Track Listing

1. Jungle Blues
2. Mood Indigo
3. Solitude
4. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
5. Trinkle, Tinkle
6. Misterioso
7. Pannonica
8. New Orleans Blues
9. Prelude to a Kiss
10. Shout 'Em Aunt Tillie
11. Black and Tan Fantasy
12. Monk's Mood
13. In Walked Bud
14. Crepuscule With Nellie
15. Crave

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69563 in Music
• Released on: 1990-12-29
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
It's not unusual for contemporary musicians to record tributes to Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington, but Marcus Roberts showed some character on this 1990 session when he extended his reach to include the relatively neglected Jelly Roll Morton in this solo invocation of the three great pianist-composers of jazz. His strong feeling for the early jazz versions of the blues is apparent in the performances of Morton's "Jungle Blues" and "New Orleans Blues." The feeling carries over directly into the early Ellington classics like "Mood Indigo and "Black and Tan Fantasy." Roberts plays Monk with a keen sense of Monk's roots in early jazz piano music, apparent in "Trinkle Tinkle," and there's also a refreshing look at some neglected Ellington in "Shout 'Em, Aunt Tillie." --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

Roberts distinquishes himself with these classic pieces!
Marcus Roberts is one of the finest jazz pianist playing today. It is obvious where he gets his inspiration by the way he plays these classic pieces by three legends of jazz. Close your eyes and let Roberts' command of his left hand carry you back to when jazz was a mainstay in America's music repertoire. If Roberts continues to play with such brilliance, people will be recording his classic in the future. This is a great work to introduce your friends to the simple joys of jazz piano or to listen along with other seasoned listeners for the brilliant complexities displayed by Roberts. If one Marcus Roberts CD is all you need, this should be it. By I bet you'll change your mind and decide it won't be your last!

True Artistry.
Mr. Roberts came here in Rivercity some years back and I was fortunate enough to see him. I knew he was of the senior Marselis camp, but I didn't know what to expect from him....as he began to play, I was awestruck. He did mostly primal jazz and ragtime standards like Jelly Roll Martin, Scott Joplin rags and Ellington but with a twist. The 'twist' is his improvisational skills which make you totally forget you were perhaps listening to "Mood Indigo" when he began. At the end of the concert, I was speechless. In recent times, I saw him perform with Denver's Philharmonic one of my favorite Gerswhin's pieces "Rhapsody In Blue" and I found myself looking for him to cue the conductor for the orchestration because as I said, his improvising seems totally, totally different from the musical theme established. You get lost in the artistry. I had no success in finding any giveaways. For all it's worth, like I've said in many of my past reviews, ya gotta hear this, it'll blow ya away. I really mean it for Marcus Roberts. (If you could see him in concert, it'll knock you out, too.)

A fine collection
Marcus Roberts is a gifted modern jazz pianist, who has played with the Marsalis brothers and many other well known musicians. This lovely solo recording from 1990 was made in Delf's Crib (1 track) and St Josephs's cathedral (11 tracks) in New Orleans and the Concordia College in New York (3 tracks).

Roberts here plays 3 Jelly Roll Morton tunes and six each of Ellington and Monk. The playing is mostly under-stated with Roberts sense of touch at the Piano shining through. Occasionally on tunes like Monks's 'Trinkle Tinkle' (which Monk didn't like playing because it had so many notes!) Roberts stretches out a bit and you can hear some of the fantastic techinque that he is undoubted blessed with. Perhaps my only criticism of the album is that this doesn't happen enough.

Overall though for any fan of Jazz Piano, this well worth hunting out, as unfortunately it now seems to have gone