{{Short description|American jazz cellist and vocalist}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Hank Roberts | image = Roberts hank koeln stadtgarten 100308.jpg | caption = Hank Roberts at Jazzhaus Stadtgarten, Köln/Cologne (Germany), March 2008 | image_size = 250 | landscape = yes | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|03|24}} | birth_place = Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. | origin = New York City | genre = Jazz | occupation = Musician | instrument = Cello, vocals | years_active = 1980s–present | label = | website = {{URL|hankrobertsmusic.com}} }}
'''Hank Roberts''' (born March 24, 1954, Terre Haute, Indiana)<ref name="AMG">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hank-roberts-mn0000947766/biography|title=Hank Roberts Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic|access-date= October 7, 2021}}</ref> is an American jazz cellist and vocalist. He plays the electric cello, and his style is a mixture of rock, jazz, avant-garde, folk, and classical influences. He emerged with the downtown New York City jazz scene of the 1980s and is associated with its post-modern tendencies.
==Background== In the early 1980s, Roberts made a number of recordings for the defunct JMT label, was a featured member of the Bill Frisell Quartet,<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=2103}}</ref> and was an important voice in many groups of saxophonist Tim Berne.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Roberts also recorded three discs with the Arcado String Trio, an improvisational chamber group featuring Mark Feldman, violin, and Mark Dresser, double bass.<ref name="LarkinGE"/>
In the early 1990s, Roberts left Frisell's group and stopped touring widely. He continued to release recordings, if sporadically, including with the progressive folk group Ti Ti Chickapea.<ref name="AMG"/> In 2008, he was again touring and performing regularly, releasing ''Green'' (with Jim Black and Marc Ducret) on Winter & Winter, Stefan F. Winters subsequent label to JMT. In December 2011, Winter & Winter released Roberts' ''Everything Is Alive'',<ref name="Albums">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hank-roberts-mn0000947766/discography|title=Hank Roberts Albums and Discography|website=AllMusic|access-date= October 7, 2021}}</ref> as well as re-releasing his entire JMT catalogue.
==Selected discography== === As leader === * ''Black Pastels'' (JMT, 1987) * ''Birds of Prey'' (JMT, 1990) * ''Little Motor People'' (JMT, 1993) * ''22 Years from Now'' (Level Green, 1997) * ''I'll Always Remember'' (Level Green, 1998) * ''Cause and Reflect'' (Level Green, 1998) with Tim Berne * ''The Truth and Reconciliation Show'' (I Town, 2002) * ''Green'' (Winter & Winter, 2008) with Marc Ducret and Jim Black * ''Everything Is Alive'' (Winter & Winter, 2011) with Bill Frisell, Jerome Harris and Kenny Wollesen * ''Congeries of Ethereal Phenomena'' (Newvelle, 2019) * ''Science of Love'' (Sunnyside, 2021) with Hank Roberts Sextet <ref name="Albums"/>
'''With Arcado String Trio''' * ''Arcado'' (JMT, 1989) * ''Behind the Myth'' (JMT, 1990) * ''For Three Strings and Orchestra'' (JMT, 1992)
'''With Miniature (Joey Baron, Tim Berne, Roberts)''' * ''Miniature'' (JMT, 1989) * ''I Can't Put My Finger on It'' (JMT, 1992)
'''With Buffalo Collision''' * ''Duck'' (Screwgun, 2008)
'''With Tim Berne and Aurora Nealand''' * ''Oceans And'' (Intakt, 2023)
=== As sideman === '''With Tim Berne''' * ''Fulton Street Maul'' (CBS, 1986) * ''Sanctified Dreams'' (Columbia, 1988) * ''Tim Berne's Fractured Fairy Tales'' (JMT, 1989) * ''Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill)'' (JMT, 1993)
'''With Bill Frisell''' * ''Lookout for Hope'' (ECM, 1987) * ''Before We Were Born'' (Nonesuch, 1989) * ''Where in the World'' (Nonesuch, 1991) * ''Unspeakable'' (Nonesuch, 2004) * ''Richter 858'' (Songlines, 2005) * ''History, Mystery'' (Nonesuch, 2008) * ''Disfarmer'' (Nonesuch, 2009) * ''Sign of Life: Music for 858 Quartet'' (Savoy, 2011) * ''Big Sur'' (Okeh, 2013) * ''Harmony'' (Blue Note records, 2019)
'''With Alex Cline''' * ''The Lamp and the Star'' (ECM, 1987)
'''With Marilyn Crispell''' * ''Santuerio'' (1993)
'''With Ti Ti Chickapea''' * ''Change of Worlds'' (2000) * ''Firestick'' (2002)
'''With Edmar Castañeda''' * ''Cuarto de Colores'' (2006)
'''With Donald Rubinstein''' * ''Martin'' (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Varèse Sarabande, 1978) * ''When She Kisses the Ship on His Arm'' (Bare Bones, 2009)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|www.hankrobertsmusic.com/}}
{{Hank Roberts}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Hank}} Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:American jazz cellists Category:American male jazz musicians Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:Arcado String Trio members Category:JMT Records artists Category:People from Terre Haute, Indiana