Jason Roebke is a Chicago bassist and composer. In addition to playing bass in several of Chicago’s most compelling jazz groups, he has composed music for his own Octet and small groups. His playing is intensely physical, audacious, and sparse. The Chicago Reader described his work as “a carefully orchestrated rummage through a hardware store.” He is a member of Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore, Mike Reed Flesh & Bone, and Tomeka Reid Quartet. Roebke studied privately with saxophonist and composer Roscoe Mitchell as well as legendary double bass pedagogue Stuart Sankey. In 2009, he was awarded the Fellowship in Music Composition from the Illinois Arts Council. Roebke tours widely in the US and Europe. He was the subject of an extensive interview and career overview in Point of Departure.
“El silencio es una parte fundamental en este solo de Jason Roebke. La intensidad del espacio es casi arquitectónica y le da un peso extraordinario a cada explosión de sonido proveniente del contrabajo.” – La Proveedora
“Silence is a fundamental part in this solo by Jason Roebke. The intensity of the space is almost architectural and gives an extraordinary weight to each explosion of sound coming from the contrabass.” – La Proveedora
“this crew delivered the absolute essence of composition locking horns with improvisation, resulting in a runaway demonstration of extreme, unpredictable excitement…This combo’s heavy on the horns, negotiating themes and solos with frequently blurred demarcations, organically threading into a monstrous entity.” Martin Longly, theartsdesk.com
“Composer and consummate musician Roebke exemplifies all that is fascinating and unique about Chicago jazz. On this uniformly superb disc he also demonstrates his own singular yet understated style, subtly yet brilliantly directing the sublime music from behind the ‘curtains.'” – ChicagoJazz.com
“In Roebke, another strong composer has emerged from a fertile scene.”
– Jazz Times
“With his precise intonation, woody tone, keen sense of time, and top-notch improvisational skills, bassist Jason Roebke is just the kind of player every bandleader wants” – Chicago Reader
“High/Red/Center stands out as one of the typically fantastic examples of the new Chicago music. If you were only to have a handful of new Chicago sounds, this should be one of them. What is so interesting about this band and the movement in general is that the music somehow captures the enthusiasm and joy of the new jazz in its early stages, yet it gives us a very contemporary spin on that moment with an accomplished conceptual and rousingly free attitude.” – GapplegateMusic Review
Top Ten Jazz Record of 2014 Lists:
High/Red/Center – #1 Jerome Wilson, Cadence
High/Red/Center – #5 Lyn Horton, The Paradigm of Beauty
2014 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll – Top 50 in the voting for Jazz Albumof the Year:
#28. Jason Roebke Octet, High/Red/Center (Delmark)
The Jason Roebke Octet’s engagement at the Doek Festival 2016 was
supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists
International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts
and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. www.midatlanticarts.org
