“Bryn Roberts has poise, elegance, a beautiful touch and a natural melodic flow. His musical imagination always tells a story and his delivery is organic and unforced. I love to hear him play.”
-Bill Charlap
“He is a consummate musician—attentive to the nuances of the song, the singer, the arrangement and the other musicians in the band—and he always delivers more than you expect…He’s an artist and a beautiful soul.”
-Rosanne Cash
Bryn Roberts is pianist, keyboardist and composer who is in demand in a broad range of musical contexts.
Roberts makes his home in Portland, Oregon, while continuing to spend much of his time in New York City, where he lived for 15 years. He plays, tours and records widely both as a leader and sideman, and is a frequent performer at clubs like Smalls, Mezzrow, the Jazz Gallery, the Kitano and Dizzy's.
An acclaimed composer and bandleader, Roberts has five albums out featuring his own music: his debut “Present Tense”, “Ludlow” (featuring Seamus Blake, Drew Gress and Mark Ferber), “Fables” (featuring Seamus Blake, Orlando le Fleming and Johnathan Blake) and two duo albums with guitarist Lage Lund, “Nightsong” and “Hide the Moon and the Stars”.
Roberts has toured with his own groups, including festival, radio and club appearances across the USA, Canada, the UK, Spain and Japan with some of New York’s finest musicians: Matt Penman, Jochen Rueckert, Rodney Green, Joe Martin, Jaleel Shaw, Johnathan Blake, Mark Ferber, Will Vinson and Seamus Blake.
Roberts is an original member of the Nonet led by Grammy nominee Alan Ferber, and has recorded with the group for a series of critically-acclaimed releases: “Scenes from an Exit Row”, “The Compass”, “Chamber Songs” and “Roots and Transitions”. He also plays in saxophonist Jon Gordon’s quartet (whose 2019 release, “Answer” was recorded at the historic Rudy Van Gelder Studio) and with groups led by bassist Chuck Israels.
In addition to his work in jazz and improvised music, Roberts has played and toured with many artists in the singer-songwriter world, including Grammy award winners Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal, Shawn Colvin, Stax records legend William Bell, and folk icon Dar Williams.
Cover and Bio photo by Reed Ricker