Marcus Roberts Trio
Marcus Roberts (piano), Roland Guerin (bass), Jason Marsalis (drums).
TRACKS
1. New Orleans Blues (Jelly Roll Morton)
2. Jitterbug Waltz (Fats Waller)
3. The Entertainer (Scott Joplin)
4. Pie Eyes Blues (Duke Ellington)
5. Jungle Blues (Jelly Roll Morton)
6. Black and Tan Fantasy (Duke Ellington)
7. Ain't Misbehavin' (Fats Waller)
8. Honeysuckle Rose (Fats Waller)
9. A Real Slow Drag (Scott Joplin)
10. In Walked Bud (Thelonious Monk)
11. Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are (Thelonious Monk)
12. Searching for the Blues (Marcus Roberts)
New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol 1
Robert's goal in this debut recording on his label, J-Master Records, was "to show how New Orleans music impacted the music of the later Harlem style and how both impacted all of modern jazz". This recording includes imaginative takes on Joplin’s “The Entertainer,” and “Jitterbug Waltz”. Roberts’ distinctive arrangements make the most of the trio format—at times suggesting the influence of Ahmad Jamal’s fully integrated small combos. The interaction with Guerin and Marsalis contributes to the album’s rooted pleasures and appealing tangents when the focus shifts to “Honeysuckle Rose,” “In Walked Bud” and other standards. Not to be missed, is an engaging performance of Ellington’s “Pie Eye’s Blues.”
Copyright: 2009, Marcus Roberts / J-Master Records