Hank Roberts

Green

(Winter & Winter)

Any short list of cellists in jazz would be woefully incomplete without the name Hank Roberts. But he might also qualify for the proverbial, “Where are they now?” list. Roberts made a strong and lyrical impression with his work in the “Downtown” ferment on the ’80s NYC scene, playing with John Zorn and his ilk, in Bill Frisell’s group and via his own music on the JMT label. After ducking out of music for nearly two decades to raise his family in Ithaca, Roberts has re-entered the music atmosphere, mostly in Europe and other extra-American terrain.

With his inviting new album, the story continues. And from the musical evidence here, it’s almost like he never left. On tracks that sound alternately free, floating and inspired by various folk traditions, Roberts is joined by empathetic foils Marc Ducret on guitar – sometimes sounding like Frisell with an extra attitudinal edge – and the limber drummer Jim Black.

Confident in both his arco and pizzicato playing, Roberts moves from the sad, introspective luster of “Bernie” (with its Hindustani-flavored companion, “Bernie Alap”) to the funkish slink of “In the ’60s” and the quirked-up ensemble conversation of “Cola People.” His understated vocal tracks, delivered in some personalized art-folk-jazz mode, may be an acquired taste. The shift from instrumental openness to the linguistic tug of vocals seems a bit jarring. But overall, Green serves the jazz scene notice that one of its lost, missed voices is back – and sounding right in the artistic groove of his own devising.

- Josef Woodard