JAZZ : NEW RELEASES

MARCUS ROBERTS

“As Serenity Approaches”

Novus

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Roberts’ talent and keyboard technique are beyond reproach. He is a master of stride, as is often shown here, and of the blues, which forms the basis of several of his compositions. What we need to know is: How does he plan to employ all this mastery beyond updating styles and sounds of the 1920s?

There are moments of great beauty within this collection’s 19 cuts--eight of which feature guest soloists. But Roberts goes from the ridiculous--with “Cherokee,” which starts out like left-hand piano practice, with him later tossing in silly pseudo-wrong notes--to the sublime, in the form of “Angel,” a charming original.

Fellow keyboardist Ellis Marsalis does a good job of keeping Roberts in line on Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Waltz,” one of two piano duets, and Wynton Marsalis’ muted horn lends character to “King Porter Stomp.” A couple of the tracks, such as “Ferdinand Le Menth” (a misspelling of Jelly Roll Morton’s real name, La Menthe) could as well have been retitled “Heavy-Handed Blues.”