Perry Robinson (1938-2018)

[felser]

54 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

I see my head, bottom left. Boy I was skinny then!

We all were...

[Steve Reynolds]

55 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

I see my head, bottom left. Boy I was skinny then!

But you are still tall!!!

[clifford_thornton]

True, I am still tall.

[Gheorghe]

his playing on Grimes´ "The Call" is first class. I heard he did some projects with Grimes even much later, in the early 2000´s . He really was a great musician.

[danasgoodstuff]

As I think I've mentioned before, met Perry a few times and played with him once.  Wonderful guy.

[HutchFan]

I've never heard but always wondered about Robinson's record for Chiaroscuro, The Traveler, from 1977.  (It has Phillip Wilson on drums.)  I know that Robinson also used that same title -- The Traveler -- for his autobiography.

Anyone have any impressions of the LP that you'd be willing to share?

 

Edited December 7, 2018 by HutchFan

[mjazzg]

3 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

I've never heard but always wondered about Robinson's record for Chiaroscuro, The Traveler, from 1977.  (It has Phillip Wilson on drums.)  I know that Robinson also used that same title -- The Traveler -- for his autobiography.

Anyone have any impressions of the LP that you'd be willing to share?

 

Give me a day or two, a copy arrived in the post today

[HutchFan]

Just now, mjazzg said:

Give me a day or two, a copy arrived in the post today

Thank you, sir!  ... I would be surprised if it isn't really good. 

[mjazzg]

first two and half tracks are really good.

Kicks off with a short solo take on 'The Call' from the Grimes ESP date then we're fairly straight ahead, clarinet to the fore, nice support from the others, nothing to frighten the neighbours...unless it's all change on track 4

[clifford_thornton]

I like it. Definitely more straight-ahead, but a beauty of a record.

[EKE BBB]

Perry Robinson, by then a 21-year old young musician, arrived to Spain in November 1959 and joined Jon Mayer, Chuck Israels and Arnie Wise to form the New Blues Quartet.

After some unsuccesful gigs, he met Tete Montoliu on January 2, 1960 and jammed with him and his quartet (by then composed by Vicho Vicencio on tenor, Antonio Vidal on bass and Luis Sangareau on drums). Tete liked his playing and, knowing that Perry's mates were going back to the United States in a few days, he offered him to join his group, expanding it to a quintet.

Perry would stay with Tete for almost one year a half, touring Spain -amidst longer stays in the Whisky Jazz in Madrid and the Jamboree in Barcelona- and also doing gigs in Portugal.

A few Robinson compositions were included in the repertory, among them "Mingus Pingus" and, later, "Margareta".

A concert at the American Air Force Base in Tarrasa was taped. Perry recalls hearing the tape afterwards and it sounded good. Sadly, no trace of this tape has been found after thorough research by Jordi Pujol. To my knowledge, this might be the only recorded evidence of how this quintet sounded like. 

I have gathered sort of a small collection of anecdotes from this period. I will bring a couple of them here if time allows...

[clifford_thornton]

Please do -- some of this is recollected in The Traveler. Would love to hear him with Tete (and apparently on at least one occasion, Kenny Clarke).

[EKE BBB]

2 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

Please do -- some of this is recollected in The Traveler. Would love to hear him with Tete (and apparently on at least one occasion, Kenny Clarke).

Here we go...

[EKE BBB]

In a nutshell, Perry Robinson's clarinet playing and music approach were simply too modern for the average Spanish jazz critic or aficionado in 1960. 

Just as an example, Club de Ritmo #167 [March 1960 issue] holds a review of the 3rd Gala Internacional del Jazz at the Teatro Calderón in Barcelona. It was a morning concert starting with Tete Montoliu Y Sus All Stars group, followed by the Barney Wilen Quartet with Kenny Clarke and Oscar Pettiford (though bassist was finally replaced by Paul Rovère). A jam session with Barney Wilen, Tete Montoliu, Kenny Clarke, Paul Rovère, 'Vicho' Vicencio and Perry Robinson closed this concert.

This is an excerpt of the aforementioned review by Jorge Vall Escriu (quick and raw translation is mine):

"(...) The announced feature was a group led by Barney Wilen and including Kenny Clarke and Oscar Peterson. That was enough to immediately prompt us to reserve our tickets, given the undisputed quality of the latter two musicians, but... (there is always a "but") ...after too much advertisements and publicity, we had to bear with a group led by Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu for the whole first set, and to be sincere, it was way too long. To be noted is the current bad shape of Tete Montoliu, who is becoming an imitator of lowering profile pianists, as is Vicho Vicencio who, despite his nice tone, does not have enough tecnique and strength for the so-called "modern jazz"; on top of that, his numerous mouthpiece clangs didn't go unnoticed. And finally, better not talk about Perry Robinson's clarinet, given that, if you could write one single paragraph on him, it would not be about jazz. He would rather dedicate his time to become a snake charmer (...)".

"(...) And as the top of the ice cream, a jam session with TM, Kenny Clarke, Paul Rovère, Barney Wilen, Vicho Vicencio and, to no surprise, Perry Robinson, which resulted in a sort of coffee, milk, sugar and sault... (...)"

[clifford_thornton]

Wow.

[JSngry]

'Vicho' Vicencio? This guy? Geez, how old is he anyway?

http://www.carolmarksmusic.com/vicho.htm

https://metrodanceclubdfw.org/vicho-vicencio-orchestra-profile/

http://bravoentertainment.com/talent/vicho-vicencio-dance-band/

[EKE BBB]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

'Vicho' Vicencio? This guy? Geez, how old is he anyway?

 

His truly.

This is Vicho (standing, in the center) with Tete and his wife Pilar Morales:

  

[optatio]

"... the Jubilee Jazz Club ... in Barcelona ... was officially opened on Saturday the 9th of January 1960, at 6 pm , with a quintet led by the pianist Tete Montoliu and Antonio Vidal (bass), Perry Robinson (clarinet), Vicho Vicencio (tenor sax) and Chip Collins (drums)."                                      Source: https://www.masimas.com/en/jamboree/fifty-years-jazz-barcelona

 

[sgcim]

I just finished his autobiography, "The Traveler". Definitely recommended reading! He had an incredible life. His father was the composer Earl Robinson,and his cousin was Alan Arkin, so he was brought up in the left-wing/artistic/Hollywood circle. He had a talent for magic tricks as a kid, and got more seriously into it later on in his life.

I was surprised to to find that he was a disciple of Tony Scott, and he goes into detail about how Scott got that huge sound out of the clarinet. Scott lost most of his teeth towards the end of his life, which explains why his later records were of a lesser quality compared to his work in the 50s.

Perry was equally at home in the bop idiom and the free idiom, and that enabled him to bring the clarinet into many diverse musical situations, most of which were mentioned in other posts.

[Justin V]

I first became aware of Perry Robinson through Anat Fort's excellent A Long Story (with Paul Motian and Ed Schuller).  Because of that album, I made it a point to catch him with Muruga Booker in Detroit.  He stood out in what was a charmingly wacky group.  I still need to check out Funk Dumpling.  Thank you for the music, Mr. Robinson, and rest in peace.

[Rabshakeh]

Has anyone read his autobiography The Traveller? 

Edit: Mental note - check the thread before you post...

Edited January 22, 2022 by Rabshakeh

[Late]

I was thinking about Perry Robinson today. For some reason I was creating an unlikely and imaginary quartet in my head: Robinson, Jimmy Giuffre, Steve Swallow, Pete LaRoca.

[Rabshakeh]

What music were they making?

[JSngry]

Probably a seance with Tony Scott.

[Late]

I was actually trying to imagine how Giuffre's sound would (or wouldn't) blend with Robinson's. I imagine, mid-60's, the music would be great.

Oh! Prime Perry Robinson from 1978 can be heard here:

You can listen to the whole album here. Highly recommended.