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Rob Dixon

Saxophonist Rob Dixon has collaborated, performed and recorded with numerous national and Indianapolis based groups including Illinois Jacquet, Rufus Reid, Composer Bill Lee, The Count Basie Orchestra, Weldon Irving, Ali Shaheed Muhammad of tribe called quest, The Cleveland Heritage Jazz Orchestra, Drummer Mike Clark, The Headhunters, Cyn Layne, Melvin Rhyne, Charlie Hunter, The Smithsonian Masterworks Jazz Orchestra, Composer and Pianist Steve Allee, Guitarist Dave Stryker and the Buselli Wallarab Jazz Orchestra.

Dixon recently recorded a new album as a leader that was produced by 7 string guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter. The album features Charlie Hunter on guitar and Mike Clark on Drums with Ernest Stuart on Trombone guesting on four songs. The album is titled “Coast to Crossroads” and will be nationally released in July 2018.

In August 2018 Mike Clark’s Indigo Blue band (featuring bassist Christian McBride, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, Randy Brecker, pianist Antonio Farao and Rob Dixon ) will release a live album recorded at the Iridium jazz club in NYC in 2013. The album will feature five original compositions penned by Dixon.

In 2005 Rob Dixon founded Triology, which has included bassist Brandon Meeks, keyboardist Steven Jones, and drummer Richard “Sleepy” Floyd. Additionally in 2012, Dixon founded the Indianapolis Jazz Collective, an ensemble that has recorded an album titled “Jazz on Canvas” and includes pianist Steve Allee, bassist Nick Tucker, Trumpeter Marlin McKay, and drummer Kenny Phelps. The Indianapolis Jazz Collective has featured guest artists such as vibraphonist Stefon Harris, Alto Saxophonist Bobby Watson and Trumpeter Randy Brecker.

Rob Dixon is an adjunct professor at IUPUI and Earlham College and is the Artistic Director for Indy Jazz Fest. He mentors the Jazz Futures; an Indianapolis Jazz foundation sponsored ensemble comprised of talented high school musicians from various high schools throughout the metropolitan area of Indianapolis.

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11
Album Review

Leah Crane: Lucky to Be Me

Read "Lucky to Be Me" reviewed by Jane Kozhevnikova


Hailing from Indianapolis and based in Chicago, versatile singer Leah Crane released Lucky to Be Me in 2022 after working on it since 2019. Joining her on the album is Paul Langford, a Chicago-based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. The album also features Rob Dixon on saxophone, Daniel Duarte on guitar, Shawn Sommer on bass and Tom Hipskind on drums. Lucky To Be Me has a variety of instrumentation ranging from a duet to an ...

5
Album Review

Charlie Ballantine: Vonnegut

Read "Vonnegut" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Indianapolis-based guitarist/composer Charlie Ballantine took his inspiration from iconic American novelist Kurt Vonnegut for this project, the most complex set of music in his already lengthy and varied recording career. He was joined by fellow Indianapolis musicians: saxophonist Rob Dixon, saxophonist/clarinetist Amanda Gardier, pianist Mina Keohane, bassist Jesse Wittman and drummer Cassius Goens. Dixon, Gardier and Wittman have appeared on several prior Ballantine recordings, so there is a strong base of shared experience to draw upon. Kurt Vonnegut ...

5
Album Review

Derrick Gardner & The Big dig! Band: Still I Rise

Read "Still I Rise" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Trumpeter Derrick Gardner, a Chicagoan who has performed around the world with a who's who of jazz luminaries from Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Foster to Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett and Harry Connick Jr., to name only a few, traveled to Winnipeg, Canada, to assemble and record his Big Dig! Band, several sizes removed from Gardner's sextet, The Jazz Prophets, a working group since it was formed in New York City in 1991. Gardner not only shines as trumpet ...

4
Album Review

Rob Dixon: Coast to Crossroads

Read "Coast to Crossroads" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


"The album is called Coast to Crossroads because I'm based in Indiana, the Crossroads state, but I also work a lot on the West Coast and East Coast," explains saxophonist Rob Dixon, who leads this trio session with drummer Mike Clark and seven-string funk guitar maven Charlie Hunter (who also served as producer), plus occasional guest trombonist Ernest Stuart. Personal connections between the three principals enable their musical connections to flow richly and deep: Indianapolis Jazz Hall of ...

5
Album Review

The Rob Dixon Trio: Coast to Crossroads

Read "Coast to Crossroads" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Saxophonist Rob Dixon, who mainly plays a muscular tenor sax here, is based in Indiana (the Crossroads state) but also works a lot on the East and West Coasts--hence the album title. He has done three tours with guitarist Charlie Hunter's band, and the 7-string guitar phenomenon returns the favor here by both playing and producing the album. The core band is completed by legendary drummer Mike Clark (who made his name playing with pianist/composer Herbie Hancock in the 1970s), ...

268
Album Review

The Dixon-Rhyne Project: Reinvention

Read "Reinvention" reviewed by John Kelman


The configuration may be conventional, but Reinvention is the perfect title for The Dixon-Rhyne Project's debut. Sax/organ/guitar/drums quartets date back to the 1950s and organist Melvin Rhyne brings direct cred to this group, having played on some in the late 1950s and early 1960s including Boss Guitar (Riverside, 1963) and The Wes Montgomery Trio (Riverside, 1959). But the rest of this group--most notably co-leader/saxophonist Rob Dixon--consists of relative youngsters for whom the music Rhyne made in his youth is a ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Lucky to Be Me

Paul Langford Music
2022

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Still I Rise

Impact Jazz
2020

buy

Vonnegut

Green Mind Records
2020

buy

Coast to Crossroads

Self Produced
2018

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Reinvention

Owl Studios
2008

buy

Videos

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