Community voices: Family fosters musical talent throughout community

The Robertson family, along with other featured musicians, are currently sponsoring the Prodigies of Music Jazz Concert & Conversation every third Saturday at the Southwest Regional branch of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library.

Their local musical history includes a distinguished 23-year stint performing as the John Robertson Trio at the former Dante’s Down the Hatch in Buckhead. John, Rosemary and their two sons, John IV and James, bring jazz standards, as well as their own compositions, to life for audiences who receive them well.

The family has fun singing, playing a wide variety of instruments and injecting humor into the performances. They also feature Q&A sessions that lead to conversations about jazz and the stories behind the music. The lineup of other musicians normally includes students from area high schools who have been under their tutelage.

A recent session included John playing the keyboard and singing “Falling in Love with Love,” by Sammy Davis Jr., whom Robertsons called “The Michael Jackson before Michael Jackson and the James Brown before James Brown.”

During a short tutorial on the differences between jazz styles, Rosemary noted, “Some people think that Be-Bop and Swing are the same thing, but we’re going to make the distinction,” which was her intro to a tune called “Tight.”

James played flute on the jazz standard “Impressions” by John Coltrane. Afterward he gave an impromptu mini-clinic on the proper way to hold the instrument to produce a perfect pitch sound, a technique he learned at a music clinic in Vail, Colorado.

John IV, who goes by the stage name John Love, sings, writes music and plays all the instruments on his own compositions. He joined his mother and brother on vocals for a scat presentation of “Oop-Pop-A-Da” by Dizzy Gillespie.

Later in the set, Rosemary sang “Sukiyaki,” referencing a song recorded by the R&B group “A Taste of Honey.” She sang the song in Japanese, noting that she learned to sing the song in that language from a Japanese family that was regulars at their Donte’s performances.

The group also performed a tribute to late jazz pianist Joe Sample, who passed away in September.

John and Rosemary are also founders of Children of Music and Song, or COMAS, which has an objective to offer an opportunity for children to learn to play musical instruments, and make it available and affordable. As part of their affiliation with Educare Preparatory Academy in Southwest Atlanta, they offer group lessons in piano, guitar, band instruments, strings and class singing.