Trumpeter, Flugelhornist Herb Robertson Dies at 73

By Michael J. West I Dec. 11, 2024

Robertson had a penetrating, pliant sound with a exceptional softness at its middle.

(Photograph: Courtesy herbrobertson.com)

Herb Robertson, a trumpeter and flugelhornist recognized for his wide-lens explorations of the avant-garde, died Dec. 10. He was 73.

His loss of life was introduced on Fb by his brother, Keith Robertson. Location and reason for loss of life weren’t disclosed; Keith Robertson described his brother’s loss of life as “sudden.”

Robertson had a penetrating, pliant sound that was usually decided to discover as lots of its sonic potentialities because it might attain. But there was additionally a exceptional softness at its middle, with Robertson as able to lyricism as of experimentalism. His collaborators ranged from Tim Berne, Andy Laster and Mark Helias to Invoice Frisell, Brian Lynch and David Sanborn. In any of these contexts, nevertheless, Robertson introduced a exceptional and warranted sense of swing.

“Herb was my mentor and musical sidekick for a few years within the ’80s and ’90s,” Berne wrote on Fb. “Each evening was like a characteristic movie filled with astounding moments of fantastically impressed madness.”

Different musicians added their very own heat tributes. “He had a coronary heart of pure gold,” wrote pianist Michael Jefry Stevens.

“The perfect man,” added guitarist Joe Morris. “Great musician and artist.”

Clarence Clifford Robertson was born Feb. 21, 1951, in Piscataway, New Jersey. He started enjoying trumpet in his elementary college band within the fifth grade; two years later, in junior highschool, his instructor launched him to jazz. By the point of his highschool commencement in 1969, he had grow to be a fervent jazz fan and collector, and matriculated at Berklee Faculty of Music — although he left and not using a diploma in 1973 to tour with jazz-rock bands.

Robertson met Tim Berne within the late ’70s again in his native New Jersey. They grew to become frequent artistic companions, every showing often on the opposite’s gigs and recordings all through the following twenty years and even often into the 2000s. These outings led to Robertson being celebrated as a shrewd free improviser, but additionally a lyrical and considerate one. (Robertson had broken his embouchure from the arduous blowing of his jazz-rock interval; he reinvented his type with a softer assault.)

Robertson made his first album as a pacesetter, Transparency, in 1985, and within the ensuing 4 many years he appeared on greater than 100 recordings that ranged from duo (e.g., Tuesday Prayers, a 2014 collaboration with Danish guitarist Mark Solborg) to massive band (e.g., a number of information with Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii’s Orchestra New York, together with 2019’s Entity). He remained all through these initiatives a steadfast explorer of the timbres at his disposal, often experimenting with completely different mutes and horn blends. Hommage A Galina Ustvolskaya, a March 2024 session led by trombonist Steve Swell — and that includes bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck and tubist Ben Stapp along with Swell and Robertson — might have been his closing recording. DB