Wayne Roberts was born in Los Angeles, CA. At the age of 7, he studied piano, guitar and voice. At 14, he took up the trombone and a year later, the electric bass. He studied the electric bass with Herb Mickman.
At age 19, he took up the double bass and studied privately with Sue Ranney, principal bassist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. 8 months later he was accepted to the New England Conservatory of Music studying with Lawrence Wolfe of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and received a Bachelors Degree.
In 1980, he attended the Juilliard School where he studied with David Walter and later with Eugene Levinson, principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic and received a Masters Degree.
In the late 80's, he led his own trio with John Colianni and Eliot Zigmund, and co-lead Grant/Roberts New-Bop with Darrell Grant that featured Ralph Moore, Monty Croft and Gene Jackson.
In 1994, he spent much of his time touring in Europe and lived in Berlin, working as sideman and leader and bassist for Hungarian guitarist, Fenenc Snetberger.
In 1998, Wayne returned to NYC and formed the Wayne Roberts Sextet, featuring the music of the John Kirby Sextet (1937-43). He has transcribed 55 instrumental arrangements and has received worldwide acclaim for accurately recreating this intricate style of small band jazz.
Wayne is active on the New York jazz scene and has worked with a litany of notable musicians including Kirk Lightsey, Hal Galper, Howard Alden, Vic Juris, Jack Wilkins, Joe Cohn, Lew Tabackin, Ben Aronov, Ken Peplowski, Walt Weiskopf, Bill Mays, Harry Allen, Warren Vache, John Beasley, Billy Childs, Atilla Zoller, Chuck Wayne, Jaki Byard and Jo Jones.
Wayne Roberts can be heard regularly at the City Crab & Seafood Company's weekend jazz brunch, Park Ave & 16th St, with some of the finest guitarists around, including Howard Alden, Vic Juris, Steve Cardenas, Lage Lund, Sheryl Bailey and Freddie Bryant. See the Calendar for schedule.
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