Jazz at Bard

We have a commitment to teaching jazz as an integral part of the African musical diaspora and, historically, as a place where European, African, and Native American musical and cultural practices flowed together. We also regard the music as evolving, while becoming increasingly socially and culturally diverse. It is also a technologically inclusive art form that should not be frozen in time.

OUR MISSION
Our emphasis is on giving our students a strong foundation of basic musical skills, a thorough understanding of the history behind the music, and an emphasis on the individual developing her or his creative process. To this end we combine, theory, history, and technical skills training with a strong improvisational/compositional regimen.

OUR GOALS
Our goal is to teach students to be the creative artists of the future rather than uncreative repeaters of the past. Our students are notable for the uniqueness of their self-expression and the quality of their original music while at Bard, and we have been gratified to see the exciting work that many of our graduates go on to do after Bard.

Marcus Roberts in Conversation

Bard College is delighted to announce the appointment of jazz pianist and composer Marcus Roberts as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Music.

A Conversation with Marcus Roberts

Professor Whitney Slaten hosts Professor Roberts in an interview, which is the beginning of a series of online masterclasses that Roberts will offer. This discussion highlights Roberts's work and invites him to address inquires from students across divisions of the College and the Conservatory. This event was recorded on October 27, 2020 at Bard College.

A Conversation with Marcus Roberts
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’s 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. In addition to his renown as a performer, Roberts is also an accomplished composer who has received numerous commissioning awards, including ones from Chamber Music America, Jazz at Lincoln Center, ASCAP, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Savannah Music Festival, which cocommissioned him to write his first piano concerto—Spirit of the Blues: Piano Concerto in C-Minor (2013). In 2016, Roberts premiered his second piano concerto (Rhapsody in D for Piano and Orchestra) at the Ozawa Music Festival in Matsumoto, Japan, which was commissioned by the Seiji Ozawa and the Saito Kinen Orchestra. Roberts is an associate professor of music at the School of Music at Florida State University. He holds an honorary Doctor of Music degree from The Juilliard School.
Marcus Roberts on the Modern Jazz Trio

Marcus Roberts begins his discussion of the modern jazz trio by considering its evolution, including its various roles and its history dating back to Nat Cole’s early trio with piano, bass, and guitar. The stylistic influences of other early trios such as those of Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, and Ahmad Jamal on Roberts’s own more egalitarian approach to the modern trio are discussed. This event took place on November 17, 2020 at Bard College.

Marcus Roberts on the Modern Jazz Trio
The Marcus Roberts Trio is known for its very powerful and highly rhythmic sound. The group is also known for its almost telepathic communication and the ways in which they manipulate standard musical forms. In this trio, the bass and drums play roles that are equal to that of the piano (rather than accompanying roles) and any of the three members is able to change the direction of the music at any time through their use of musical cues. This approach to the trio is equally applicable to other jazz ensembles as Roberts has demonstrated with this 10-piece band called the Modern Jazz Generation. Note: Roberts will be joined by his longtime drummer, Jason Marsalis, for this master class.

Alumni/ae Spotlight

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Jazz at Bard

Marcus Roberts in Conversation

A Conversation with Marcus Roberts

Marcus Roberts on the Modern Jazz Trio

Alumni/ae Spotlight

Applying to the Program