Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The 'Other John Roberts' Plays Trombone In A Billings Salsa Band

courtesy of John Roberts

In grade school in Malta, Montana, eleven-year-old John Roberts — the trombone player, not the Supreme Court justice — watched as the band director, playing a blues solo, muted the bell of his trombone with a handleless toilet plunger. Roberts's destiny was sealed. "I guess that's my personality right there. I guess I gravitate towards things that are brash and obnoxious."

Roberts moved from the family ranch near Malta to Billings and Los Angeles to study music, then back to Billings, where he's a professor at his alma mater, MSU-Billings. But during his 17 years in L.A., Roberts toured the world with the likes of Bobby Womack, Los Pinguos, The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, The Temptations, Chaka Khan, and Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca. His many session and U.S. performance credits include Burt Bacharach, Lady Gaga, Dr. Dre, The Ojays, Feist, the L.A.Philharmonic, Mariah Carey, and his own salsa African funk band, Pan Blanco.

Pre-Covid, Roberts composed, arranged, performed and recorded Afro-Latin soul music in L.A., Montana and beyond — and he'll be back at it the moment the coast is clear.

(Broadcast: Musician's Spotlight,  9/22/20 and 2/9/21. Listen on the radio Tuesdays, 7 p.m., or via podcast.)

John Floridis, the host and producer of Musician's Spotlight, has been with Montana Public Radio since 1997. He has interviewed over 200 musicians during that time. He is also an independent recording and performing artist in his own right and a former registered music therapist.
Become a sustaining member for as low as $5/month
Make an annual or one-time donation to support MTPR
Pay an existing pledge or update your payment information
Related Content