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| "[O]ne of the most respected soloists and bandleaders in jazz's experimental wing." -Ron Wynn, JazzTimes Magazine |
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| "Robinson is capable of merging both past and present jazz idioms, while creating a cultural bridge that spans both coasts." -Robbie Gershon, Audiophile Audition | ||
| "Robinson's music is conceived and constructed with both historical perspective and a doorway to the future as often innovative free jazz is infused with vestiges of tradition." -Mike Reynolds, Musikreviews.com |
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| "Robinson's compositions manage to draw a straight line through bop, Duke Ellington, Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy straight into the modern day with acute-angle swing, blues bluster and memorable themes that seem to scratch at the back of the mind with familiarity without resorting to quotation or imitation."
-Shaun Brady, DownBeat Magazine |
News
New beginnings for a new year!
The Winter solstice makes me think back to previous solstices and the remarkable way that change remains a constant in music and life. I'm excited by new prospects in 2012: a February recording session in Brooklyn with an expanded version of the Janus Ensemble, the conclusion and evolution of several publishing projects, travel in and beyond the East Coast, and the continued development of several new groups based in the Northeast. 2011 saw the conclusion of the longlived collaborative group Cosmologic and my permanent move to New England. For information on current projects, click here.
Upcoming recordings
Plans for my next recording, "Terisian Symmetry" are coming together. Produced by Stephanie Robinson, the project features an expanded Janus Ensemble, with Marty Ehrlich, JD Parran, Marcus Rojas, Bill Lowe, Liberty Ellman, Drew Gress, George Schuller, and Ches Smith. Recording dates in February in Brooklyn, mixing and mastering in Los Angeles shortly after that. Expected release in Fall 2012. More details soon!
Latest releases
The Two Faces of Janus (Cuneiform) - Robinson-led New York-based ensemble recording featuring Drew Gress, Liberty Ellman, George Schuller, Marty Ehrlich, and Rudresh Mahanthappa
One face looking at the past, one face looking towards the future. Borrowed from Greek mythology, Janus is an apt metaphor for Robinson's latest ensemble project. Recorded in December 2009, the project features a stellar cast of his most recent New York-based collaborators, all of who are distinguished figures in jazz and improvised music. The ten original pieces range in instrumentation from horn duos to sextets with bass clarinet, alto flute, arco bass, and other wildly evocative textures. The music is angular, expressive, emotional, and virtuosic and seamlessly moves from hard hitting grooves to beautiful abstract sound worlds.
Links: Cuneiform Records
Cerulean Landscape (Clean Feed) - duo recording with pianist and composer Anthony Davis
Jason and acclaimed pianist and composer Anthony Davis emerged from an Amherst, Massachusetts recording studio in late 2008 with a remarkable new album titled Cerulean Landscape. Drawing upon a collaboration that began in 2002 with Davis's appearance on Jason's Tandem album (Accretions), their new recording features a collection of new compositions and improvisations. The album will appear on the Lisbon, Portugal based Clean Feed Records in September 2010.
Links: Clean Feed Records
Cerberus Reigning (Accretions) - the second in a trilogy of solo releases
The second in a series of three solo releases, Cerberus Reigning features Robinson on electronics, soprano and tenor saxophones, and alto flute. Using software-based electroacoustic processing, he develops wide ranging environments for improvisation. Many of the pieces draw on interactive, computer-generated soundscapes and processes, most of which make various "decisions" unkown by Robinson. The album features Robinson's full coterie of effects and new scores for computer-based improvisation.
Links: Accretions Records | Cerberus Rising (first in the trilogy)
About Jason Robinson
The music of American saxophonist and scholar Jason Robinson 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, Robinsons music is a modern amalgam of cutting-edge trends in jazz practice and electroacoustic music. Robinson is a critically acclaimed distinct voice in a new generation of creative musicians in equal dialogue with jazz, popular music, experimental music, and electronic music. Fall 2010 marked a watershed in Robinsons output as a leader. He released three concurrent albums showcasing an enormous breadth of creative work, including The Two Faces of Janus (Cuneiform), featuring a New York-based ensemble that includes Drew Gress, Liberty Ellman, George Schuller, Marty Ehrlich and Rudresh Mahanthappa; Cerulean Landscape (Clean Feed), featuring the long time collaboration of Robinson and acclaimed pianist and composer Anthony Davis; and Cerberus Reigning (Accretions), the much anticipated second installment of the Cerberus trilogy, featuring Robinsons solo electroacoustic music. He performs regularly as a soloist (acoustically and with electronics), with his group the Janus Ensemble, and in a variety of collaborative contexts. He has performed at festivals and prominent venues in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe and/or recorded with Peter Kowald, George Lewis, Anthony Davis, Drew Gress, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Marty Ehrlich, Eugene Chadbourne, Earl Howard, Toots and the Maytals, Groundation, Bertram Turetzky, Mark Dresser, John Russell, Roger Turner, Gerry Hemingway, Kei Akagi, Mel Graves, Liberty Ellman, Babatunde Olatunji, Mel Martin, Marco Eneidi, Lisle Ellis, Raphe Malik, Mike Wofford, Philip Gelb, J.D. Parran, Dana Reason, David Borgo, Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (at Pearl's, San Francisco), the La Jolla Symphony, SONOR (UCSD), and the San Francisco Mime Troupe, among others. As a scholar, Robinsons work unpacks the relationship between improvised and popular musics, experimentalism, and cultural identity. He has published articles and reviews in Ethnomusicology, Jazz Perspectives, and Critical Studies in Improvisation/ tudes critiques en improvisation. Robinson is an Assistant Professor of Music at Amherst College and holds a Ph.D. in Music from the University of California, San Diego. A West Coast transplant now living in New England, he is married to Stephanie Robinson, an acclaimed performer, composer, and electronic musician.
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