Spike Robinson
Spike Robinson (actually Henry Berthold Robinson, born January 16, 1930 in Kenosha, Wisconsin; † 29 October 2001 in Writtle, England ) was an American electrical engineer and jazz musician (tenor saxophone ).
Life and work
Spike Robinson began at the age of twelve years, with the game on the alto saxophone and came in 1948 to the U.S. Navy, where he was employed as musicians; In 1950 he was stationed in the UK. He began regularly with English musicians performing and became part of the local bebop movement that occurred in London Club Eleven, also in the Downbeat Club and Studio 51, where he played with the then leading English bop musicians like Tommy Pollard, John Dankworth and Victor Feldman. In July 1951 he took under his own name six titles for Carlo Krahmer Esquire label on, but then returned to the United States and left the Navy. Then he began training as an electrical engineer in Colorado and worked for the next 30 years in this profession; but he occasionally performed as a tenor saxophone player in local clubs. During this time he worked with Dave Grusin.
In 1981, Robinson for the first time since his departure from London; he was accompanied by a band around Victor Feldman; In 1984, a first UK tour. The success of other tours led him to record more albums under his own name, especially for the label Discovery, Hep and Concord. He was now working full time with British musicians, such as saxophonist Dick Morrissey, pianist Bill Le Sage, bassist Alec Dankworth and drummer Bill Eyden. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he played in clubs and performed at festivals in the UK, worked with musicians from the mainstream scene as Ken Peplowski, Jack van Poll and Jeff Clayton, toured Europe and parts of the United States. In 1990 he joined the first time in New York.
Although he came from Bebop, Robinson was known primarily as a ballad interpreter of the Great American Songbook; Digby Fairweather comparing it stylistically with Zoot Sims, Richard Cook with Lester Young.
Disco Graphical Notes
- Plays Gershwin (Hep, 1987)
- Spike Robinson & George Masso Play Arlen (Hep, 1991)
- Plays Harry Warren (Hep, 1981-94 )
Swell
- Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather & Brian Priestley: Rough Guide Jazz, Stuttgart, Metzler 2004 ( 2nd edition), ISBN 978-3-476-01892-2
- Richard Cook & Brian Morton. The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD 6th edition. ISBN 0-14-051521-6