Jason Robinson
Reedist/improviser/composer Jason Robinson leads a life of fractured
multiplicity, dividing his time between a dynamic performance and recording
career, teaching activities, organizing efforts, ethno/musicological
research, and general rabble-rousing. He's a mainstay of the improvised and
popular music scene(s) of the West Coast (U.S.) - leading his own "jazz"
groups, collaborating in a variety of improvised and experimental contexts,
and touring as a sideman with a number of groups. Robinson has
performed/recorded with Peter Kowald, George Lewis, Anthony Davis, Muhal
Richard Abrams, Eek a Mouse, Bertram Turetzky, Mel Graves, Marco Eneidi,
Mike Wofford, Philip Gelb, Hans Fjellestad, Dana Reason, J.D. Parran, Gerry
Hemingway, Marcelo Radulovich, Michael Dessen, Sonor and others; and has
toured with theater-oriented groups such as the San Francisco Mime Troupe
and the New Pickle Circus.
Born and raised in California, Robinson's musical voice is closely
connected to a variety of musical forms and traditions that rely heavily on
improvisation - jazz, funk, reggae, hip hop and "free" improvisation.
Coming of musical age in San Francisco, he was nurtured by a vibrant,
multi-accuentual music scene that found room for these various modes of
musical expression. While there, Robinson studied saxophone and clarinet
with Harvey Weinaple, and composition and improvisation with Mel Graves.
But the majority of his education came in clubs, on the bandstand, and in
rehearsals. Since this humble beginning, he has performed and presented
his work throughout North America, and his music has been heard on radio
stations around the globe.
Robinson's compositions are featured on Jason Robinson Tandem (Accretions),
Jason Robinson From the Sun (Circumvention) and Cosmologic Staring at the
Sun (Circumvention). He has appeared on a number of recent influential
recordings, including Anthony Davis' jazz-based opera Tania (Koch
International), Trummerflora No Stars Please and San Francisco-based roots
reggae group Groundation's Each One Teach One (Youngtree), to name a few.
In 1998, Robinson founded Circumvention Music, an artist-run independent
record label dedicated to the support and distribution of improvised
musics. He currently tours with a number of groups, including Cosmologic
(open-ended jazz exploration), Wise Monkey Orchestra (horn-driven funk),
Groundation (original roots reggae) and recently co-founded Spinside
(all-star San Diego-based funk).
Robinson lives in San Diego, where he is working towards a Ph.D. in Music
as a member of the diverse and challenging Critical Studies and
Experimental Practices program at the University of California, San Diego.
His areas of focus include improvised musics, African-American and popular
music traditions, and the larger issue of identity expression in music. He
is studying composition and improvisation with Anthony Davis and George
Lewis. Robinson also teaches Jazz Theory at UCSD, and in summer 2002 will
offer a special course, Roots, Rock, Reggae: the Global Emergence of
Jamaican Popular Music.
Robinson is a founding member of the Trummerflora collective, a San
Diego-based organization dedicated to the support of improvised and
experimental music.
Discography
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Trummerflora: Rubble 2
CAT. #: A/C-202
Twelve new tracks from Trummerflora, the experimental music collective, offer a taste of the diverse musical landscape these artists inhabit.
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Trummerflora: Rubble 1
CAT. #: A/C-201
A compilation featuring works by various members and ensembles of the Trummerflora Collective.
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Jason Robinson: Tandem
CAT. #: CDALP-025
A conceptual "duo" cd that blurs the genre boundaries of jazz, electronic,
ambient and experimental. Robinson is paired with an all-star cast,
including Peter Kowald, George Lewis, Anthony Davis, Marcelo Radulovich,
Hans Fjellestad, Nathan Hubbard and Stephanie Johnson.
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The Trummerflora Collective: No Stars Please
CAT. #: CDALP-022
A collection of live concert recordings featuring a capricious roster of performers, including Marcos Fernandes, Hans Fjellestad, Damon Holzborn, Nathan Hubbard, Robert Montoya, Marcelo Radulovich and Jason Robinson, with guest appearances by George Lewis, Lê Quan Ninh, Mike Keneally and Ellen Weller.
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