Marshall, he began working with musicians, arrangers and songwriters including Neal Hefti, Henry Mancini, Bobby Troup, Chico Hamilton, George Van Eps, and Kessel. Coincidentally, Roberts’ first gig was on The Al Pierce Show, a radio program which, as a 10 year old, Roberts had told his mom he'd be on someday. It was his first paying job since moving to LA, making $550 a week. It was around this time that he started teaching guitar at Westlake College. 1952 was the year Roberts played on his first record date, Jam Session No. 10 with Gerry Mulligan and Jimmy Rowles. He recorded with the Wardell Gray Quintet on the album Live at the Haig. 1953 saw him record a Troup album for Capitol Records. Following in 1955, Roberts played on the album The Chico Hamilton Trio which was released on the Pacific Jazz label. This album brought the first among other notable recognition he was to later receive, the Downbeat New Star Award. Around 1956, Troup signed him to Verve Records as a solo artist. Kessel happened to have an A&R position at the label and produced Roberts’ album entitled Mr. Roberts Plays Guitar for the label. It was this album which featured arrangements by Marshall, Marty Paich and Bill Holman - three well known arrangers in Hollywood at that time. At this point Roberts decided to concentrate on recording, both as a solo artist and a Wrecking Crew session musician, a direction he would continue until the early 1970s. One interesting story comes out of the May 1958 Peggy Lee record date he was hired for. When the session moved to record what would become one of Lee's more known hits, Fever, producer Marshall decided not to use the guitar part Roberts would have played. As a consequence, Roberts snapped his fingers on the tune along with Max Bennett's bass line and Lee's vocals. This would have technically been what session players refer to as a double, being hired to play one instrument (his guitar) and winding up playing another “instrument” - snapping his fingers. 1959 brought the opportunity to play on the background score for the TV program The Deputy, which starred Henry Fonda. Marshall did the scoring and wanted a jazz guitar to play on it. He hired Roberts for the part allowing him to improvise over the action sequences in the show. The 1960s In 1963, Roberts