Marcus Roberts Trio

Pianist/composer, Marcus Roberts, has been hailed “the genius of the modern piano”. In 2014, the

celebrated CBS News television show, 60 Minutes, profiled his life and work on a segment entitled “The

Virtuoso”. The show traced Roberts’ life to date from his early roots in Jacksonville and at the Florida

School for the Deaf and Blind to his remarkable career as a modern jazz musician.

Roberts grew up in Jacksonville, FL where his mother's gospel singing and the music of the local

church left a lasting impact on his own musical style. He began teaching himself to play piano at age five

after losing his sight but didn’t have his first formal lesson until age 12. Despite that late start, he

progressed quickly through hard work and good teachers. At age 18, he went on to study classical piano at

Florida State University with the great Leonidas Lipovetsky, whose own teacher was the celebrated

Madame Rosina Lhévinne.

Roberts has won numerous awards and competitions over the years, but the one that is most

personally meaningful to him is the Helen Keller Award for Personal Achievement. While Roberts is known

for his remarkable ability to blend the jazz and classical idioms to create something wholly new, he may be

even better known for his development of an entirely new approach to jazz trio performance.

To read more about Marcus Roberts enter www.sobejazzfest.com

‘From Disability to Serendipity’ brought to you by Power Access, Inc.

Event produced by: KCC Productions