Having won several musical awards, including two Grammy nominations, along with nearly 50 recordings as a side man, Troy Roberts has released twelves album as a leader plus teaming up with Tim Jago for the 2021 release, Best Buddies. Roberts now releases his fourteenth with Nu-Jive: Nations United.
With Roberts and his saxophone on Nations United are Tim Jago on guitar, Silvano Monasterios on piano and keyboards, Eric England on bass, and David Chiverton on drums.These guys have been with Roberts since 2011, at least. Roberts composed all of ten songs on the album and he has proven his development as composer and performing artist. Roberts is a brilliant sax player and the guys with him are of the same artistic caliber. This is an excellent band.
The hard-grooving Funkafarian opens the album in a fine way. Then the drive surrenders to the Rastafarian Reggae of Bob Marley and Desmond Dekker. Who can forget Dekker’s 1969 hit Israelites? It was the first Reggae I ever heard as a kid. I was only 11 years old but I was hooked. Now Roberts works through some of those familiar-sounding riffs and gives us a song that offers brilliant work from Roberts on sax and Monasterios on keyboards. Listen for the dueling of Roberts and England’s bass. The final section morphs into a Gospel passage that is a fine pairing with anything Reggae.
Tribes & Tribulations is a well-intentioned and emphatic look at the struggles of cultures in both Australia with the Aboriginal people and the US with Native Americans and African Americans. The music is astonishing with wonderful contributions from Monasterios and, of course, Roberts himself who proves his artistic finesse and power all over again. With each new album, Roberts just gets better and, more than that, deeper into himself—a treasure trove of personal and artistic profundity.
Mind Melder starts as a slow and savvy Soul groove. Roberts must have been thinking of Vulcans when he wrote this because the band is definitely operating telepathically. The groove continues throughout but the drive ascends to new heights in the sweet vamp of the piano and sax. But Chiverton adds a sweet drum lead. This guy is spot-on. The construction of the piece is remarkable. This is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It gets followed by Linger and, if the improv sounds familiar, it comes from a motif on Roberts’ 2020 album, Stuff I Heard (an album I highly recommend). This is riotously good fun with the whole band working the improvisation. Roberts is on fire with this one and Monasterios offers some erratic and emphatic keyboards.
Big Night In is a phrase coined during the isolation of the COVID-19 days—the opposite of a “big night out.” A home-alone dance party sets the scene for the cool music that follows. Monasterios’ piano solo is so fine and Roberts adds gorgeous and lyrical sax work. But wait for the merengue section with Monasterios and his exciting piano leads. That gets a tight groove with England and Chiverton anchoring the rhythm section—all setting up Roberts extraordinary saxophone.
Sobrino (Spanish for Nephew) follows after and is introduced by a slow-paced, almost ambient, keyboard with the steady and deliberate beat of the drum. England joins in with great, effects-tilted, bass lines. The play between Jago’s guitar and England’s bass is mesmerizing. Again, if it sounds familiar, it is an adaptation of a passage from Mono Stereos from 2013’s Nu-Jive 5. Yeah, you want to get that one, too. Then there’s Big Daddy Ghetto-Rig, a tribute to “the sixth member of the band” recording engineer Dana Salminen. The story around the song is Salminen’s rescue of the mixing board after a crash during the recording of Nu Jive 5. The recorded jam session was developed into a longer piece to great results. The current track is another tribute to the new father with all of the band members going between each other with great improvisation.
Five Nations may remind you of Roberts’ and Jago’s duetting on Best Buddies from 2021. The remarkable dialogue between the two is a joy to hear. The title is referencing the five nations of the Mohawk Confederation of the early 1700s. The peaceful interaction and cooperation of that confederation is reflected in the beauty of the music and cohesion of the band.
Hypnogogia is that moment of twilight between waking and sleeping. Roberts’ saxophone and Chiverton’s drums set up the episode that follows in Dreamstation. In Dreamstation, the fragmentation of the parts occurs as the sax and drums anchor the groove before being joined by the rest of the band. Jago’s guitar adds brilliant parts but listen to that bone-crushing groove that England and Chiverton lay down. It is enough to induce lucid dreaming as Roberts and Jago break away into their own melodic phrases. Roberts moves us to conclusion with a blistering saxophone solo. Then, nearing the end of the dream, the groove slows down. Not only an excellent end to the song but to the entire album.
Troy Roberts’ Nu-Jive: Nations United is yet another example of his craft and character in Jazz. His transparency in composition and his straight-ahead performance artistry are landmarks of 21st Century Jazz. His leadership is splendid and his choice of band members is without flaw. Nations United is a jewel in his crown and a joy to our ears.
~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
With Roberts and his saxophone on Nations United are Tim Jago on guitar, Silvano Monasterios on piano and keyboards, Eric England on bass, and David Chiverton on drums.These guys have been with Roberts since 2011, at least. Roberts composed all of ten songs on the album and he has proven his development as composer and performing artist. Roberts is a brilliant sax player and the guys with him are of the same artistic caliber. This is an excellent band.
The hard-grooving Funkafarian opens the album in a fine way. Then the drive surrenders to the Rastafarian Reggae of Bob Marley and Desmond Dekker. Who can forget Dekker’s 1969 hit Israelites? It was the first Reggae I ever heard as a kid. I was only 11 years old but I was hooked. Now Roberts works through some of those familiar-sounding riffs and gives us a song that offers brilliant work from Roberts on sax and Monasterios on keyboards. Listen for the dueling of Roberts and England’s bass. The final section morphs into a Gospel passage that is a fine pairing with anything Reggae.
Tribes & Tribulations is a well-intentioned and emphatic look at the struggles of cultures in both Australia with the Aboriginal people and the US with Native Americans and African Americans. The music is astonishing with wonderful contributions from Monasterios and, of course, Roberts himself who proves his artistic finesse and power all over again. With each new album, Roberts just gets better and, more than that, deeper into himself—a treasure trove of personal and artistic profundity.
Mind Melder starts as a slow and savvy Soul groove. Roberts must have been thinking of Vulcans when he wrote this because the band is definitely operating telepathically. The groove continues throughout but the drive ascends to new heights in the sweet vamp of the piano and sax. But Chiverton adds a sweet drum lead. This guy is spot-on. The construction of the piece is remarkable. This is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It gets followed by Linger and, if the improv sounds familiar, it comes from a motif on Roberts’ 2020 album, Stuff I Heard (an album I highly recommend). This is riotously good fun with the whole band working the improvisation. Roberts is on fire with this one and Monasterios offers some erratic and emphatic keyboards.
Big Night In is a phrase coined during the isolation of the COVID-19 days—the opposite of a “big night out.” A home-alone dance party sets the scene for the cool music that follows. Monasterios’ piano solo is so fine and Roberts adds gorgeous and lyrical sax work. But wait for the merengue section with Monasterios and his exciting piano leads. That gets a tight groove with England and Chiverton anchoring the rhythm section—all setting up Roberts extraordinary saxophone.
Sobrino (Spanish for Nephew) follows after and is introduced by a slow-paced, almost ambient, keyboard with the steady and deliberate beat of the drum. England joins in with great, effects-tilted, bass lines. The play between Jago’s guitar and England’s bass is mesmerizing. Again, if it sounds familiar, it is an adaptation of a passage from Mono Stereos from 2013’s Nu-Jive 5. Yeah, you want to get that one, too. Then there’s Big Daddy Ghetto-Rig, a tribute to “the sixth member of the band” recording engineer Dana Salminen. The story around the song is Salminen’s rescue of the mixing board after a crash during the recording of Nu Jive 5. The recorded jam session was developed into a longer piece to great results. The current track is another tribute to the new father with all of the band members going between each other with great improvisation.
Five Nations may remind you of Roberts’ and Jago’s duetting on Best Buddies from 2021. The remarkable dialogue between the two is a joy to hear. The title is referencing the five nations of the Mohawk Confederation of the early 1700s. The peaceful interaction and cooperation of that confederation is reflected in the beauty of the music and cohesion of the band.
Hypnogogia is that moment of twilight between waking and sleeping. Roberts’ saxophone and Chiverton’s drums set up the episode that follows in Dreamstation. In Dreamstation, the fragmentation of the parts occurs as the sax and drums anchor the groove before being joined by the rest of the band. Jago’s guitar adds brilliant parts but listen to that bone-crushing groove that England and Chiverton lay down. It is enough to induce lucid dreaming as Roberts and Jago break away into their own melodic phrases. Roberts moves us to conclusion with a blistering saxophone solo. Then, nearing the end of the dream, the groove slows down. Not only an excellent end to the song but to the entire album.
Troy Roberts’ Nu-Jive: Nations United is yet another example of his craft and character in Jazz. His transparency in composition and his straight-ahead performance artistry are landmarks of 21st Century Jazz. His leadership is splendid and his choice of band members is without flaw. Nations United is a jewel in his crown and a joy to our ears.
~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
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