Chapter 1 - HR "In His Own Words"
This is Chapter 1 of 5, documenting the life and stories of Howard Roberts, one of the most influential guitarists of all time. The Educator, The Innovator and the Master Musician.
Look forward to the following Chapters;
Chapter 2, The Desert Years
Chapter 3, The Studio Years
Chapter 4, The Education Years
Chapter 5, The "Telecaster Story"
Chapter 2 - The Desert Years
"The Desert Years" is Chapter 2 of 5 in the Howard Roberts Documentary. HR's childhood growing up in the Arizona desert was challenging through the depression era, but later became the spring board for his interest in the Guitar, launching a landmark career in the Hollywood music scene.
Look forward to the Studio Years and the Education Years to follow!
1st Annual Celebrity Guitar Summit
This is a clip from the first Annual Howard Roberts Celebrity Guitar Summit Concert. Included are some still pictures from the event, as well as a live performance clip Ernie Watts and Jay Roberts trading 4's over a Howard Roberts original called "Dirty Old Bossa Nova."
This was the official launch of the Howard Roberts Project! A documentary about HR's life and impact on others, as well as an album featuring many of HR's colleagues were completed in Jan 2015 and released.
The support from our sponsors and fans has been overwhelming! Without their direct support, this Tribute would have never happened.
Special Thanks to Gibson, Quilter, C2 imaging, Yamaha, Zildjian, Mackie, Ampeg and Roberts Music Institute.
The Most Frequently Heard Guitar in Television History - Howard Roberts 1952 Telecaster
This guitar is recognized as the "Most Heard Guitar" in television History.
Can you Name all of the TV Tunes?
Jack Marshall composed and arranged much of the Commercial work that HR Played on, in addition to several of his Howard Roberts Records. Jack was also his Producer and Best Friend in the LA studio scene. They both had a sense of humor that became the bedrock of their relationship, and some might say a rather "extreme" sense of humor. Here is a great "Tele-Story" depicting some of the craziness that they would get into, as told by Jacks son, Phil Marshall (also a legendary LA Film composer) Enjoy!
The Howard Roberts Project CD and Documentary will be released Jan 22, 2015 at the NAMM Show.
THE BLACK GUITAR STORY
While this segment is not included in the HR documentary, it is a fascinating story (especially to guitar "gear heads" and historians of the subject). Wolf Marshall shares some insights to the who's, what's, where's, when's and why's of the infamous "Black Guitar", that Howard Roberts played on so many of his records. That classic "HR sound" of which is so warm, proves to be illusive to attain, even to this day. This guitar was played on countless Hollywood TV, Movie and recording sessions.
2014 NAMM Tribute Performance
HR plays backup on Anne Margret's screen test (1961)
Rare Footage of a Legend
NOTE: Some of the above videos use copyrighted material in a manner that does not require approval of the copyright holder. No copyright infringement is intended. The musical content is used under the FAIR USE policy, and is presented purely in good faith for the purposes of promoting information of an educational and historical nature only. All copyright claim is fully retained by the authors, publishers, and owners of the original.