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About Janice Robinson
Hometown
Garfield, NJ, United States
Born
December 8, 1967
Genre
House
b. 1951, Clairton, Pennsylvania, USA. Robinson began playing piano as a small child, and also took some music lessons. In school, she joined a band and took up the trumpet. Later she was asked to switch to the trombone, upon which she became remarkably proficient. Studying intensively, she developed her early skills and eventually attended the Eastman School of Music where her talent fully blossomed. She played and wrote with jazz orchestras and also sang and studied classical music, specifically Gregorian chants, and met many visiting musicians, one of whom, Mary Lou Williams, promptly advised her to leave Eastman and use her talent in the outside world. In fact, even before Eastman, Robinson had played her instrument on a television spectacular hosted by Bill Cosby.
After graduating in 1973 she played with many types of musical groups and in Los Angeles worked in bands led by musicians such as Oliver Nelson and in New York spent some time and recorded with the Thad Jones - Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. She also recorded and toured with Clark Terry and his Big B.A.D. Band. She became widely known for her skills and consistency and played with Gil Evans, Slide Hampton’s World Of Trombones and the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra. She also formed a group with pianist Sharon Freeman as co-leader, mostly playing bop. She also led her own small group, which included bass player Buster Williams and pianist Kenny Kirkland. During this same period, Robinson extended her interests in composing, and amongst the results are ‘Crying To Be Me’, ‘Soul Music’, and ‘The Sound Of Light’. Deeply aware of the conflict and tensions of being a woman in jazz and the pressures that militate against a ‘normal’ family life, she seeks to blend all aspects of her life. As she observed to Sally Placksin, ‘... everything that happens in life is reflected in the music, in what I play or what I write. To me, it’s not separate’. A superb technician with a deep and abiding commitment to jazz and, indeed, to all forms of musical expression, Robinson is one of the outstanding jazz trombonists.
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