Why Do Jazz Pianists LOVE Roberta Flack?
You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians
Peter Martin
4.9 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 31 March 2025
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tune in as we pay tribute to the incomparable Roberta Flack, who we sadly lost last month. From her 1969 debut album First Take (featuring Open Studio artist Ron Carter on bass) to her iconic collaborations with Donny Hathaway – we dissect why what Flack didn’t play was just as important as what she did. We’ll explore how this classical piano prodigy, who entered Howard at 15 and didn’t write her own songs, became the Quiet Storm Queen that influenced every soul, R&B, and jazz singer since. You’ll hear why her understated yet commanding vocals and that classic 70s kick drum made “Killing Me Softly” a hit, grooving duets like “You’ve Got A Friend,” and deep cuts that redefined ballads. Join us to uncover the genius of Roberta Flack.
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OG YHI episode on Donny and Roberta
https://youtu.be/78mMufAqZSc
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Peter Martin. |
| 0:00.6 | Amen. |
| 0:01.1 | For this Roberta Flack episode, |
| 0:02.7 | why don't we do, |
| 0:04.0 | let's do Feel Like Making Love. |
| 0:05.0 | What do you think? |
| 0:05.9 | Oh, yeah. |
| 0:06.6 | Actually, I have an idea for that. |
| 0:07.8 | Okay. |
| 0:13.1 | Yeah. |
| 0:14.7 | It's a bit fussy, isn't it? |
| 0:16.3 | A little ECM-ish, maybe. |
| 0:18.0 | What about something like this? |
| 0:19.3 | Like, uh... No? Is it a little corny? |
| 0:26.7 | I'm not really feeling that. |
| 0:27.7 | Yeah, it is kind of corny. |
| 0:28.3 | But you know what? |
| 0:28.7 | We have a very special guest artist, Mr. Jamal Nichols. |
| 0:31.9 | Oh, we do indeed. |
| 0:32.9 | Okay. |
| 0:33.6 | Why don't we let him set it up? |
| 0:34.6 | All right. |
... |
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