REVIEWS

Described as a 'percussive dervish' (Coda) “Donald Robinson is a technical master of the drums. He is a stalwart of the of San Francisco bay area avant-garde jazz scene, playing and recording with many of the area's improvisational players, from saxophonists John Tchicai, Marco Eneidi and Larry Ochs to koto player Miya Masaoka and pianist Matthew Goodheart, and with prominent visitors like Cecil Taylor, Wadada Leo Smith, George Lewis, trumpeter Raphe Malik and Canadian pianist Paul Plimley. Much of this work has featured the combination of Robinson and bassist Lisle Ellis as rhythm section: 'the best bass-drums tag team on the scene' (Jazz Times). His longest musical association, dating from the 1970's, was with the late tenor saxophonist Glenn Spearman.”

“The drumming does become the ‘core’ for the musical evolution and patently substantiates the weight of expressiveness from the other instruments. A crashing sibilance of the cymbals, a simple rhythmic tapping on their edges or centers, the rumbling of the toms or the endless combinations thereof gives freedom to the sax, trumpet and keyboards to intensify their rich convolutions.”

“And now listening to just the two of them improvising to high heaven is an absolute treat : energetic, intimate, ferocious, playing nine tracks each with a different character and set-up, yet all fitting well in an overall coherent vision. That vision is one of lyricism and rhythmic pulse, with Och's sound full of raw granularity and authentic emotions, and Robinson's drumming a delight of drive and unexpected accents, and truth be told, just listening to Robinson - fantasizing the sax away in my imagination, as I'm doing now on "Breakout" - is by itself already a pure treat, but then with the sax the pleasure more than doubles.”

“Push Hands for instance, one of two memorials to departed musicians, is a study in pinched chromatics. Here Robinson bends his beats with an Africanized lilt, in order to accompany Ochs’ gravelly threnody. Song 2 is another revelation. What starts off as an essay in modulated reed slides and smears wedded to a rumpled pulse becomes a vibrant, coherent narrative that assumes song form.”

“The story begins back in 1972, when three Antioch College students, saxophonist Idris Ackamoor, bassist Kimathi Asante and vocalist Marguax Simmons, decided to spend their senior year abroad going to Paris to form a jazz band. Hey, it was the ‘70s! There, they met drummer Donald Robinson and, armed with a tape recorder, they set about playing gigs around Europe. Later, the three students spent a full nine months traveling northern Africa, studying its indigenous and popular music and jamming with the locals. Returning to Ohio with Robinson, the band hooked up with percussionist Bradie Speller and began working as the Pyramids.”