Michael Lear: Part Eight: Robi Botos
By Michael Moriarty
web posted August 18. 2014
This artist kills me in the most divinely patient way!
He is Patience Itself!
Please be patient yourself and, after cutting through the advertisements of the above, first, internet link of mine… and listen expectantly to the verbal introduction by Mr. Botos himself.
I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good…
His chord voicing's and phrasing are to die for.
Yet he can also cook!
Yet again, he knows he will never be his idol, Oscar Peterson, but as he also knows: He doesn't have to be Oscar Peterson!!!!
He is there to be Robi Botos, an Hungarian immigrant to Canada. Perhaps as an American immigrant to Canada I have more than a musical attraction to the artistry of Robi Botos.
Time!
Jazz, serious jazz, is all about one's relationship to Time!
No matter how great a virtuoso you are: "Don't destroy that sacred thing which sets The Time!
Once set?!
It don't change!!!
Play with it!!!
But don't try to change that tempo!
Or alter it in any way!!!
And Robi Botos' relationship to Time?! A painfully divine love affair!
Either that or a divinely painful pilgrimage through the ruthless demands of a Time Once Set?!
That's it!!!!!!!
The Time Is Set!
You Can't Rush It…. Or Slow It…. And Everyone Will Know When You Do!!!!!
On Night Train please listen to the precision and delicacy in which Robi Botos Plays With Time!
"Don't Try This At Home!"
Those words arrive when Robi Botos introduces Things Ain't What They Used To Be.
I almost say the same thing on my conversation with Mel Tormé. I discuss the same exact nightmare one faces when confronted with the likes of Art Tatum or Oscar Peterson.
Don't Try This At Home
Robi's phrase, "Don't Try This At Home", is much wittier than my own, exasperated confession of defeat upon hearing Art Tatum and attempting to equal his speed, clarity of articulation and cornucopia of inspired ideas!!
The same sense of my failure must also apply to Oscar Peterson.
We, both of us, Botos and Moriarty, are not here on Earth to do that!
Here's what I like doing best!
Putting together four other wonderful musicians and helping them swing… and swing… and swing. 
Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Contact Michael at rainbowfamily2008@yahoo.com. He can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/@MGMoriarty.