Hank Roberts ranks among the leading jazz improvisers on cello, concentrating chiefly on avant-garde and modern creative idioms. Born March 24, 1955, in Terre Haute, IN, he took up classical cello studies at age ten and also tried trombone, guitar, and piano while in high school. At 19 he enrolled at the Berklee School of Music, where he cultivated an improvisational approach blending jazz, blues, folk, and classical elements and frequently employing double-stops and chord voicings. Professional entry came only in the ’80s after he relocated to New York and later settled in Ithaca; he quickly made an impact on the downtown N.Y.C. scene and began collaborating with Bill Frisell and Tim Berne, both of whom contributed to his 1987 leader debut Black Pastels on JMT.
In 1989 Roberts joined two groups: the freewheeling trio Miniature, alongside Berne and drummer Joey Baron, and the string trio Arcado, completed by violinist Mark Feldman and bassist Mark Dresser. Each issued an eponymous debut that year; Miniature produced three albums before dissolving in 1991, while Arcado released its second and final recording in 1992. Roberts also cut his second leader date, Birds of Prey, in 1990, then formed his own trio the next year with bassist Peter Chwazik and drummer Bill King. Mid-decade he took up teaching to devote more time to family. He resurfaced in 1997 with two projects: the wholly solo cello-and-vocal improvisations captured on 22 Years From Now inside a monastery, and I’ll Always Remember, the first album to document his longstanding trio. In 1999 he recorded the duo album Cause and Reflect with Tim Berne, and the following year he appeared on the debut A Change of Worlds by the acoustic string trio Ti Ti Chickapea.
