Tom Roberts

Tom Roberts is a leading exponent of early jazz piano. He's played everywhere from New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Tonight Show to the major jazz clubs in the French Quarter.

 

Projects with Rick Sebak

Meat Pittsburgh

 
 

Warning vegans!!!! Gruesome images that I can not watch either! But lets include some witty patter about that. Possible shtick here:

Here is the Emmy award winning short "Meat Pittsburgh" by Rick Sebak with music by the pescatarian composer yours truly.

There were several funny little stories during the recording for this. One was as as the lambs are shown frolicking about towards the end of their segment I joked "Who wants to go get slaughtered? in the same voice you would say to your beloved pet about going for a ride in the car or going to the park. Rick said to me "Ooh that's true . Maybe we should do a little "Requiem for the Lambs" and I improvised it on the spot. Of course it was too long, so we kept stripping it down until you hear what you do in the final cut.

This was an extremely difficult project for me because I do not consume the charred flesh of animals. I was in a quandary. But then I realized i could compose ethnically inspired music for each segment. So very Celtic sounding music for the lambs, a jaunty little Gershwin-inspired bit for for the Ace Hotel, a Tarantella for the Italian Sausage, a delightful little Chopinesque mazurka/polonaise hybrid in duple time for the Polish sausage, and a very Arabic Taksim for the Syrian grocery in the strip. I transcribed some Turkish loud music to get ideas initially. Rick thought it sounded "too violent" so I improvised in the middle eastern scales and was very pleased with the results.

Enjoy the Emmy Award Winning "Meat Pittsburgh".

 

A Short History of Route 88

©2022 Tom Roberts  
tom@tomrobertspiano.com