Howard Roberts was born in Phoenix Arizona in 1929 and by his teens was playing professionally. In 1950 he moved to Los Angeles and met Barney Kessel who in turn introduced him to Jack Marshall. This introduction kick started Howard's career and soon he was playing and recording with some of the well known players on the West Coast scene such as Buddy de Franco, Shorty Rogers, Bud Shank, Chico Hamilton, Claude Williamson, Pete Jolly and Bobby Troup.
In 1955 Howard made his first record as leader for the Norgran label although it was not immediately released. He recorded a second album for Verve which revealed his fine talents as a bop player but then in the 1960s moved to Capitol where his recorded work took on a slightly more commercial flavour although always impeccably performed.
Howard was extremely active in the studios performing on literally thousands of pop recordings and movie themes. However he also played pure jazz guitar on his live gigs and he was instrumental in setting up the regular Jazz Guitar nights at Donte's club. He had a keen interest in electronics and both Gibson and Epiphone had Howard Roberts signature guitar models. Howard also taught extensively and produced a number of guitar tutor books.
Howard Roberts passed away in 1992 at the relatively young age of 62. His LPs are often difficult to find but in recent times a considerable amount of his best material has become available on CD.
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