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Roberto Magris: Shuffling Ivories

By Jack Bowers
April 9, 2021
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In 2018, while he was in Chicago to record his ninth album, Suite!, for JMood Records, pianist

Roberto Magris

piano
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Roberto Magris was introduced by tenor saxophonist

Mark Colby

saxophone
1949 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Colby to bassist

" data-original-title="" title="">Eric Hochberg, an artist with whom Magris formed an almost immediate bond. After performing together at Chicago's Jazz Showcase, Magris and Hochberg decided they should record together, and so they did, setting down Shuffling Ivories, wherein Magris pays tribute to a number of his pianistic heroes, from Eubie Blake to

Oscar Peterson

piano
1925 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Oscar Peterson,

Elmo Hope

piano
1923 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Elmo Hope to

Andrew Hill

piano
1931 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Andrew Hill, with side helpings of

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk,

Bud Powell

piano
1924 - 1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Bud Powell,

Paul Bley

piano
1932 - 2016

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Bley and others, in November 2019. To do so, Magris had to revamp his musical persona from song to song and needed a partner who was able to adapt on the fly and keep in step, an assignment that posed no problem for the perceptive and versatile Hochberg.

Blake is represented by a pair of his pre-Swing Era classics, "Memories of You" and "The Chevy Chase," Hill by two versions of his charming ballad, "Laverne." Magris contributed three burnished originals—"Shuffling Ivories," "Clef Club Jump" and "Italy" (the last a nod to his home country and Italian-American artists such as

Lennie Tristano

piano
1919 - 1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Lennie Tristano,

George Wallington

piano
1924 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">George Wallington,

Vido Musso

saxophone, tenor
b.1913

" data-original-title="" title="">Vido Musso, the Candoli brothers,

Sal Mosca

piano
1927 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Sal Mosca,

Carl Fontana

trombone
1928 - 2003

" data-original-title="" title="">Carl Fontana and

Tony Bennett

vocals
1926 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Tony Bennett). Rounding out the inclusive session are Clarence Williams' assertive edict, "I've Found a New Baby," pianist Billy Gault's well-grooved "The Time of This World Is at Hand,"

Cal Massey

trumpet
1928 - 1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Cal Massey's bilateral "Quiet Dawn" and

Trudy Pitts

organ, Hammond B3
1932 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">Trudy Pitts' buoyant "Anysha," from

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

woodwinds
1935 - 1977

" data-original-title="" title="">Rahsaan Roland Kirk's album Other Folks' Music (Atlantic, 1976).

Magris, who has more than thirty albums under his belt, adapts easily to any style, from ragtime to swing, stride to blues or soul to bop, lending depth and variety to the enterprise, while Hochberg is an unerring alter ego, plucking or bowing (as on "Quiet Dawn") with acuity and assurance. Together, they make Shuffling Ivories an unequivocal listening pleasure.

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Track Listing

Shuffling Ivories, I've Found A New Baby, Clef Club Jump, Memories Of You, The Time Of This World Is At Hand, Quiet Dawn, Laverne, Anysha, Italy, The Chevy Chase, Laverne-Take 2

Personnel

Roberto Magris

piano

Eric Hochberg

bass

Additional Instrumentation

Roberto Magris, piano, Eric Hochberg, acoustic bass

Album information

Title: Shuffling Ivories | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: JMOOD* RECORDS

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