Book Marcus Roberts

Marcus Roberts is an American jazz pianist, bandleader, composer and teacher admired for bringing the deep roots of jazz piano to modern audiences. He rose to prominence in the 1980s when he took over the piano chair in Wynton Marsalis's band, succeeding Kenny Kirkland. His playing leans toward the ragtime and stride traditions of Jelly Roll Morton and Fats Waller, and his recording career includes The Truth Is Spoken Here (1988), Deep in the Shed (1990), Alone With Three Giants (1991), As Serenity Approaches (1992), Portraits in Blue (1996), Blues for the New Millennium (1997) and New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol. 1 (2009), featuring Joplin and Ellington. He has earned a Grammy nomination. His first piano concerto, commissioned jointly by the Savannah Music Festival and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, is Spirit of the Blues: Piano Concerto in C Minor, and he has appeared as a soloist with conductors Marin Alsop and Seiji Ozawa. In 2012 he founded the 12-piece Modern Jazz Generation. Roberts teaches at Florida State University, was profiled on 60 Minutes in 2014 and was given a honorary BYU doctorate in 2021. His concerts are joyful, swinging affairs.