NEWS

Available worldwide, with official full length video. Ancestral Dubbers⸺a special dub remix by Marcus Urani (Rising Tide, Groundation) of Second House from Jason Robinson, Ancestral Numbers I (Playscape, May 2024). A dub reimagining brings together long time friends and collaborators Robinson and Urani in a wild jazz-meets-dub soundscape featuring Robinson’s Janus Ensemble, with Robinson on tenor saxophone, Michael Dessen on trombone, Joshua White on piano, Drew Gress on bass, and Ches Smith on drums and glockenspiel, mastered by reggae engineer legend Jim Fox. Long ago and far away Urani and Robinson were part of the Sonoma County, California music scene that spawned reggae touring powerhouse Groundation, and a vibrant jazz scene that exploded in many directions. Friends and collaborators for 30 years, they team up again to introduce a new set of musical possibilities. Ancestral Dubbers is streaming everywhere on 11 June 2024 and available artist direct at jasonrobinson.bandcamp.com. Full length video available exclusively at youtube.com/jasonrobinsonmusic.

Robinson heads to Europe in July 2024 to perform with GROWLER, a new group that reunites Robinson with long time musical friends, bassist Scott Walton (Cosmologic, Trummerflora) and trombonist Christopher Robin Cox (51st Monkey), along with several new collaborators. Concerts in France, Czechia, and Hungary.

Released on 14 May 2024, Ancestral Numbers I is the first in a series of two new albums that feature a quintet version of Robinson's Janus Ensemble. Robinson is joined by trombonist Michael Dessen, pianist Joshua White, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer Ches Smith. The subsequent album in the series, Ancestral Numbers II, is scheduled for release in October 2024, which will be accompanied by a series of tour dates in the US Northeast.

Fans in western Massachusetts area have a few opportunities to catch Robinson presenting several projects. On March 30 he debuts his New Quintet at the "Words and Music" Faculty Composition Showcase event at Amherst College. Featuring trumpeter Zoe Murphy, pianist Anastassiya Petrova, bassist Jacob William, and drummer Richie Barshay, Robinson's New Quintet will premiere new pieces from his Ancestral Numbers and For Yusef Lateef composition series. On April 25, Robinson brings together new and longtime collaborators from Boston and New York for a concert called Confluence: An Evening of Jazz. Robinson will be joined by veteran saxophonists Allan Chase and Charlie Kohlhase, along with bassist Matt Dwonszyk and featuring special guest, drummer, composer, and filmmaker George Schuller. The concert will take place at the Blue Room at CitySpace in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Also at the Blue Room, on May 10 Robinson’s local community building project for musicians called Creative Music Gathering will give a rare public facing performance featuring a cross section of the region’s most exciting improvisers and composers. Details for all of these events are on the TOUR page.

Robinson takes a quintet version of his Janus Ensemble into the recording studio to record two albums -- Ancestral Numbers I and Ancestral Numbers II -- of his ongoing composition project of the same name, which draws from numerical relationships in his family's history to inspire compositional forms that are then brought to life with his collaborators. The two albums will feature Robinson with longtime friends and collaborators Michael Dessen (trombone), Joshua White (piano), Drew Gress (bass), and Ches Smith (percussion). The albums will be released in summer and fall 2024 on Playscape Recordings.

Awarded a grant from the Erving Cultural Council and the Mass Cultural Council, Robinson convenes a quartet to debut two new compositions dedicated to the villages of Farley and Ervingside in the town of Erving, Massachusetts, where he resides. Also featuring other jazz compositions inspired by places, the concert is part of Erving's Summer Concert Series at Riverfront Park. All ages and free!

Originally scheduled for summer 2020, Robinson performs throughout Japan at the beginning of June 2023 with guitarist Eric Hofbauer in support of their release Two Hours Early, Ten Minutes Late: Duo Music of Ken Aldcroft (Accretions, 2020). They're joined by Robinson's longtime friend and collaborator Marcos Fernandes and local collaborators in each city.

Performing on the Arts at Amherst Initiative's Arts Faculty Showcase at Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, Robinson premiered "Malachi," on of a series of compositions to be recorded by his Janus Ensemble in August 2023 for his Ancestral Numbers project. The performance featured a special configuration of his ensemble; he was joined by trumpeter Thomas Heberer, pianist Angelica Sanchez, bassist Avery Sharpe, and drummer Yoron Israel.

Robinson gave an invited talk titled “From Farm Shares to Jazz Shares: Alternative Community-based Music Presenting in Western Massachusetts,” highlighting the innovative arts presenting and community building being done by the great folks of Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares. Robinson recently published a review about Jazz Shares in the journal Jazz and Culture (University of Illinois Press).