Word: cd
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...days I was reading about the after-math of the symphony's demise, I was also listening to a CD I had just bought: Bach's six solo cello suites. A friend had recommended them, and as I listened I thought that there was little better than this on earth. I have had similar feelings about many of the pieces I was exposed to in Robert Levin's Core course, Literature and Arts B-54: "Chamber Music from Mozart to Ravel." From Schubert's light Trout Quintet to Beethoven's brooding late string quartets, all nine pieces I was required...
Roberts has recorded formidable material before--on his 1991 CD, Three Giants, he covered works by Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. But on Portraits in Blue he takes on his biggest musical challenge by remaking material that is even more familiar and sacrosanct to many listeners. Says Roberts: "Rhapsody in Blue is a piece everyone knows, so the changes you hear, if done right, can give you some idea of the power of jazz music. I wanted to try and bring the piece up to date without sacrificing its basic nature and personality." Because Rhapsody in Blue...
...glissando--is given a new twist. Roberts instead starts the piece with what he calls "a series of improvised statements," the first being the forlorn sound of a single banjo. Gershwin's 1920s piano rolls have set a high standard for pianists to follow, but Roberts' performance on this CD adds some graceful verve. His fleet-fingered improvisations--constant, probing, thoughtful--provide color to an already multihued work without seeming merely ornamental. After hearing Roberts, we sense that there are many more shades of blue than we previously imagined...
Roberts creates his very own classic with Time and Circumstance, a theme album with emotional echoes of jazz saxophonist John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, another classic exploration of the nature and meaning of love. This new CD, without words, tells the story of two lovers who meet, suffer an unspecified loss--it could be a child, it could be some other tragedy--and use that pain to renew their relationship. The songs may be elegiac and romantic, but Roberts and his trio--Wynton's brother Jason Marsalis on drums and David Grossman on bass--never trade emotional complexity...
Roberts has explored both Gershwin and love in the past--notably on his previous CD, the politely sedate Gershwin for Lovers. But Time and Circumstance contains a message that goes beyond romance. This music "speaks to what jazz is all about," says Roberts. "It helps musicians to see an attitude of affirmation and acceptance, never losing the ability to fight toward a higher level of understanding and engagement in public life." On both of his smart new albums, Roberts takes listeners to that higher level. And always with soul...