Playback Press

This is the publishing company that published Howard Roberts' books. It is now run by Patty Roberts and she can be reached at playbackmusicpubco@comcast.net.

Book on Howard Roberts Published by Mel Bay!

A great addition to our understanding and appreciation of Howard Robert's music has been published by Mel Bay. Find out more about this book here! The author Mitch Holder is the winner of the Mavric Independent Music Awards 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award for his fine guitar playing and many musical accomplishments. Mavric is an association that recognizes independent music artists living in Ventura County. Congratulations to Mitch!

Howard Roberts Recordings Issued by Sundazed Music

Sundazed Music has available the following recordings by Howard Roberts. The sound has been remastered (by Bob Irwin) and is fantastic. Overall these are great packages. For more details see the Euphoria Jazz website. Many thanks to Sundazed!

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


Howard Roberts - 1950s

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.