Hank Roberts

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Hank Roberts

| image = Roberts hank koeln stadtgarten 100308.jpg

| caption = Hank Roberts at Jazzhaus Stadtgarten, Köln/Cologne (Germany), March 2008

| image_size = 250

| landscape = yes

| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|03|24}}

| birth_place = Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.

| origin = New York City

| genre = Jazz

| occupation = Musician

| instrument = Cello, vocals

| years_active = 1980s–present

| label =

| associated_acts =

| website = {{URL|hankrobertsmusic.com}}

}}

Hank Roberts (born March 24, 1954, Terre Haute, Indiana){{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hank-roberts-mn0000947766/biography|title=Hank Roberts Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic|access-date= October 7, 2021}} is an American jazz cellist and vocalist. He plays the electric cello, and his style is a mixture of rock, jazz, avant-garde, folk, and classical influences. He emerged with the downtown New York City jazz scene of the 1980s and is associated with its post-modern tendencies.

Background

In the early 1980s, Roberts made a number of recordings for the defunct JMT label, was a featured member of the Bill Frisell Quartet,{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=2103}} and was an important voice in many groups of saxophonist Tim Berne. Roberts also recorded three discs with the Arcado String Trio, an improvisational chamber group featuring Mark Feldman, violin, and Mark Dresser, double bass.

In the early 1990s, Roberts left Frisell's group and stopped touring widely. He continued to release recordings, if sporadically, including with the progressive folk group Ti Ti Chickapea. In 2008, he was again touring and performing regularly, releasing Green (with Jim Black and Marc Ducret) on Winter & Winter, Stefan F. Winters subsequent label to JMT. In December 2011, Winter & Winter released Roberts' Everything Is Alive,{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hank-roberts-mn0000947766/discography|title=Hank Roberts Albums and Discography|website=AllMusic|access-date= October 7, 2021}} as well as re-releasing his entire JMT catalogue.

Selected discography

= As leader =

Black Pastels (JMT, 1987)
Birds of Prey (JMT, 1990)
Little Motor People (JMT, 1993)
22 Years from Now (Level Green, 1997)
I'll Always Remember (Level Green, 1998)
Cause and Reflect (Level Green, 1998) with Tim Berne
The Truth and Reconciliation Show (I Town, 2002)
Green (Winter & Winter, 2008) with Marc Ducret and Jim Black
Everything Is Alive (Winter & Winter, 2011) with Bill Frisell, Jerome Harris and Kenny Wollesen
Congeries of Ethereal Phenomena (Newvelle, 2019)
Science of Love (Sunnyside, 2021) with Hank Roberts Sextet