Walters, Roberts & Deitch at Telluride Jazz Celebration, 8/5 – 8/7

24 Jul Walters, Roberts & Deitch at Telluride Jazz Celebration, 8/5 – 8/7

[click “Play”, Eddie Roberts talks with Susan]

Funk grows horns when jam band sensation Walter, Roberts & Deitch takes to the Main Stage of the at the 35th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration, August 4 – August 7.

Soul jazz organist Robert Walter is one of America’s heaviest jazz-funk crossover musicians. Walter earned international acclaim for his work with The Greyboy Allstars, a group credited with bringing 60s/70s soul jazz sounds to a modern jam band audience. For the past 15 years, Walter has toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe with the Allstars and his own ensembles: 20th Congress, Robert Walter Trio, Super Heavy Organ.

Guitarist Eddie Roberts started his musical career in 1989 at the tender age 18, having left his Welsh homeland to study jazz (briefly) at Leeds College of Music. But Roberts interest was in live performing, and in short order, he set up his first band, The Jazz Mailmen, dedicated to playing the golden era of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. During that time, British hard bop legend Tommy Chase asked Roberts to join his band – but Roberts had other ideas involving a pond crossing.

In 2007, Roberts  landed in the Big Easy, where he guested with a host of jazz and funk artists at late-night shows around the city including Galactic, Papa Mali, and The Greyboy Allstars. Later that summer, Roberts joined Stanton Moore’s trio for a festival gig – alongside keyboard Merlin, Robert Walter. His most recent affiliation to Mastersounds.

Drummer Adam Deitch started playing pick up sticks at age two and parlayed the game into a robust career.

The son of two professional funk drummers, by age eight Deitch was sitting in with his parents, playing everything from jazz to funk and R & B. Since then, it has been a straight line march to the top.

Deitch honed his drumming and production skills at the esteemed Berklee College of Music in the mid-1990s. Band affiliations including Fatbag, The Formula, Lettuce,  and other projects evolved from Deitch’s Boston connections.

His third year in. Boston, Deitch joined the Average White Band, touring for two years, performing alongside a number of his heroes, including Earth, Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan and Tower of Power, also guests at  the 2011 Telluride Jazz.

Deitch has performed or recorded with everyone from Justin Timberlake, The John Scofield Band, Fats Domino, Dave Matthews, Roy Hargrove, Dr. Lonnie Smith and D.J. Logic. He now lives in New York, where the focus is on his hip hop production skills.

At Telluride Jazz, Walter, Roberts & Deitch perform with a horn section, a mash up guaranteed to produce lots of shoe shaking sounds.

To learn more about the trio and what to expect from the group at Telluride Jazz, click the “play” button and listen to my interview with Eddie Roberts.