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.

 


The Hot Club of Pittsburgh via Zoom, Thursday September 19, 7:00 PM
Sep
19
7:00 PM19:00

The Hot Club of Pittsburgh via Zoom, Thursday September 19, 7:00 PM

The Monroeville Library is again sponsoring the Hot Club of Pittsburgh on Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 7:00 PM.

Join us for “Fascinating Rhythm: the Original Recordings of George Gershwin.” We will hear actual recordings of Gershwin himself, including the first ever recordings of Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, as well as all of his solo piano recordings.

This is a zoom presentation. You can access it via the Facebook link here

View Event →
Allegheny City Ragtime Orchestra performs at Calvary United Methodist Church on September 15, 2024 at 4:00 PM.
Sep
15
4:00 PM16:00

Allegheny City Ragtime Orchestra performs at Calvary United Methodist Church on September 15, 2024 at 4:00 PM.

  • Calvary United Methodist Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The Allegheny City Ragtime Orchestra will be performing the compositions of the first generation of freeborn southern African Americans. The monumental works of Scott Joplin, including his ballet, will be performed, as will previously unheard compositions by forgotten Pittsburgh ragtime-era composers.

The performance will take place at the Calvary United Methodist Church on September 15, 2024 at 4:00 PM.

Purchase tickets here

View Event →
Guest co-host on Swing and Sway on WESA Saturday, September 14, 2024 at 6:00 PM
Sep
14
6:00 PM18:00

Guest co-host on Swing and Sway on WESA Saturday, September 14, 2024 at 6:00 PM

Come join me as I inject some Sweat and Shimmy and Stomp and Swerve into Swing and Sway. I will be premiering selections from the new Archeophone King Oliver Centennial set for your listening enjoyment. This set includes is 2 LPs and 4 CDs, so I have a lot to choose from!

View Event →
Oct
20
8:00 PM20:00

Nosferatu: A Symphony in Horror

Featuring live musical score by Tom Roberts!

An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, NOSFERATU (1922) is the quintessential silent vampire film, crafted by legendary German director F. W. Murnau. Rather than depicting Dracula as a shape-shifting monster or debonair gentleman, Murnau’s Graf Orlok (as portrayed by Max Schreck) is a nightmarish, spidery creature of bulbous head and taloned claws — perhaps the most genuinely disturbing incarnation of vampirism yet envisioned.

Learn more at trustarts.org

View Event →
Carnegie, Carnegie! The Red Beans and Rice Combo at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall
Jun
29
7:00 PM19:00

Carnegie, Carnegie! The Red Beans and Rice Combo at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall

  • Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS


The Red Beans & Rice Combo are serious musicians who don’t take themselves too seriously. The fun-loving trio is known for their danceable mix of New Orleans R&B, early rock & roll nuggets, and barroom ballads, with a jazzy dash of Tin Pan Alley, and a side of wit and humor. Don’t forget your dancing shoes!

The Combo features the world-celebrated early jazz stride pianist Tom Roberts (who also sings and whistles), along with Dave Klug on drums and his custom-built “Kluger Soundboard,” and Wayno on vocals, harmonica, & ukulele.

Join us in our newly improved Studio at the Carnegie Carnegie, an intimate space with a club-vibe! Complimentary snacks. Beer and wine by donations.

Courtesy of the Almanac - the South Hills Community News

Tickets $20 in advance-$25 at the door. Go to https://carnegiecarnegie.org/event/listen-locally-downstairs-with-the-red-beans-rice-combo/ for more information.

View Event →
Tom Roberts and the Hot Club of Pittsburgh - Licorice Sticks!
Jun
22
7:00 PM19:00

Tom Roberts and the Hot Club of Pittsburgh - Licorice Sticks!

  • Zoom event hosted by Monroeville Public Library (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Tom will be returning online with more records from his rare, pristine, shellac-based 78 rpm records. This time we’ll be focusing on Klezmer Clarinetists, Greek Blues, and New Orleans jazz. Highlights include Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Sidney Bechet, and Edmond Hall. If you enjoy jazz, rebetiko, or classic sounds, we hope you’ll join us!

This is a zoom event. You can click this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85940966845?fbclid=IwAR1hHbBA071XptJ6-Vlw7cHmdgaIBl2ap69shh6yvd28297mbaPYvO_4Mk8#success

to join the zoom call, but if the link doesn’t work, please go to the Monroeville Library facebook page and click on their event link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1322126411707995

View Event →
Academy Concerts at Allegheny Church presents: Tom Roberts - Harlem Stride piano virtuoso
Feb
8
7:30 PM19:30

Academy Concerts at Allegheny Church presents: Tom Roberts - Harlem Stride piano virtuoso

Tom Roberts will amaze, entertain, and enlighten you with a tour-de-force of the historical art form of Harlem Stride piano, the virtuosic piano music of the Harlem renaissance. Tom will play music of the great artists of the day: James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Charles “Luckey” Roberts, and Willie “The Lion” Smith. Tom has performed this repertoire at New York City’s prestigious 92nd Street Y and twice at the International Stride Piano Summit in Zurich, Switzerland where he was a featured performer.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Click here to purchase yours.

Doors open at 7:00 PM and the concert begins at 7:30 PM.

View Event →
Experience Nosferatu with a live score composed by Tom Roberts
Oct
14
7:30 PM19:30

Experience Nosferatu with a live score composed by Tom Roberts

The Pittsburgh Silent Film Society commissioned Tom Roberts to compose a new score for Nosferatu to commemorate the film’s 100-year anniversary of Nosferatu.

This is a not to miss performance on Friday, October 14, 2022, at the 3rd Street Gallery, 220 3rd Street, Carnegie.

Doors open at 7:00.

$20.00 admission

View Event →
Nosferatu with original music by Tom Roberts
Oct
13
7:00 PM19:00

Nosferatu with original music by Tom Roberts

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (German: Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens) is a 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who preys on the wife (Greta Schröder) of his estate agent (Gustav von Wangenheim) and brings the plague to their town.

The silent film will be paired with new music composed and performed live in the Theater by Pittsburgh native, Tom Roberts.

View Event →
Jul
9
7:00 PM19:00

The Charlie Chaplin Live Picture Show @ the Rangos Giant Cinema

charlie-chaplin-virtual-event.jpg

Join The Rangos Giant Cinema and pianist Tom Roberts for a night of live music and silent films via Zoom. In the spirit of Chaplin’s incredible legacy, listen to Roberts’ original scores performed live against two of Chaplin’s films—Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), the first on-screen appearance of Chaplin’s “Little Tramp” character, and The Pawnshop (1916).

Roberts has played everywhere from New York’s Carnegie Hall and The Tonight Show to the major jazz clubs in the French Quarter. He toured throughout the world as pianist and musical director for Leon Redbone.

In addition to his scores for the Chaplin films One A.M., The Rink, The Pawn Shop and Kid Auto Races, he has composed scores for films by Harry Langdon, Eddie Cantor, and Gloria Swanson for The Andy Warhol Museum.

Roberts also has composed and performed the scores for the Nebby series by beloved Pittsburgh documentarian Rick Sebak.

Tickets

Free for Carnegie Museums Members / $7 for nonmember


View Event →
Mar
29
4:00 PM16:00

City Lights at The Rangos Giant Cinema

I will be curating and introducing the greatest film EVER!!!

Don't believe me?

Well, come on out and see for yourselves. You will be moved, I promise.

See one of the greatest silent films by one of history’s most iconic comedians on Pittsburgh’s largest screen! Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights is often considered by critics one of the highest accomplishments of his career and one of the greatest movies of all time.

A hapless but resilient tramp (Charlie Chaplin) falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) on the tough city streets. Upon learning that she and her grandmother are to be evicted from their home, the tramp undertakes a series of attempts to provide them with the money they need, all of which end in humiliating failure. But after a drunken millionaire (Harry Myers) lavishly rewards him for saving his life, the tramp can change the flower girl’s life forever.


View Event →
Mar
26
6:30 PM18:30

The Hot Club at Friendship Perk & Brew

Tom returns with the greatest music you've never heard to the east end! I go thru that tunnel or cross that bridge so you don't have to! Shellac and steel needles!!

Klezmer, hot jazz, hot tango, hot klezmer, hot greek, hot calypso, hot old time country and who knows what else all direct from the original 78s. The Hot Club of Pittsburgh is an educational/entertainment thingy!

I was chosen by producer, and curator of jazz at Lincoln Center, Phil Schaap to create this group in which people gather in public places to hear hot music played directly from the original 78 rpm recordings on vintage equipment and sometimes on modern turntables.

Come and hear the greatest music you've never heard before! Your life will improve! I promise!

View Event →
Mar
21
7:00 PM19:00

Hot Club Comes to Harmony

  • Bottlebrush Gallery & Center for the Arts (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The Hot Clubs of America began in the 1930s, where people gathered to listen to 78 RPM recordings. If you’ve ever heard an original 78 played in-person, you know this is the closest thing to a time machine we can experience.

We will present the greatest music you've never heard direct from the original 78s on vintage wind-up record players, and the sound will amaze you! Plus this space is haunted!!!

Admission $20. Refreshments provided. BYOB .

RSVP Required: 724.452.0539

View Event →
Mar
7
7:30 PM19:30

Red beans and Rice Combo at Orbis Caffe

RedBeansRice.jpg

The Combo returns to the friendly and intimate Orbis Caffe in Mount Lebanon for an evening of music, food, and fun.

Orbis will have a selection of small plate dinners and treats available for sale, along with their usual coffees, tea, and soft drinks. You're welcome to BYOB.

Cover charge is $15 per person.

Reservations are highly recommended. Orbis has seating for 60 people, and we expect a sold-out house. To reserve your table, call Orbis at 412.563.1220, or stop by in person, and while you're there, get a drink. We recommend the espresso!

View Event →
Feb
29
8:00 PM20:00

Hot Club of Pittsburgh at House of Pingting Spring Hill

A rabbit peering into a Victrola

Want to do something amazing on leap day? Come on up to Spring Hill to House of Pingting, the home and gallery of David Pohl for our first in house experience.

David has a 1914 Victor Victrola and which I will use to play acoustically recorded 78s such as Mamie Smith, and the first blues record, the ODJB first jazz record and we will listen to the incredible recordings of James Reese Europe and the Clef Club orchestra.

The Clef Club was a musician's organization that created opportunities for the black musicians of New York. They performed at Carnegie Hall in 1912 to a standing room only audience. You have probably never heard of them but THIS is why The Hot Club of Pittsburgh exists!

View Event →
Feb
22
8:00 PM20:00

Listen Locally Downstairs with The Red Beans & Rice Combo

  • Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The Red Beans & Rice Combo returns to the Studio with New Orleans and Mardi Gras tunes to celebrate the last weekend of Carnival Season in style.

The Red Beans & Rice Combo are serious musicians who don’t take themselves too seriously. The fun-loving trio is known for their danceable mix of New Orleans R&B, early rock & roll nuggets, and barroom ballads, with a jazzy dash of Tin Pan Alley, and a side of wit and humor.

So dust off your finest purple, green, and gold and bring your krewe Downstairs to the Carnegie Carnegie Carnival! Complimentary snacks, drinks by donation and a prize for the “best dressed!”

View Event →
Feb
8
6:00 PM18:00

Why Louis Armstrong Matters

TomRoberts-ElRefuciloWinery.jpg

The Hot Club of Pittsburgh Presents the multimedia immersive event "Why Louis Armstrong Matters". There is MUCH more to Louis than you've ever imagined.

Those who experience will hear for themselves how this child who was abandoned to the most dangerous streets in the world by a prostitute mother changed ALL music. If you think that Pops is an Uncle Tom one hit wonder from the sixties, this will open your ears and your heart, (If you actually possess them.)

PLUS!! Fabulous wine from Mendoza Argentina!!

View Event →
Feb
3
7:30 PM19:30

Music for Unity: A World Music Concert for Founders Week 2020

  • Mary Pappert School of Music, Duquesne University (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Featuring music from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Peru, and South Korea. Performed by students of the Mary Pappert School of Music and special guests Alejandro Pinzon (bandoneon) & Tom Roberts (piano).

Students from the ISO will also share how music brings people together in their culture. Dr. Joseph Sheehan, artistic director.

MusicforUnity.jpg
View Event →

©2024 Tom Roberts  
tom@tomrobertspiano.com