The Listener

Besides his duties as soloist and arranger Marcus Robert's most "instrumental" role may have been as a friend and "brother in arms" to Wynton Marsalis. If you ask Marcus he was just happy to be there. After a few chance encounters with Wynton and a number of long distance phone calls . Wynton was impressed enough with Marcus's level of desire to send Marcus some tapes of his new material. "You know I loved his music. So eventhough it was a challenge, I wouldn't have cared if it was ten tapes. It was like giving food to a starving man,"Marcus said. "They might have some trouble eating, but believe me they're going to eat. It was important for me to see someone close to my age who could do what he did. It was a chance for me to show him the respect I had for his music whether I had one gig or no gigs".
Wynton has championed Marcus' talent from the beginning for as he tells it Marcus was an accessory before and after the fact, "The push of pop music into jazz has taken it's toll on my generation,"Wynton explained. "No one wants to be serious. As a result of this my first band broke-up. Although it may not have appeared that way to outsiders,I was really depressed about what I was playing.I didn't know who I was going to get to play the music which was complex and hard to teach. I had told Marcus I would call him if Kenny Kirkland left. He came up to my apartment and he knew all the tunes.It put me on and an entirely different vibe. I had been ready to give it up. I love him man.He practices.He deals with the music,yet he's really funny .He's the J Master.Philosophically he's adavanced, he doesn't need anyone to articulate his thoughts. He can speak for himself".

Excerpt from 1993 article in Jazz Journal International by Bob Hershon