George Roberts

George Roberts

born on 22/3/1928 in Des Moines, IA, United States

died on 27/9/2014 in Fallbrook, CA, United States

George Roberts (trombonist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

George Roberts (known as "Mr. Bass Trombone") is an American trombonist.[1]

Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, George began his career after service in the US Navy with the Ray Robbins Band, and then quit to join Gene Krupa in 1947, where he was in the same section with Urbie Green. It was Urbie's lyric tenor trombone playing that inspired George to be an "Urbie" one octave lower.

When the Krupa band broke up in 1949, George played freelance in Reno for a year before being hired into the Stan Kenton Orchestra from 1950 until 1953, to replace Bart Varsalona, who had left the band during its 1949-50 hiatus. Roberts opted to stay in Los Angeles rather than go with Kenton on his 1953 European tour, and began working as a freelance substitute. He was introduced to Nelson Riddle by Lee Gillette, one of the executives at Capitol Records who had produced Kenton recordings. George soon launched a successful studio recording career with Riddle, Don Costa, Billy May, Axel Stordahl, Gordon Jenkins, among others, in sessions with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole and many others.

As a Hollywood studio musician, Roberts recorded numerous film scores with all the major studios (Jaws, King Kong, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, etc.) and served on the staff orchestras of the major radio and television networks (The Carol Burnett Show, Dinah Shore Show, Academy Awards, etc.). He eventually appeared on over 6000 recordings before retiring.

Discography

  • George Roberts and His Big Bass Trombone - Meet Mr. Roberts (Columbia, 1959)
  • George Roberts' Sextet - Bottoms up (Columbia, 1960)
  • Let George Do It (with the Fort Vancouver High School Stage Band) (Regal Records, ? 1968)

With Chet Baker

  • Blood, Chet and Tears (Verve, 1970)

With Lalo Schifrin

  • Music from Mission: Impossible (Dot, 1967)
  • More Mission: Impossible (Paramount, 1968)
  • Mannix (Paramount, 1968)
  • Kelly's Heroes (soundtrack) (MGM, 1970)
  • Enter the Dragon (soundtrack) (Warner Bros., 1973)

References

  1. Hill, Paul (2004-08-12). Interview with George Roberts. Retrieved on 2010-12-05.

External links

This page was last modified 16.08.2013 08:07:47

This article uses material from the article George Roberts (trombonist) from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.