**The Taylor Roberts Quartet featuring Kevin Bales, Billy Thornton, and Al Sergel live at Eddie's Attic!** TAYLOR ROBERTS The love affair began early, which may very well explain how Taylor Roberts’ professional career is well into its third decade. Spanning as wide a range of influences as there are genres of music, Taylor Roberts has earned a reputation that is continuously expanding. Although his heart is deeply steeped in Jazz, Roberts does not easily fit into any one box. His influences range from R&B, to Classic Rock, to Pop, and everything in between. Years of intensive study with world-renowned educators such as Barry Greene, Keith Javors, and Bunky Green have proven to continually pay off as his career expands. His reworkings and adaptations of songs old and new entrance established fans, while attracting new fans on a nightly basis. Roberts has appeared multiple times at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival and has toured internationally with the Christian Tamburr Quintet. He has been hired by the Rolling Stones to play their private events. His position as the primary in-house entertainment at the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island from 2014-2023 has allowed him opportunities to travel the world and enjoy residencies at other luxury resorts as he performs for an international audience on a nightly basis. Committed to music education for over 20 years, Roberts has additionally conducted clinics at various colleges, universities, and conservatories across the United States. Roberts’ versatility is evident, due to his collaborations with such names as Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Marvin “Toneworld” Hemmings, Charlie Hunter, Keith David, Maria Howell, Andy McKee, Richard Smith, Gareth Pearson, Greg Koch, Dan Wilson, and Ted Ludwig. In addition to his rising visibility, Roberts is dedicated to using the finest products, endorsing Benedetto Guitars, Ribbecke Guitars, Buscarino amplifiers, and Henriksen amplifiers. Likened to Tommy Emmanuel, Russell Malone, Wes Montgomery, Tuck Andress and Charlie Hunter, Roberts’ masterful playing has begun to etch his name alongside his heroes. KEVIN BALES By some measures, Kevin Bales was a latecomer to jazz, already 17 when he encountered the sounds and structures and became captivated by the freedom and corresponding challenges of the music. But if late to the party, he wasted no time in immersing himself in the celebration, declaring total commitment to what would be his life’s work and backing his announcement by resigning his job and designated career in computer programming. Kevin could commit to jazz with a reasonable degree of expectation. He was already an accomplished pianist, with classical chops refined since the age of 10. So accomplished he was invited to audition for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, then under the direction of its most storied conductor Robert Shaw, at age 16. Kevin’s initial career move was to the University of North Florida and a budding if little-known jazz program. There he met and performed with, and went on to record and tour with, a number of monumental artists who had settled into that burgeoning North Florida jazz scene. Giants like Wynton Marsalis, Louie Bellson, Eddie Daniels, James Moody, Ben Tucker, Ira Sullivan, Sam Rivers, and Nat Adderley. He counts among his mentors bassist Ben Tucker, multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan, guitar legends Nathen Page and Jack Petersen, and the fiercely individual saxophonist Bunky Green. His meeting with Bunky Green led to five years of tours. His encounter with guitarist Nathen Page blossomed into 15 years of spot tours and four albums. And his work with trumpeter extraordinaire Marcus Printup has become a lifetime association that has included recordings on Blue Note/Capital records. Ten years touring and recording with vocal iconoclast Rene Marie culminated in a Grammy Nominated album. His most recent recording of music composed by Fred Rogers was selected as one of the top 10 albums of 2018 by Cadence Magazine and AllAboutJazz.com Few artists have the patience for teaching – as are few teachers accomplished players. But Kevin has amassed a reputation for his prowess in both professions. While still a senior at North Florida he was drafted into a full teaching load, and continued to be an integral part of the school’s jazz program for upwards of a decade. Today, Kevin manages his own jazz program, overseeing an ambitious schedule of ambitious jazz students and runs the improvisation and small group programs at Georgia State University. Kevin has amassed a long list of awards and a reputation as one of the finest jazz pianists performing anywhere. In 1994, less than a decade into jazz, he won the American Pianist Association’s Jazz Piano Competition. In addition to nearly every important jazz venue in the South, he has performed in some of the most acclaimed clubs and festivals in America and around the world: the JVC Jazz Festival in New York, The Bakery in Los Angeles, The Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center jazz series, the Toronto and Edinburgh jazz festivals, and the Moscow Center for the Performing Arts. BILLY THORNTON Billy Thornton was raised in rural South Georgia in a musical family. He originally started on bass because it was needed in his father’s band. As Billy grew to love the electric and upright bass he also fell in love with many styles of music and studied the bass’ role in each of them. He studied jazz in college at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville but never cut himself off from the larger musical world. In addition to performing straight ahead jazz Billy has maintained a schedule playing in bands that specialize in classic rock, reggae, indie-folk, pop, and even Celtic rock. When Billy leads his own ensemble he also takes the role of vocalist. Both his singing and bass playing have a “heart on his sleeve” honesty. Billy strives to be a supportive and vibrant bassist who is as ready to add his ideas to the fray as he is to be the palette on which others can shine. This sensibility has allowed Billy to play with some amazing and creative musicians such as Doug Carn, Dominick Farinacci, Kevin Bales, Taylor Roberts, and Christian Tamburr. Billy has also been an educator for almost 20 years. Billy was the bass instructor at Jacksonville University in Florida until he moved to Atlanta, GA in 2014. There he began teaching at Georgia State University from 2015-2022. AL SERGEL Drummer and composer, Alfred Sergel IV, has shared the stage with Grammy award winning artists and recorded on numerous Billboard charting albums. The energy and excitement Sergel has brought to audiences worldwide supporting other artists, he now brings to support his own original music which fuses pop melodic undertones within a modern jazz context. Sergel’s original music has grabbed the attention of NPR Music, JAZZIZ Magazine and has hit the top 200 on the jazz charts. Presented by Eddie's Attic. This is an all ages event.