I’m also excited that another CD I’m on will be released around the same time. As you may know, for the last few years I’ve been spending some time in Europe every year playing with several colleagues and friends there. One of the groups I regularly play with consists of Roby Glod (saxophones), Mark Tokar (bass) and Klaus Kugel (drums). They are all phenomenal musicians, and they’re all from a different countries (Luxembourg, Ukraine and Germany respectively)! We did a concert a couple of years ago in Luxembourg, and Klaus has decided to release the recording on his own well-respected Nemu Records. It will be called “Live at Op Der Schmelz”.

What’s cool for me about these two releases happening so close together is that they are so different. The solo CD is primarily standards. In fact it’s the first time I’ve done a record of almost all standards. I felt that for my first solo recording, I wanted to start with this foundation. By contrast, the quartet plays originals by all the band members, and we improvise very freely on them. As Duke Ellington said, “there are only two kinds of music – good and bad”.

My March concert at the Puffin with the large Sides/Colors Ensemble went very well. In addition to playing the arrangements from the CD, I wrote several new arrangements for four strings, four winds plus rhythm section. It was gratifying to see how my writing chops have developed. The four arrangements on the CD took about two years to refine to the point where I felt ready to perform and record them. By contrast, this year I wrote three new arrangements in a couple months and we had one rehearsal to try them out before performing them. Progress!

The musicians were great too! They did a phenomenal job. I was lucky to have great section players across the board who can also solo – even the strings! The world is changing indeed. I’ll try to post some video from the concert as soon as I have time. I’m looking forward to the next time I get to play with this group again.

In case you’re in NY, I’ll be returning to the classic piano trio format at Smalls on July 23^rd. Click here to add it to your Outlook or Mac Mail Calendar. I’ll have Billy Mintz on drums, and his friend from way back, the great Putter Smith, on bass. Putter lives in LA and has been gracing NY with his wonderful musicianship with regular visits over the course of the last couple of years. We’re lucky to have him for this night. It’ll be an evening of standards from the jazz repertoire and the American Popular Songbook.

Looking ahead, on September 14^th I’ll perform a solo concert in Baltimore at the beautiful An Die Musik performance space. Click here to add it to your Outlook or Mac Mail Calendarhttp://robertajazz.com/RobertaBaltimore.ics

Thanks for reading this far. Comments, suggestions, feedback welcome.

Roberta Piket & the Sides, Colors Ensemble

Come hear her eleven-piece ensemble play arrangements from Roberta’s recent release Sides, Colors

Critically acclaimed pianist/composer/arranger (and recent Teaneck transplant) Roberta Piket presents an evening of eclectic jazz and improvised music. Her unique ensemble comprises four winds (trumpet, clarinets, flutes and saxophones), string quartet as well as piano, bass and drums, creating a sound unlike any other large ensemble. The group will be playing music from Roberta’s recent release, Sides, Colors and brand new material as well. 

Roberta finds inspiration in 20^th century classical music as well as in familiar jazz standards. The core of this eleven-piece ensemble is Roberta’s piano trio, featuring Billy Mintz on drums, and Yoshi Waki on bass.

PUFFIN CULTURAL FORUM
20 Puffin Way, Teaneck NJ
Saturday March 31st at 8pm
$10 Suggested Donation
Reservations Recommended
201-836-3499 ▪ tix@puffinfoundation.org

Click to add to Outlook or Mac Mail Calendar

 “[Roberta has a] distinctive technique of writing for a chamber setting” downbeat 

 Personnel:

Tom Christensen, Christine MacDonnell: clarinets, saxophones Anders Bostrom: flute, alto flute
Bill Mobley: trumpet, flugelhorn 
Fung Chern Hwei, Midori Yamamoto: violins
Benjamin von Gutzeit: viola
Adam Fisher: cello
Yoshi Waki: bass
Billy Mintz: drums 
Roberta Piket: piano, arrangements and some vocals

 Visit Roberta on Facebook
New CD, Sides, Colors, now available!
Watch “Idy’s Dance“: A Music Video!

The Firehouse Space
246 Frost Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
The Firehouse Space is a unique event and performance space located in
Williamsburg close to the Graham Ave L Stop.

http://robertajazz.com/suggested-listening-jazz-piano-discography/

I also want to give the guys a chance to blow, which they didn’t have on the CD. Doing an arrangement of Beatrice which will feature Anders Bostrom (although he doesn’t know it yet), and an arrangement of a new waltz of mine which I wrote for my cat Claude right before he passed away. I think we’ll do a couple of Mintz classics as well including Shmear and Idy’s Dance. (I was thinking we should have a multi-media installation at the concert so people can see the music video we made of Idy’s Dance while we play it.

Meanwhile, a break from playing alone in my living room:

IBeam Brooklyn Piano Marathon 5pm – 11pm Sunday, December 11
Pianists from the jazz and improvised music community in NYC. I’ll be playing a twenty-minute set at approximately 9pm.
Suggested donation $20-$40
Ibeam 168 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Aves. Brooklyn, NY

Roberta Piket & Jamie Baum Duo
6pm – 8pm Tuesday, December 27
Roberta Piket – piano Jamie Baum – flute; free – All Ages
Whole Foods Edgewater 905 River Road Edgewater, NJ

And looking ahead, a couple of performances in February and March that I’m excited about.

Click on the links below to add these dates to your Outlook or Mac Mail calendar automatically.
Fun and safe!

In February, a rare trio performance with the great Billy Hart on drums, and phenomenal bassist Duane Burno at Smalls in NYC.In March, an extremely rare opportunity to hear the full eleven-piece ensemble from my CD,
Sides, Colors at the Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck, NJ. Add this gig to your Calendar

Holiday Reminder: CDs make a very personal and thoughtful holiday gift. Sides, Colors is available on CDBaby.com at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/robertapiket .

Have a great holiday and thank you for your support.

Thursday, Sept. 15th
One Set Only at 7pm
Miles’ Cafe
212 E. 52nd St. 3Fl. (b/2nd & 3rd Ave.) New York, NY 10022
E/V train to 53rd St./ Lexington, 6 train to 51st St.
(212) 371-7657
$10 cover, $10 minimum

Some other local dates this month:
-Ibeam in Brooklyn with two greats – Louie Belogenis and Billy Mintz playing improvised music on the following Thursday – September 22nd.

-Whole Foods in West Orange, NJ in a straight-ahead duo with another great saxophonist, Virginia Mayhew, on Tuesday September 27th. (Yes they have a grand piano there.)

See my web site for details.

Thanks for your support!