Jazz Articles about Troy Roberts

About Troy Roberts

Album Review

Alessandro Florio: Controra Avenue

Read "Controra Avenue" reviewed by Don Ball

by Don Ball
September 23, 2026

Jazz organ trios tend toward a funky, nitty-gritty sound, like a night out at a juke joint in Mississippi. Italian guitarist Alessandro Florio presents a different approach, much like lazing away on a warm, sunny day at a Mediterranean beach. Not that he cannot bring the groove when he wants, but Florio's album lives up to its name of an imaginary street in New York City that reflects the time after lunch, “controra" in Italian, when the sun is the ...

Album Review

Jared Hall: Hometown

by Jack Bowers
April 30, 2026

The Hometown in question is Spokane, Washington, where trumpeter and composer Jared Hall was born and raised. On his third album for Origin Records, Hall salutes the hometown to which he has returned after years as a touring musician with a splendid series of his original compositions and new readings of others by Bobby Hutcherson and Thelonious Monk. To help carry out his plan, Hall enlisted the services of four stellar sidemen: tenor saxophonist Troy Roberts, pianist Ben ...

Album Review

Pat Bianchi: Confluence

Read "Confluence" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
March 24, 2026

Pat Bianchi has never been content to let the organ settle into its own mythology. With Confluence, he shows that the organ trio, when in skilled hands, remains one of the most energetic formats in jazz. Joined by saxophonist Troy Roberts and drummer Colin Stranahan, Bianchi delivers a seven-track session that feels more like a late-night set in a lively club than a studio recording; urgent, honest, and full of purpose. The opener, “It Was A Very Good ...

Album Review

The Birdland Big Band: Storybook: The Music of Mark Miller

Read "Storybook: The Music of Mark Miller" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 7, 2025

Storybook, the third recording by the New York City-based Birdland Big Band, is subtitled “the music of Mark Miller" and is designed to showcase compositions and arrangements by that multi-talented artist who doubles (triples) as the band's lead trombonist. Miller wrote or co-wrote half of the album's 10 colorful and impressive numbers (11 if one counts Joaquin Rodrigo's brief “Concerto de Aranjuez," which serves as an introduction to Chick Corea's “Spain") and arranged all of them. Miller's ...

Album Review

Silvano Monasterios: The River

Read "The River" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 11, 2025

To enhance his musical excursion along The River, composer, arranger and pianist Silvano Monasterios invited eight talented companions on board to share the ride. He did not make it easy for them. As envisioned by Monasterios, this river is by turns placid or turbulent, sparse or overflowing--but invariably tricky to navigate and tame. The entire work, he writes, is “a suite of what I consider Venezuelan music," and was inspired by the people in his native land ...

Album Review

Jackson Potter: small things

Read "small things" reviewed by Kyle Simpler

by Kyle Simpler
March 12, 2025

When musicians who are both skilled at their craft and passionate about what they play come together, it translates clearly into their music. Such is the case with Jackson Potter's sophomore release, Small Things. This is an engaging and well-crafted collection that highlights his compositional skills along with his fluency in contemporary jazz guitar. With a sound that captures the lyrical fluidity of Jim Hall and the swinging clarity of Herb Ellis, Potter strikes a compelling balance between tradition and ...

Album Review

Robby Ameen: Live at the Poster Museum

Read "Live at the Poster Museum" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 8, 2025

Unlike some drummer-led albums, wherein it is hard to determine who is actually piloting the ship, there are no doubts about who is in charge on Live at the Poster Museum--and that would be none other than Robby Ameen whose sharp and forceful timekeeping enlivens the heart and soul of every number, lending them a sizable measure of their exuberance and swagger. That is especially meaningful considering that Ameen is traveling in fast company, overseeing a burnished ...