Add Category
Updated
On a sun-drenched autumn day, Troy Roberts has never felt closer to or further from home.
It is just weeks since the gifted Perth-born jazz saxophonist and composer fled his Harlem apartment in New York City and scrambled aboard a crammed flight of anxious Australians as coronavirus enveloped the city.
He had just returned from his latest tour and headed to his last gig at New York's Birdland jazz club, but he could see the pulse of the city that never sleeps starting to weaken.
Clubs were closing. Streets were emptying. People were first anxious, and then fearful, of what the virus might do to them and those they loved.
"Most other local clubs were closed and most other local gigs were cancelled," he said.
"I looked for a flight the next day. Just from being out that night, seeing the streets really quiet, places closed, it was a little scary. That was a big prompt to just buy a flight and get out."
As New York's first responders, health workers and police tried to cope with those falling ill, the sidewalks around Roberts's neighbourhood were left populated largely by the desperate and dangerous who had nowhere else to go.
Everyone who could was trying to shelter in place, to shield themselves from a threat they could not see and whose spread health authorities were struggling to stop.
"At that point, it was already serious. I just thought 'I've gotta get out of here for now'," he said.
"I never imagined that it would take this long or get as bad as it is now.
"I just grabbed a flight. Filled a suitcase and grabbed one instrument with me to temporarily get out."
Making it in the Big Apple
After 15 years in the United States building an outstanding reputation as a jazz musician and composer, abandoning New York was a big call.
Roberts graduated from the WA Academy of Performing Arts and in 2001 won the prestigious James Morrison Jazz Scholarship, touring with the famed Australian trumpeter until moving to America in 2005.
He completed a masters degree in music at the University of Miami before shifting to New York, where he carved out a place in one of the world's great jazz heartlands.
"It's the great thing about New York. A lot of bands travel out of there and if you live in New York, you're doing it — you're kinda taken seriously," he said.
"The opportunities available in New York are incredible, but also the level of musicianship and competition is very high. Little victories over there mean a lot."
His little victories have included touring and recording with some of America's jazz greats and twice being nominated for a Grammy Award.
The virus starts to take hold
Roberts had been touring the US with jazz organist and trumpeter Joey DeFranceso as the coronavirus crisis began to expand during February and early March.
Initially, he downplayed the situation.
"At that point, Joey seemed a little paranoid. He had masks for us. Sanitising everything we touched at the airports. As soon as we got on planes, he made us sanitise the table trays, the [seat] buckles and arm rests," he said.
"By the end of the tour, it was pretty obvious we should have been taking these precautions a lot earlier."
Roberts's family in Australia were watching the situation in the US with growing alarm, urging him to leave.
"By then, I had prompting from my cousins in Australia telling me 'you get out of there, things are going to get really bad'," he said.
His cousins were right. Things got bad. Quickly.
The landscape in New York was being transformed into a ghost town, like an apocalyptic movie set.
"To see Times Square empty — that doesn't happen, except for the movies," he said.
"It was scary driving up to JFK Airport. There were two other cars on the road on a Tuesday afternoon. I fly out of that airport all the time. That is just unheard of.
"The flight itself was full, mostly Aussies trying to get out of New York."
A very different picture in Australia
The surrealism of that experience was replaced by a harsh reality check when Roberts landed in Australia on March 19.
He received an email from a band member from his last gig at Birdland. They were very sick and in hospital with COVID-19.
A conference call with other band members revealed that band member was not the only one. Another four had fallen ill.
"That was really close to home. That was the last gig I did and I feel very lucky that I escaped symptom-free and virus-free," Roberts said.
"Since then, I've lost four elderly friends and got a big handful of friends that are sick. And it seems to be a really long recovery."
Roberts spent a fortnight in quarantine in Perth, grateful he was home, safe and COVID-19 free.
He was struck by the contrast between the chaotic pandemic response in America and the coordinated and, so far, effective response in Australia.
"I'm very fortunate to be in Perth where it's just so, so safe," he said.
"I'm proud to call Australia home and specifically Western Australia has been doing a great job."
Lessons to be learnt from overseas
With the number of new cases falling and the death figure still relatively low across Australia, Roberts acknowledged the threat had receded here, but warned the risks remained significant.
"We're doing great here, but complacency would really be the killer. I really hope we don't get complacent because our numbers are good," he said.
The lesson from overseas is early success can be compromised by an outbreak that flares up, spreads quickly and proves difficult to contain.
"I'm sure there are people out there who don't quite understand that," Roberts said.
"I wish there was a way to just get in their brains and implant a little experience.
"Just live in New York for a week during this. Maybe it'll help you wake up."
A life of music left on pause
Troy Roberts still sees his future in New York City, but how and when he will be able to resume the life he left behind is far from clear.
With no tours, no gigs and none likely in the short term, all he can do is watch and wait.
"It's a bit scary because New York is still home. It's where I live, it's where I reside, it's where I pay taxes, it's where I work," he said.
"And at some point I've gotta get back there and sort out life, but it just doesn't seem safe any time soon.
"Even then, it's going to be a new normal.
"I spend most of my time on planes and I'm not sure how practical that is going to be in the near future.
"Travelling from city to city or country to country might not be that common. It's hard to tell. We've just got to wait and see."
What you need to know about coronavirus:
Topics: covid-19, infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases, diseases-and-disorders, health, music, arts-and-entertainment, perth-6000, wa, australia, united-states
First posted