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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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Album Review

Jason Robinson: Ancestral Numbers

Read "Ancestral Numbers" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero


Unica seduta di registrazione dal 23 al 25 agosto 2023, due CD, Ancestral Numbers I e Ancestral Numbers II, usciti a qualche mese di distanza, stessa fonte di ispirazione--il ricordo della nonna materna e la sua influenza nella famiglia--stessa ricerca di relazioni tra numeri, genealogie e storie dettate dallo scorrere del tempo. È questa la prima parte di un progetto musicale pensato da Jason Robinson nel quale una serie di composizioni sarà pensata per appositi organici strumentali. Sassofonista e flautista ...

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Album Review

Jason Robinson: Ancestral Numbers II

Read "Ancestral Numbers II" reviewed by Pat Youngspiel


Jason Robinson's Ancestral Numbers is “a sound meditation on genealogy and family history" and will comprise an “ongoing series of compositions for varying instrumentation." “I" and “II" are merely the starting point for an intimate investigation into the depths of the saxophonist's family tree, set in motion shortly after the passing of Robinson's grandmother. Accompanying the saxophonist/composer on this personal endeavour is a cast of top-drawer players, including Drew Gress on bass, Michael Dessen on trombone, pianist Joshua White and ...

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Album Review

Jason Robinson: Ancestral Numbers II

Read "Ancestral Numbers II" reviewed by Terence Collie


Ancestral Numbers II is saxophonist, flautist and composer Jason Robinson's second album of music reflecting on his ancestry, following the May 2024 release of Ancestral Numbers I. The album launches with “Sweet Tooth," a simple but compelling composition that starts with a vamp. Opening melodic statements--with saxophone and trombone playing together over infectious piano and bass hits propelled by the energetic drums--then move into a hard swinging walking bass section. Pianist Joshua White takes the first solo, followed ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Jason Robinson, Sanchez / Guy / Lopez, Vehicle / Passenger & Jeff Lederer

Read "Jason Robinson, Sanchez / Guy / Lopez, Vehicle / Passenger & Jeff Lederer" reviewed by Maurice Hogue


Multi-reedist Jason Robinson's second volume of music composed in honor of his ancestors maintains the same power and emotion as the first and both albums are among the best releases of 2024. Fellow saxophonist Jeff Lederer's new Guilty! has a political slant, and it delivers a message that many of us are waiting to hear, while several releases out of Europe convey the message that there is some amazing music being made there--like the first time meeting of the brilliant ...

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Album Review

Jason Robinson: Ancestral Numbers I

Read "Ancestral Numbers I" reviewed 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 ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Jason Robinson, Borderlands Trio & Farewell Taint Radio

Read "Jason Robinson, Borderlands Trio & Farewell Taint Radio" reviewed 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, ...

Album Review

Bruno Råberg, Jason Robinson, Bob Weiner: The Urgency of Now

Read "The Urgency of Now" reviewed 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 ...

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Radio

The Jazz Session #224: Jason Robinson

The Jazz Session #224: Jason Robinson

Source: AAJ Staff


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Recording

Jason Robinson - The Two Faces of Janus (2010)

Jason Robinson - The Two Faces of Janus (2010)

Source: 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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Interview

Saxphonist Jason Robinson Interviewed at All About Jazz...and More!

Saxphonist Jason Robinson Interviewed at All About Jazz...and More!

Source: 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 ...

"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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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Ancestral Numbers I

Playscape Recordings
2024

buy

Ancestral Numbers II

Playscape Recordings
2024

buy

Ancestral Numbers

Playscape Recordings
2024

buy

Harmonic Constituent

Playscape Recordings
2020

buy

The Urgency of Now

Creative Nation Music
2020

buy

Tiresian Symmetry

Cuneiform Records
2012

buy

Sweet Tooth

From: Ancestral Numbers II
By Jason Robinson

Second House

From: Ancestral Numbers I
By Jason Robinson

Videos

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