Jason Robinson is an American saxophonist, composer, and scholar. He has performed and presented his work in Europe, Canada, Mexico, and throughout the United States at prominent venues and festivals. Robinson currently leads the Jason Robinson Quartet and is a member of several collaborative groups, including Cosmologic and the Cross Border Trio .
www.jasonrobinson.com
Robinson's much anticipated solo tenor saxophone album, Cerberus Rising , was released on Circumvention Music in late February 2009. The first in a three album series of conceptual solo releases, Cerberus Rising reflects Robinson's several years of touring as a soloist and consists of a dramatic array of improvisations and compositions for acoustic tenor saxophone.
May 2008 saw the release of Cosmologic 's 4th album, Eyes in the Back of My Head , on Cuneiform Records . Now 10 years old, Cosmologic is a rare long-lived collaborative group featuring Robinson, trombonist Michael Dessen, bassist Scott Walton, and percussionist Nathan Hubbard.
In January 2008, Robinson released Fingerprint (Jan 2008), on the Circumvention label. Centered around his California-based quartet, it also features influential pianist/composer Anthony Davis in a large ensemble context. More information is available at Circumvention Music .
Robinson has performed/recorded with Peter Kowald, George Lewis, Anthony Davis, Lisle Ellis, Paul Plimley, Liberty Ellman, Mei Han, Eugene Chadbourne, Earl Howard, Emily Hay, Jeff Kaiser, Eek a Mouse, Bertram Turetzky, Mel Graves, Marco Eneidi, Mike Wofford, Philip Gelb, J.D. Parran, Gerry Hemingway, Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (at Pearl's, San Francisco), the La Jolla Symphony, SONOR (among others), as well as theater-oriented groups such as the San Francisco Mime Troupe and the New Pickle Circus. His compositions are featured on Cosmologic III (Circumvention), Trummerflora Collective Rubble 1 (Accretions/Circumvention) Cosmologic Syntaxis (Circumvention), Jason Robinson Tandem (Accretions), Cosmologic Staring at the Sun (Circumvention), and Jason Robinson From the Sun (Circumvention). Robinson's 2002 release Tandem, which showcases collaborations with of number of influential musicians, including Peter Kowald, George Lewis, Anthony Davis, and others, was selected as a "top 10" critic's pick in JazzTimes Magazine. His appearance on Toots and the Maytals - Light Your Light (2007/Fantasy) received a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album.
In 1998, Robinson founded Circumvention Music , an artist-run independent record label dedicated to the support and distribution of improvised music. He is a founding member of the Trummerflora Collective , a musicians organization dedicated to the support of creative music.
Robinson holds a Ph.D. in Music (Critical Studies and Experimental Practices) from the University of California, San Diego and is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He has taught in African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine and in Music and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego. His scholarly writing has been published in Critical Studies in Improvisation / Études critiques en improvisation , Ethnomusicology , and elsewhere.
Related links:
www.jasonrobinson.com
www.circumventionmusic.com
www.trummerflora.com
www.cosmologic.org
www.crossbordertrio.com
www.accretions.com