinne. While at FSU, Roberts won his first of many awards and competitions (the young artist's competition at the 1982 National Association of Jazz Educators annual conference). The next year he won the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, followed by first prize at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 1987.

Marcus Roberts is known as one of the most diverse artists in jazz. He has a deep respect for the contributions and achievements of the great masters of jazz and classical music. His highly innovative and original piano style as well as his philosophy of jazz improvisation is a merging of his love for great music from every era with his own creative imagination. In his words, Roberts says, “Every time I sit down to the piano, I draw spontaneously from as much of the history of great music as I have at my fingertips.

In 2003, Roberts premiered his new arrangement of Gershwin's Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra in Japan with the New Japan Philharmonic and then in Europe, with the Berlin Philharmonic for their annual Wäldbuhne concert. The performance with the Berlin Philharmonic was recorded and released (A Gershwin Night) in DVD format. In 2005, Roberts and his trio traveled to Matsumoto, Japan to perform and record the concerto (Decca Records, 2006) with the world-renowned Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra once again under the direction of Maestro Sei Ozawa. During that recording session, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the U.S., leaving his Louisiana-based trio members in limbo. Drummer Jason Marsalis has still be unable to return to his home in New Orleans.

Another important contribution that Roberts has made to jazz music is a large body of original music. He has written numerous suites of music, such as “Romance, Swing, and the Blues”, “Deep in the Shed”, “Time and Circumstance”, “In Honor of Duke”, “From Rags to Rhythm”, and “The Sound of the Band”, as well as a very large number of original songs and arrangements. He has received various commissioning awards, including ones from Jazz at Lincoln Center, Chamber Music America, ASCAP, and the North Carolina Association of Jazz Educators.
Roberts has been instrumental to the training and development of a large number of young musicians, including such great jazz artists as trumpeters Marcus Printup and Nicholas Payton, trombonist Ronald Westray, bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Jason Marsalis. A few years ago, Roberts became more involved in the formal instruction of young musicians and composers, first serving as a “Housewright Scholar” at the School of Music at Florida State University and then joining the faculty there the next year as an Assistant Professor where he still teaches when he is not on tour.

Finally, Roberts and his trio regularly provide master classes, workshops, school shows, and residency programs all over the world. Their goal is to help to expose as many young people as possible to jazz music.

Tradução - Humberto Amorim