Hank Roberts Trio
Hank Roberts Trio is a unique ensemble featuring world-renowned improvisational cellist Hank Roberts alongside drummer Ashley Ickes and pianist Chad Lieberman.
Their masterfully performed music represents a wide stylistic range. Each piece’s individual thematic elements are a source for a wide spectrum of rhythmic, harmonic, and other colorful interactive improvisational frameworks.
Musical communication and interplay, connected with a sense of discovery, revelation and collective creative thought, are all important parts of the music.
The Hank Roberts Trio is heading into the studio
this October 2024 to record a brand new album!
We’re thrilled to bring this music to life, and we’d love for you to be part of the journey.
If you’re passionate about supporting great music, please consider contributing to our GoFundMe campaign. Your support means the world to us!
About Us
Hank Roberts
With a career spanning over 50 years, Hank has played some of the world’s most prestigious venues alongside celebrated improvisational, rock, and new-music performers including Bill Frisell, Petra Haden, Rudy Royston, Aurora Nealand, Tim Berne, Gordon Grdina, Mark Dresser, Mark Feldman, the Hank Roberts Sextet, and the Italian-based group Pipe Dream. His playing appears on a vast array of recordings, including more than a dozen under his own name. His album Green (with Jim Black and Marc Ducret) won the 2008 German Recording Critics’ Award in the Jazz category, and he won DownBeat Magazine’s 2022 Critics’ Award for Rising Star in the Miscellaneous Instrument (cello) category.
Ashley Ickes
Multi-stylist drummer Ashley Ickes brings a highly developed sense of rhythmic complexity, diversity, and excitement to every group she performs with. A vibrant part of the Ithaca music scene since arriving in 2016, she performs regularly with local and regional favorites like the funk group The Comb Down, and Rochester wedding band The Swooners.
In August 2024, Ashley began working with organist Delvon Lamarr. She’s since toured extensively throughout the U.S., South America, Europe, and Asia as drummer for the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio. Between tours, she keeps a full schedule at home in the Finger Lakes — performing with a host of diverse musicians, teaching a full roster of private students, and remaining, by her own account, a lifelong student.
Chad Lieberman
Growing up in Miami, Florida, Chad Lieberman was deeply influenced by traditional Cuban music and by the University of Miami’s renowned jazz program. He further honed his craft studying music composition and electronic music at Ithaca College under Greg Woodward. He has performed internationally and locally with a who’s-who of central New York’s most esteemed musicians, and is a founding member of both the MAQ ensemble and the experimental trio Strong Maybe.