Howard Roberts

Sunnyside Out: A Tribute to Howard Roberts

Preserving the legacy of one of the great musicians of the 20th century.

Jay Roberts is producing a CD/DVD tribute featuring some of the historically great session artists that worked with H.R. in the recording studios of Hollywood...

Jay has launched a fundraising campaign to aid in producing this historical presentation. You can find details on the project and particulars on how to contribute, including perks for donations at

Roberts Music Institute.

Your participation is greatly appreciated! Please forward this campaign link to your friends on Facebook, Twitter and email. This will help greatly in producing a magnificent studio album and memorable DVD including a live concert featuring Jay along with HR's colleagues.

Howard Roberts' influence in music education is legendary, not to mention being considered "The Most Heard Guitar Player in History". Playing guitar on TV shows like the "Twilight Zone" and "The Munsters" and for artists like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and the Monkeys.

Now we get to honor H.R. with this incredible tribute.

Sincerely,

Roberts Music Institute

"Learn what you want to Learn, when you want to Learn it!" - Howard Roberts

Upcoming, in aid of this project is the Howard Roberts Project Benefit Concert on April 28 in Bellevue, WA.

 


Howard Roberts with Ann Margaret performing during a screen test for the movie State Fair - Life Magazine January 27, 1961 (thanks to Ron Benson for this).

You can see films from this event at the following links.

Howard Roberts was a great guitarist and musician. He played in almost any style of music but he was primarily a jazz guitarist. Without a doubt he is my favourite guitar player and I believe one of the most innovative jazz guitar players ever. He was one of the few jazz players (guitarists or otherwise) who managed to constantly create solos at least as interesting as the melody of the song being played. In my opinion there aren't many who have this talent. Howard Roberts also played with a strong and interesting rhythmic sense and his choice of comping chords is without equal; i.e. he was interesting to listen to even when he was not the featured soloist. Unfortunately he died a few years ago and I never got to hear him play live. The site is a tribute to a great musician and guitarist. I've spent many hours listening to and learning from Howard Roberts. I hope others interested in learning more about a remarkable musician will find this a useful resource.

Site Organization

The site is organized to provide information on all aspects of Howard Roberts' career in music. Under News you will find a list of updates to the site together with any news concerning relevant musical events. Articles contains his official biography and references to other sources of information about Howard Roberts. I am in the process of compiling a discography for Howard Roberts and Discography provides detailed lists of everything I have acquired or at least know about. Education is concerned with Howard Roberts' many contributions to music education and includes audio excerpts (in Real Audio format) of a lecture he gave in 1984. Equipment gives some information about the guitars and amplifiers he designed and used. Influences is an attempt to document some of the individuals and some of the music that influenced Howard Roberts. Influenced gives information about some notable guitarists who are strongly linked to Howard Roberts. Interviews leads to some recorded interviews (in Real Audio format) that H.R. participated in during the 60's. Material to be Acquired provides a list of material that I am looking for. Of course there was his guitar playing and Music leads to a number of samples (in Real Audio format) of this. I've tried to choose representative samples that span his career. Photos presents a number of interesting pictures of H.R. Transcriptions provides resources for transcriptions of H.R.'s playing.

Send comments to: Mike Evans ( homepage)