Howard Roberts
Encyclopedia
Howard Roberts was an American jazz
guitarist
, educator and session musician
.
, and began playing guitar at age 8. By the time he was 15 he was playing professionally locally.
In 1950 he moved to Los Angeles
. There, with the assistance of Jack Marshall
, he began playing with musicians including Bobby Troup
, Chico Hamilton
and Barney Kessel
. In about 1956, Bobby Troup signed him to Verve Records
as a solo artist. Around that time he decided to concentrate on recording, both as a solo artist and session musician, a direction he would continue until the early 1970s.
Roberts played rhythm guitar
, lead guitar
, bass
and mandolin
, both in the studio and for television and movie projects, including lead guitar in the theme from The Twilight Zone
, guitar on the theme from The Munsters
and rhythm guitar on the theme from I Dream of Jeannie
.
Artists Roberts backed included Georgie Auld
, Peggy Lee
(Fever), Eddie Cochran
(Sittin In The Balcony), Bobby Day
(Rockin Robin), Jody Reynolds
(Endless Sleep), Shelley Fabares
(Johnny Angel), Dean Martin
(Houston), The Monkees
, Roy Clark
, Chet Atkins
, and The Electric Prunes
.
In 1963, Roberts recorded Color Him Funky and H.R. Is A Dirty Guitar Player, his first two albums after signing with Capitol
. Produced by Jack Marshall, they both feature the same quartet of with Roberts (guitar), Chuck Berghofer (bass), Earl Palmer
(drums) and Paul Bryant alternating with Burkley Kendrix on organ. In all he recorded nine albums with Capitol before signing with ABC Records
/Impulse! Records
.
From the late 1960s, Roberts began to focus on teaching rather than recording. He traveled around the country giving guitar seminars, and wrote several instructional books. For some years he also wrote an acclaimed column "Jazz Improvisation" for Guitar Player
magazine. To support his teaching activities, he founded the Guitar Institute of Technology, and Playback Publishing.
Roberts died of prostate cancer
in Seattle, WA on June 28, 1992. His wife Patty, also active in musical education and curriculum
development, continued in this field after his death.
He founded Roberts Music Institute in Seattle, WA, which is currently owned by his son, Jay Roberts.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, educator and session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
.
Biography
Roberts was born in Phoenix, ArizonaPhoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, and began playing guitar at age 8. By the time he was 15 he was playing professionally locally.
In 1950 he moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. There, with the assistance of Jack Marshall
Jack Marshall (composer)
Jack Marshall was an American guitarist, conductor, and composer. He is the father of producer-director Frank Marshall and composer Phil Marshall....
, he began playing with musicians including Bobby Troup
Bobby Troup
Robert William "Bobby" Troup Jr. was an American actor, jazz pianist and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard " Route 66", and for his role as Dr...
, Chico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton , is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.-Early life through 1960s:Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California. He had a fast-track musical education in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso...
and Barney Kessel
Barney Kessel
Barney Kessel was an American jazz guitarist born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA. Generally considered to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th century, he was noted in particular for his vast knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies...
. In about 1956, Bobby Troup signed him to Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
as a solo artist. Around that time he decided to concentrate on recording, both as a solo artist and session musician, a direction he would continue until the early 1970s.
Roberts played rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, bass
Bass (instrument)
Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...
and mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, both in the studio and for television and movie projects, including lead guitar in the theme from The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
, guitar on the theme from The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
and rhythm guitar on the theme from I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
.
Artists Roberts backed included Georgie Auld
Georgie Auld
Georgie Auld was a jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist and bandleader.Auld was born John Altwerger in Toronto...
, Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
(Fever), Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
(Sittin In The Balcony), Bobby Day
Bobby Day
Bobby Day , was an early African American rock and roll and R&B musician.Born Robert James Byrd, , in Fort Worth, Texas, he moved to Los Angeles, California, at the age of 15...
(Rockin Robin), Jody Reynolds
Jody Reynolds
Jody Reynolds was an American singer and guitarist. His biggest hit single was "Endless Sleep", which reached #5 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on July 7, 1958. He wrote it in a single afternoon in 1956 in Yuma, Arizona...
(Endless Sleep), Shelley Fabares
Shelley Fabares
Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is an American actress and singer. Fabares is known for her roles as Donna Reed's oldest child, Mary Stone, on The Donna Reed Show , and as Craig T. Nelson's love interest and eventual wife, Christine Armstrong Fox, on the sitcom Coach. She also was Elvis...
(Johnny Angel), Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
(Houston), The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
, Roy Clark
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...
, Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
, and The Electric Prunes
The Electric Prunes
The Electric Prunes are an American rock band who first achieved international attention as an experimental psychedelic group in the late 1960s. Their song "Kyrie Eleison" was featured on the soundtrack of Easy Rider...
.
In 1963, Roberts recorded Color Him Funky and H.R. Is A Dirty Guitar Player, his first two albums after signing with Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
. Produced by Jack Marshall, they both feature the same quartet of with Roberts (guitar), Chuck Berghofer (bass), Earl Palmer
Earl Palmer
Earl Cyril Palmer was an American rock & roll and rhythm and blues drummer, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....
(drums) and Paul Bryant alternating with Burkley Kendrix on organ. In all he recorded nine albums with Capitol before signing with ABC Records
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....
/Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records was an American jazz record label, originally established in 1960 by producer Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City...
.
From the late 1960s, Roberts began to focus on teaching rather than recording. He traveled around the country giving guitar seminars, and wrote several instructional books. For some years he also wrote an acclaimed column "Jazz Improvisation" for Guitar Player
Guitar Player
Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...
magazine. To support his teaching activities, he founded the Guitar Institute of Technology, and Playback Publishing.
Roberts died of prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
in Seattle, WA on June 28, 1992. His wife Patty, also active in musical education and curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
development, continued in this field after his death.
He founded Roberts Music Institute in Seattle, WA, which is currently owned by his son, Jay Roberts.
As leader
- The Movin' Man (1956) Verve VSP-29
- Good Pickin's (1959)
- Color Him Funky (1963) Capitol ST-1887
- H.R. Is A Dirty Guitar Player (1963) Capitol ST-1961
- Something's Cookin (1965) Capitol ST-2214
- Goodies (1965) Capitol ST-2400
- Whatever's Fair (1966) Capitol ST-2478
- All-time great instrumental hits (1967) Capitol ST-2609
- Jaunty-Jolly (1967) Capitol ST-2716
- Guilty! (1967) Capitol ST-2824
- Out of sight (but "in" sound) (1968) Capitol ST-2901
- Spinning Wheel (1969) Capitol ST-336
- Antelope Freeway (1971)
- Sounds (1974) Capitol ST-11247
- Equinox Express Elevator (1975)
- The Real Howard Roberts (1977)
As sideman
- Cool Hand LukeCool Hand LukeCool Hand Luke is a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Paul Newman. The screenplay was adapted by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson from Pearce's 1965 novel of the same name. The film features George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D...
(1967), score by Lalo SchifrinLalo SchifrinLalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations... - Wind, Sky and DiamondsWind, Sky and DiamondsWind, Sky and Diamonds is an album by Hungarian jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó featuring performances recorded in 1967 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
by Gábor SzabóGábor SzabóGábor Szabó was a Hungarian jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock and his native Hungarian music.-Biography:...
(Impulse!, 1967) - BullittBullittBullitt is a 1968 American police procedural film starring Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Vaughn. It was directed by Peter Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. The story was adapted for the screen by Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner, based on the 1963 novel Mute Witness by Robert L....
(1968), score by Lalo SchifrinLalo SchifrinLalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations... - Release of An OathRelease of an OathRelease of An Oath is the fourth studio album by The Electric Prunes, released in 1968. Following the musical pattern of their Mass in F Minor, it is a rock music setting of a service intended to release a penitent from an oath "made under duress and in violation of his principles" .The album is...
(1968), The Electric PrunesThe Electric PrunesThe Electric Prunes are an American rock band who first achieved international attention as an experimental psychedelic group in the late 1960s. Their song "Kyrie Eleison" was featured on the soundtrack of Easy Rider...
(written & produced by David AxelrodDavid Axelrod (musician)David Axelrod is an American composer, arranger and producer, working in several musical genres.-Biography:...
) - Song of InnocenceSong of InnocenceSong of Innocence is a 1968 album by David Axelrod. The album was inspired by Songs of Innocence, a collection of poems by English poet William Blake. An Allmusic review describes the album as a "suite that blended pop, rock, jazz, theater music, and R&B" and has "withstood the test of time"...
(1968), David AxelrodDavid Axelrod (musician)David Axelrod is an American composer, arranger and producer, working in several musical genres.-Biography:... - Songs of Experience (1969), David AxelrodDavid Axelrod (musician)David Axelrod is an American composer, arranger and producer, working in several musical genres.-Biography:...
- Jazz Loves Paris (1958), Buddy Collette
External links
- http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19920705&slug=1500617. Howard Roberts Obituary.
- Biography.
- Howard Roberts Fusion III guitar by GibsonGibson Guitar CorporationThe Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
. - History of the Guitar Institute of Technology and the Musicians InstituteMusicians InstituteMusicians Institute is a privately owned for-profit music vocational school located in Hollywood, California. Although not a regionally accredited school, the school offers a variety of unaccredited Bachelor Degree, Associate Degree and Certificate programs in fields including contemporary music...
. - CD Universe has some more discography including personnel.