Roberta Piket

Last updated
Roberta Piket
Born1965 (age 5859)
Queens, New York, U.S.
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s)Musician, composer, arranger
Instrument(s)Piano, organ
Years active1990s–present
Website robertajazz.com

Roberta Piket (born 1965) is an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and arranger. [1]

Contents

Life and career

Piket was born in Queens, New York, [2] in 1965. [1] Her father was composer Frederick Piket. [2] She started playing the piano at the age of 7 and moved to jazz in her early teens. [2] A university joint double-degree program led to her receiving a computer science degree from Tufts University and a jazz studies degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. [2] While at university, she took private lessons from Stanley Cowell, Fred Hersch, Jim McNeely, and Bob Moses. [2]

Her first album as leader was Unbroken Line, recorded for Criss Cross in 1996. [3] Her first album for a U.S. label was in 1999: Live at the Blue Note, for Half Note. [4] The 2003 release I'm Back in Therapy and It's All Your Fault was Piket's first with her Alternating Current ensemble. [5] This band was formed after she acquired an electric piano to use in venues that did not have an acoustic piano and then discovered that it did not suit her trio but made her think of new types of music to play. [5]

On Billy Mintz's 2014 album Mintz Quartet, Piket played piano, organ, and sang on one track. [6] She had done the same thing for her earlier album, Sides, Colors, which also included several tracks she arranged for wind instruments, horn instruments, and strings. [7] She was named Rising Star – Organ by DownBeat critics in 2018. [8]

Playing style

The DownBeat reviewer of Emanation (Solo: Volume 2) commented on the absence of a "steady pulse, stride or walking bass" in her solo piano playing; "Instead, she establishes momentum through a rhythmic motif [...and] keeps things moving through more intricate alterations between her hands". [9]

Discography

An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.

As leader/co-leader

Year recordedTitleLabelPersonnel/Notes
1996Unbroken Line Criss Cross Most tracks quintet, with Donny McCaslin (tenor sax, soprano sax), Scott Wendholt (trumpet), Michael Formanek (bass), Jeff Williams (drums); some tracks sextet, with Javon Jackson (tenor sax) added
1999Live at the Blue Note Half Note With Harvie Swartz (bass), Jeff Williams (drums), John O'Gallagher (alto sax, soprano sax)
2000*Speak, Memory Fresh Sound New Talent With Masa Kamaguchi (bass), Jeff Williams (drums)
2000Midnight in ManhattanMeldacTrio, with Michael Formanek (bass), Jeff Williams (drums)
2002*Autumn of TearsMeldacTrio, with Rufus Reid (bass), Billy Hart (drums)
2003*I'm Back in Therapy and It's All Your FaultThirteenth NoteElectric quartet, with Bruce Arnold (guitar), Cliff Schmidt (bass), Kirk Driscoll (drums)
2006*Love and BeautyThirteenth NoteTrio
2011*Side, ColorsThirteenth NoteSome tracks trio; some have strings or wind instruments added
2012*SoloThirteenth NoteSolo piano
2015*Emanation (Solo: Volume 2)Thirteenth NoteSolo piano
2016*One For Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartlandThirteenth NoteSextet
2018*West Coast TrioThirteenth NoteMost tracks trio, with Darek Oles (bass), Joe LaBarbera (drums); two tracks quartet, with Larry Koonse (guitar) added

As sidewoman

Year recordedLeaderTitleLabel
2014*Billy MintzMintz QuartetThirteenth Note

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Jarrett</span> American jazz/classical pianist and composer (born 1945)

Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a group leader and solo performer in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music. His improvisations draw from the traditions of jazz and other genres, including Western classical music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marian McPartland</span> English–American jazz pianist, composer and writer (1918–2013)

Margaret Marian McPartland OBE, was an English–American jazz pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toshiko Akiyoshi</span> American jazz musician

Toshiko Akiyoshi is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hank Jones</span> American jazz musician (1918–2010)

Henry Jones Jr. was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award. He was also honored in 2003 with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award. In 2008, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. On April 13, 2009, the University of Hartford presented Jones with an honorary Doctorate of Music for his musical accomplishments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Pullen</span> American jazz pianist and organist

Don Gabriel Pullen was an American jazz pianist and organist. Pullen developed a strikingly individual style throughout his career. He composed pieces ranging from blues to bebop and modern jazz. The great variety of his body of work makes it difficult to pigeonhole his musical style.

Edwin James Costa was an American jazz pianist, vibraphonist, composer and arranger. In 1957, he was chosen as DownBeat jazz critics' new star on piano and vibes – the first time that one artist won two categories in the same year. He became known for his percussive, driving piano style that concentrated on the lower octaves of the keyboard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Hyman</span> American jazz pianist and composer

Richard Hyman is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters fellow in 2017.

<i>Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation</i> 1961 studio album by Ornette Coleman

Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation is an album by the jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman. It was released through Atlantic Records in September 1961: the fourth of Coleman's six albums for the label. Its title named the then-nascent free jazz movement. The recording session took place on December 21, 1960, at A&R Studios in New York City. The sole outtake from the album session, "First Take," was later released on the 1971 compilation Twins and subsequent CD reissues of Free Jazz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brad Mehldau</span> American jazz musician (born 1970)

Bradford Alexander Mehldau is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Taborn</span> American keyboardist and composer (born 1970)

Craig Marvin Taborn is an American pianist, organist, keyboardist and composer. He works solo and in bands, mostly playing various forms of jazz. He started playing piano and Moog synthesizer as an adolescent and was influenced at an early stage by a wide range of music, including by the freedom expressed in recordings of free jazz and contemporary classical music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvie Courvoisier</span> Swiss musician

Sylvie Courvoisier is a composer, pianist, improviser and bandleader. She was born and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland, and has been a resident of New York City since 1998. She won Germany’s International Jazz Piano Prize in 2022 and was named Pianist of the Year for 2023 in the international critics poll of Spanish jazz publication El Intruso. NPR’s Kevin Whitehead has encapsulated the distinctive character of Courvoisier’s art this way: “Some pianists approach the instrument like it’s a cathedral. Sylvie Courvoisier treats it like a playground.”

Margaret "Peggy" Stern is an American jazz pianist and synthesizer player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Hawkins</span> British jazz pianist and composer (born 1981)

Alexander Hawkins is a British jazz pianist and composer. Three of the main groups he has led or co-led are the Alexander Hawkins Ensemble; the Convergence Quartet ; and the Hammond organ-based Decoy.

<i>Billy Hart Quartet</i> 2006 studio album by Billy Hart

Billy Hart Quartet is an album by American jazz drummer Billy Hart recorded in 2005 and released on the HighNote label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kris Davis</span> Canadian jazz pianist and composer

Kris Davis is a Canadian jazz pianist and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ehud Asherie</span> Israeli jazz pianist and organist

Ehud Asherie is a jazz pianist and organist.

Russ Lossing is an American jazz pianist, composer, improviser, arranger, educator, and scholar.

<i>Craig Taborn Trio</i> 1994 studio album by Craig Taborn

Craig Taborn Trio is the debut album by American jazz pianist Craig Taborn. It was recorded in 1994 and released on the Japanese DIW label.

<i>Seven Minds</i> 1975 studio album by Sam Jones

Seven Minds is the fourth studio album by American jazz bassist Sam Jones together with Billy Higgins on drums and Cedar Walton on piano. The album was recorded and initially released in 1975 in Japan via East Wind label. Masaya Katsura Strings Quartet is featured on tracks 2, 4, and 6. Later the album was re-released on CD in 2002 and 2015.

<i>Glass Enclosure</i> (album) 2008 studio album by Rob Schneiderman

Glass Enclosure is the tenth album led by jazz pianist and mathematician Rob Schneiderman, released on the Reservoir label in 2008.

References

  1. 1 2 Roberta Piket (July 11, 2015). "Hey Wikipedia". robertajazz.com. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Jackson, Grant (February 26, 2011) "Roberta Piket on Piano Jazz". npr.
  3. Dryden, Ken "AllMusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
  4. Dryden, Ken "AllMusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Graybow, Steven (March 8, 2003) "Jazz Notes". Billboard 115/10. p. 17.
  6. Farberman, Brad (February 2014) "Billy Mintz/John Gross/Roberta Piket/Putter Smith – Mintz Quartet". DownBeat. p. 92.
  7. Doerschuk, Robert L. (June 2011) "Roberta Piket – Beyond the Trio". DownBeat. p. 21.
  8. "66th Annual Critics Poll Complete Results". DownBeat. August 2018. p. 59.
  9. Doerschuk, Bob (August 2015) "Roberta Piket – Emanation (Solo: Volume 2)". DownBeat. p. 89.