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Jason Robinson
Jason Robinson (b. 1975) is a composer, saxophonist, flutist, scholar, and educator. Now a long time resident of western Massachusetts, Robinson is originally from California
The music of American composer, saxophonist, flutist, and scholar Jason Robinson ("rugged and scintillating," New York Times) thrives in the fertile overlaps between improvisation and composition, acoustic music and electronics, tradition and experimentalism. Initially a devotee of post-1960s jazz and creative music, Robinson is celebrated for bringing together various historical directions in jazz--bebop, post-bop, the avant-garde--with an improvisatory and compositional sensibility drawn from and extending the languages of John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Lester Young. His musical interests, however, span far and wide. Born in 1975, he is a critically acclaimed distinctive voice in a generation of creative musicians in equal dialogue with jazz, popular music, experimental music, and electronic music.
Robinson's primary group is his New York-based Janus Ensemble, which ranges in size from quartet to full 11-piece ensemble featuring pianists Joshua White and Angelica Sanchez, guitarist Liberty Ellman, bassist Drew Gress, percussionists Ches Smith and George Schuller, trombonist Michael Dessen, trombonist and tubist Bill Lowe, tubist Marcus Rojas, and fellow reedists Marty Ehrlich, JD Parran, and Oscar Noriega. The group's latest release is Harmonic Constituent (Playscape, 2020), whose title draws from an oceanographic term that refers to the complex influences of the cyclical motion of the Earth, Sun, and Moon on tides at specific locations, and whose compositions are inspired by technical and impressionistic aspects of the oceanography, tidal dynamics, and geography specific to the coastline between Mendocino and Westport, two towns on the North Coast of California. The Janus Ensemble has three previous albums: Resonant Geographies (pfMENTUM), Tiresias Symmetry (Cuneiform), and The Two Face of Janus (Cuneiform).
Robinson has released 18 albums as leader or co-leader and appeared on nearly 50 albums in total. He performs regularly as a soloist (acoustically and with electronics), with his group Janus Ensemble, and in numerous collaborative contexts. He has performed at festivals and prominent venues through North, Central, and South America, Europe, and East Asia, and performed with Peter Kowald, George Lewis, Anthony Davis, Myra Melford, Nicole Mitchell, Amiri Baraka, Howard Johnson, Toots and the Maytals, Groundation, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Eugene Chadbourne, Earl Howard, Bertram Turetzky, Mark Dresser, John Russell, Roger Turner, Gerry Hemingway, Kei Akagi, Mel Graves, Babatunde Lea, Mel Martin, Marco Eneidi, Lisle Ellis, Raphe Malik, Mike Wofford, Dana Reason, San Francisco Mime Troupe, New Pickle Circus, Makanda Project, Ernie Small Big Band, among others.
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Jason Robinson: Ancestral Numbers I
![Read "Ancestral Numbers I" reviewed by Glenn Astarita](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/1cd8ca0a534549525f524c1c77ad1e61.jpg)
by Glenn Astarita
Ancestral Numbers I by Jason Robinson is a jazz album that feels like a deep, reflective conversation with history itself. With his saxophone, Robinson pays homage to the jazz tradition and his family heritage, crafting a sound that's both personal and expansive. The journey begins with Second House," where the all-star ensemble, featuring pianist Josh White peppering the hornists, lays down a groove that's as profound as it is inviting. The track quickly establishes a soulful theme, with ...
read moreJason Robinson, Borderlands Trio & Farewell Taint Radio
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by Maurice Hogue
This edition of One Man's Jazz is the final one for taintradio.org, as Taint Radio closed operations on April 30th. One of the longest-running internet jazz stations, Taint Radio had a great run: 15+ years of independently programmed music, streaming 24/7 and absolutely no commercials. Major props go to radio veteran Bob Rogers who was Taint Radio. Featured in this episode are saxophonist Jason Robinson, Buenos Aires bassist Diana Arias, William Parker with poet David Budbill, Norwegian drummer Ole Mofjell, ...
read moreBruno Råberg, Jason Robinson, Bob Weiner: The Urgency of Now
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by Alberto Bazzurro
Bruno Råberg, sessantaseienne bassista svedese, Jason Robinson, quarantacinquenne sassofonista e polistrumentista californiano, e il veterano Bob Weiner, già batterista di Harry Belafonte (fra gli altri), tutti anche apprezzati docenti, uniscono le loro forze in questo bell'album che salvo eccezioni (indicate) mette in scena un'improvvisazione collettiva giocata nel segno di un intuito, una predisposizione, per la forma assolutamente esemplare. Ciò è determinato ovviamente da una profonda conoscenza reciproca, ma anche dal condividere una certa idea di improvvisazione esterna ...
read moreJason Robinson: Harmonic Constituent
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by Mark Corroto
If you've ever visited Mendocino County you would have a head start to appreciate saxophonist Jason Robinson's Harmonic Constituent. His week-long retreat to this magnificent Northern California coast inspired this ambitious and diverse recording. Robinson, a musical omnivore previously recorded with the quartet Cosmologic, his Henry Threadgill inspired Janus Ensemble, in duos with Anthony Davis and Eric Hofbauer, and in electro-acoustic settings, to name just a few of his diverse interests. Robinson's quartet here includes pianist Joshua White ...
read moreJason Robinson: Tiresian Symmetry
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by Glenn Astarita
Immersed in the myths of ancient Greece, multi-reedman Jason Robinson underscores this major work based on the prophet Tiresias, who lived as both a man and woman. Nonetheless, Robinson has proven that change and risk-taking via the power of his pen and acute technical skills have become a de facto standard. From a jazz standpoint, he employs an impressive support structure to carry out his strategy. Robinson's nonet is postured to mimic the finesse of a big band or blow ...
read moreJason Robinson: Tiresian Symmetry
![Read "Tiresian Symmetry" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/jasonrobinson_tiresiansymmetry_eh.jpg)
by Eyal Hareuveni
Composer and reed player Jason Robinson tends to weave his musical projects with multiple and overlapping narrative layers, and Tiresian Symmetry is no different. It is more ambitious than his previous large ensemble project, The Two Faces of Janus (Cuneiform, 2010), but still draws inspiration from Greek mythology. This time he was inspired by the mythical story of ancient soothsayer Tiresias, who lived seven lifetimes and, after a fateful series of encounters with copulating snakes, switched genders and then back ...
read moreJason Robinson Janus Ensemble: San Diego, CA, June 2, 2011
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by Robert Bush
Jason Robinson Janus EnsembleDizzy'sSan Diego, CA June 2, 2011 Saxophonist/composer Jason Robinson--whose dual release of The Two Faces Of Janus (Cuneiform, 2010), and Cerulean Landscape (Clean Feed, 2010), put him on the map of wider recognition--finally made his impending departure from San Diego official with this farewell concert, held at Dizzy's. Robinson has spent the better part of 13 years in San Diego since arriving in 1998 to study with renowned ...
read moreJason Robinson - The Two Faces of Janus (2010)
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Something Else!
By Pico I've always had a hard time distinguishing West Coast jazz from East Coast jazz by ear. I mean. I know it's supposed to be a more smoothed-out cooler" variant of the vigorous, sometimes jarring jazz that comes out of NYC and I know that guys like Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker and Bud Shank are closely associated with it, but are the differences really that significant? Jason Robinson, for one, doesn't think so. The saxophonist, flautist and composer blurs ...
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Saxphonist Jason Robinson Interviewed at All About Jazz...and More!
![Saxphonist Jason Robinson Interviewed at All About Jazz...and More!](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/2352f68f2a7e2484dac61314ad5c669b.jpg)
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Braithwaite & Katz Communications
Saxophonist Jason Robinson is alert and ready to work his place in the scheme of things, from jazz itself and music at large, to the existential particulars of philosophy. A supple technician with a penchant for abstract thought, he splices together different strains of theory and logic with combinatory takes on period, school and style. A deeply ingrained reverence and sense for jazz history comes out in his carefully calibrated, often composed body of multivalent, multicolored music. Equally informed by ...
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"Wildy spontaneous..." -Don Heckman Los Angeles Times "Robinson shines... Provocative and rewarding, Tandem makes it clear that Robinson's artistic evolution should be most fruitful." -George Varga San Diego Union Tribune "wildly creative" -AMG (All Music Guide) Robinson "brings some humor into the traditionally dour world of experimental music" -Cadence Magazine "stimulating" -The Wire "sessions of scouring and mercilessly carcinogenic improvisation; speak softly, and carry a big sax" -Prem Lall, KUSF 90.3 San Francisco "Robinson's special gift is an emotional intensity that keeps things at the boiling point." -Jazz Now Magazine "Robinson plays his tenor with singes of fire." -Cadence Magazine "Long gone are the days when things West Coast were considered pallid in relation to anything East Coast, and for any of the doubters out there, here's the proof positive." -Coda Magazine
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Second House
From: Ancestral Numbers IBy Jason Robinson