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Roberta Piket

The daughter of a European composer and a Great American Songbook singer, native New Yorker Roberta Piket is a pianist who loves to swing while exploring the more adventurous harmonic possibilities of jazz and improvised music.

Roberta’s father was the Austrian composer Frederick Piket, whose works were performed by the New York Philharmonic under famed conductor Dimtri Metropolis. (The elder Piket, who passed away when Roberta was eight, is also renowned for his significant contribution to the musical liturgy of reform Judaism.)

From her mother, Cynthia, Roberta learned by ear the tunes of Porter, Gershwin, Kern, Rodgers, and Berlin (as well as accompanying lyrics).

In her early teens, a chance encounter with a classic LP rescued from a flea market changed the course of Roberta’s life.

“My older brother had bought a few copies of an old Muse LP of Walter Bishop Jr.’s trio for 25 cents each. He played it for me and I flipped. I just fell in love with the sound of the jazz piano trio. The CD was called Speak Low, and I found the original sheet music for that tune in my mother’s collection. I learned all the songs on that record,” which, in addition to the title tune, included Alone Together, Milestones and On Green Dolphin Street. Shortly after that epiphany, Roberta became fascinated with the 20th century classical recordings that had belonged to her late father. Soon she was dividing her time between the stacks of old sheet music in the attic, learning standards, and the Bartok and Schoenberg records and scores in her father’s library. Sprinkled into the mix were a handful of Ellington scores borrowed from the New York Public Library, and saturation listening to WRVR-FM, the New York jazz radio station at the time. As her passion for music intensified, Roberta’s mother tried to discourage her from the difficult path of a professional musician. As a compromise, she attended the joint five-year double-degree program at Tufts University and New England Conservatory. “Coming from a high school with a strong liberal arts curriculum [New York’s prestigious Hunter College High School], I was not opposed to continuing in the liberal arts tradition in college, rather than narrowing my focus only to music. I believed then, and still believe, that an artist needs to be stimulated by the surrounding culture and not live in a vacuum.” Roberta graduated with a degree in computer science from Tufts and a degree in jazz piano from New England Conservatory, but after a year as a software engineer, it was clear her heart was in music, and she returned to her native New York to study and play.

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Album Review

John Lang: Earotica

Read "Earotica" reviewed by Jack Bowers


There's something special about a nonet: small enough to have its own personality, yet large enough to sound at times akin to a full-size big band. Bassist John Lang leads a first-class nonet on Earotica, his fourth album as leader. Having given Lang's last disc a rather lukewarm appraisal almost two years ago, it is a pleasure to note that his new album is superior in every respect. Gone are the desultory funk and rock beats, replaced ...

5
Radio & Podcasts

Roberta Piket, Bria Skonberg, Vicente Archer and More

Read "Roberta Piket, Bria Skonberg, Vicente Archer and More" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


This wide-ranging program touches on jazz-rock, traditional jazz, and other sub-genres. Musicians heard on the show include Roberta Piket, Sonny Rollins, Bria Skonberg, Marshall Gilkes, and Vicente Archer. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Marshall Gilkes “First Light" from Cyclic Journey (Alternate Side) 1:06 Raphael Pannier “Forlane" from Faune (French Paradox) 7:03 Host Speaks 14:20 Sonny Rollins “Come, Gone" ...

7
Liner Notes

Klaus Kugel: Op Der Schlemz Live Nemu

Read "Klaus Kugel: Op Der Schlemz Live Nemu" reviewed by Howard Mandel


The collective quartet performance Op Der Schlemz Live by drummer Klaus Kugel pianist Roberta Piket, saxophonist Roby Glod and bassist Mark Tokar is rooted in steady balance yet full of dynamic surprises. Most people approaching this record will understand in advance that's a good thing, since surprises are exactly what we hope for when music is played so that anything can happen, but those surprises are best when they ride from ensemble consistency and purpose, rather than luck or accident. ...

6
Album Review

Schapiro 17: Human Qualities

Read "Human Qualities" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Following its splendid premiere recording, an exploration of Miles Davis' unrivaled album Kind Of Blue (Capitol Records, 1959), composer/arranger Jon Schapiro's 17-member ensemble broadens its horizons on Human Qualities, pairing seven of the maestro's astute and adventurous charts with the Roberta Flack best-seller, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." This time around, Schapiro proves that he need rely on nothing more than his own considerable experience as a jazz artist to create an album that expresses his point ...

5
Album Review

Schapiro 17: New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60

Read "New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Miles Davis' album Kind Of Blue (Columbia, 1959) is the best-selling jazz album of all time and has been highly influential for the last 60 years. Most of its five tracks have become jazz standards and have been interpreted time and again. However it is rare to see the entire album reworked to the extent that Jon Schapiro and his big band, Schapiro 17, do here. The tracks undergo extensive retooling, expanding into big band arrangements that carry on the ...

7
Album Review

Schapiro 17: New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60

Read "New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60" reviewed by Jack Bowers


2019 marked the sixtieth anniversary of the Miles Davis sextet's acclaimed album, Kind of Blue (Columbia). While the tributes didn't exactly pour in, New York-based composer / arranger Jon Schapiro took it upon himself not only to revisit that classic session but to re-orchestrate it for a large ensemble (the Schapiro 17) and flesh it out with half a dozen compositions of his own and another by pianist Roberta Piket. In keeping with the spirit of the occasion, all of ...

5
Album Review

Roberta Piket: Domestic Harmony: Piket Plays Mintz

Read "Domestic Harmony: Piket Plays Mintz" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Pianist Roberta Piket was subbing in trombonist Joey Sellers' band in 1998 when she first met drummer Billy Mintz. In an All About Jazz interview, in 2011 with Victor Schermer, Piket said of that first encounter: “I noticed Billy, because the room was very dark, and yet he was wearing sunglasses; he seemed very strange. But I got to know him a bit..." Then one thing led to another, a musical collaboration was born and they got married. ...

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7

Recording

Pianist Roberta Piket Showcases The Composing Talents Of Husband/Collaborator Billy Mintz On "Domestic Harmony: Picket Plays Mintz," Due Dec. 6

Pianist Roberta Piket Showcases The Composing Talents Of Husband/Collaborator Billy Mintz On "Domestic Harmony: Picket Plays Mintz," Due Dec. 6

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Pianist Roberta Piket presents a truly intimate musical offering with the December 6 release of Domestic Harmony: Piket Plays Mintz on her own Thirteenth Note Records. A solo piano performance (her third, following 2012’s Solo and 2015’s Solo Volume 2), the album assays ten intriguing compositions by Billy Mintz, the highly regarded drummer who regularly collaborates with Piket— and who is also her husband. The intimacy on display throughout Domestic Harmony is authentic: it was intended for an audience of ...

2

Recording

Pianist Roberta Piket Revisits Jazz Trio Format With The April 6 Release Of "West Coast Trio," Featuring Joe La Barbera & Darek Oleszkiewicz

Pianist Roberta Piket Revisits Jazz Trio Format With The April 6 Release Of "West Coast Trio," Featuring Joe La Barbera & Darek Oleszkiewicz

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Roberta Piket, one of the most virtuosic and versatile pianists on the current international jazz scene, revisits the iconic jazz piano trio format with the April 6 release of West Coast Trio on her label Thirteenth Note Records. Joining Piket is the consummate rhythm section of drummer Joe La Barbera and bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz—part of the vibrant West Coast jazz scene centered in metro-Los Angeles and whose presence inspired the album’s title. Guitarist Larry Koonse guests on two tracks. In ...

7

Recording

Pianist Roberta Piket's "One For Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartland" To Be Released June 10

Pianist Roberta Piket's "One For Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartland" To Be Released June 10

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Marian McPartland’s creative output as a composer has been quite overshadowed by the late piano legend’s decades-long role as a beloved public radio host. Pianist Roberta Piket aims to help put that right with her new album One for Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartland, to be released by Thirteenth Note Records on June 10. “Roberta Piket is an absolutely essential creative voice in modern jazz piano,” says Todd Barkan, who produced the new CD. “And Roberta’s One for Marian sings and ...

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260

Contest

Enter the "Roberta Piket - Sides, Colors" Giveaway

Enter the "Roberta Piket - Sides, Colors" Giveaway

Source: All About Jazz

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the Thirteenth Note “Roberta Piket—Sides, Colors“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on June 27th. Click here to enter the contest

(Following Roberta Piket at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.)

Good luck!

About Sides, Colors Thirteenth Note Records is pleased to announce the March 2011 release of Roberta Piket's seventh CD, Sides, Colors. This ambitious release features intriguing arrangements for strings, reeds, ...

83

Interview

Pianist Roberta Piket Interviewed at All About Jazz...and More!

Pianist Roberta Piket Interviewed at All About Jazz...and More!

Source: DL Media

Roberta Piket is a jazz pianist, composer, and arranger with an exceptional range of expression. In the same tune or performance, she moves fluidly between bebop, hard bop, blues, soft and mellow, up-tempo, contrapuntal, and advanced harmonic motifs, making it all come together in meaningful, coherent statements of ideas and emotions. Truly a contemporary player, pushing the envelope, among her accomplishments are eight CDs as a leader, a vocal composition based on the poems of Vladimir Nabokov, performances at some ...

130

Recording

Pianist Roberta Piket releases "Sides, Colors" on Thirteenth Note Records

Pianist Roberta Piket releases "Sides, Colors" on Thirteenth Note Records

Source: Michael Ricci

Thirteenth Note Records is pleased to announce the March 2011 release of pianist Roberta Piket's seventh CD. On Sides, Colors, Roberta's intriguing arrangements enhance the piano trio with strings, reeds, brass, percussion and organ. As Piket says, I wanted to maintain the intimacy of the trio. At the same time I love the colors and textures that the other instruments add. While Sides, Colors is not just another piano trio album, it is the trio of Roberta, bassist Johannes Weidenmueller ...

59

Performance / Tour

Roberta Piket - A Stunning Diversity of Projects - And a Vocal Debut!

Roberta Piket - A Stunning Diversity of Projects - And a Vocal Debut!

Source: All About Jazz

Pianist/composer Roberta Piket's trios have always been widely acclaimed. With her new release, Love and Beauty, on Thirteenth Note Records, even those familiar with her music have been surprised at the new musical heights scaled by this remarkable trio.

Love and Beauty also offers another surprise: Roberta's vocal debut. Her singing on the Billy Mintz original “Destiny" has been described as “pitch-perfect." Roberta reveals, “I've been a closet singer for a long time, but I never did it publicly because ...

"Roberta Piket is a gifted pianist and composer who leads one of the most accomplished and idiosyncratic piano trios in jazz…” -Tom Conrad, JazzTimes

"The jazz pianist Roberta Piket isn't a blusterer: each of her pieces seeks to solve a particular problem, and she's quietly been working on form and conceptual matters in the spirit of devoted explorers like Chick Corea and Richie Beirach." -Ben Ratliff, New York Times

"Constantly curious, she has released a series of recordings probing across the landscape from retro��"mainstream to free jazz." -Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times

A favorite of Marian McPartland, Piket is a deeply swinging, intelligent, two-fisted pianist. -Paul deBarros, Seattle Times

Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Earotica

Cellar Records
2023

buy

Human Qualities

Summit Records
2021

buy

New Shoes: Kind of...

Summit Records
2020

buy

Domestic Harmony:...

Thirteenth Note Records
2019

buy

West Coast Trio

13th Note
2018

buy

Roberta Piket: West...

Thirteenth Note Records
2018

buy

Fallin In Love With Love

From: West Coast Trio
By Roberta Piket

All The Things You Are

From: Emanation
By Roberta Piket

Claude's Clawed

From: Love and Beauty
By Roberta Piket

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