Orphy Robinson

Working with bands

Robinson was a member of the big band Jazz Warriors with Courtney Pine in the 1980s.^[2] He was a founding member of the British funk band Savanna, which he restarted at the 2010 Summer Solstice festival in London; a name change to Nu Savanna followed.

In the latter part of 2009 he was invited to become musical director of a large ensemble at The Roundhouse with drummer Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. The group Black Top was formed in 2011 by Robinson and Free Improv pianist Pat Thomas. An album entitled Black Top No1 was released internationally in July 2014 on the Babel Label with guest saxophonist Steve Williamson. The second Black Top album, Black Top No2, had Evan Parker as guest.

He started the ensemble The Spontaneous Cosmic RawXtra at Kings Place concert venue in October 2009. The ensemble was included in Black British Jazz (2014), an Open University book by Jason Toynbee. A DVD and recording were released in 2015.

He was instrumental in the formation of the band Malik & the O.G's with band leader Malik Al Nasir and also in his tribute to Gil Scott-Heron at St George's Hall, Liverpool entitled^[3] The Revolution Will Be Live! ^[4]

Other work

Robinson represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. He has worked in schools and on large-scale education projects, including at the Hackney Empire, where he led the Music Education department for more than ten years. He has been on the board of the Vortex jazz club, Warriors International, National Youth Jazz Orchestra, British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, and the Participation and Learning Education advisory board at the Hackney Empire.

Robinson is founding member of Edge (The Shape of Things to Come), a group of artists, writers, and promoters curating events pitched as a fringe to the London Jazz Festival. Due to the success of their first program, titled Edge 08, Robinson and journalist Paul Bradshaw continued to curate events internationally as well as all-year round events in the UK. Their project Love Supreme Reimagined, a homage to the 1965 John Coltrane album A Love Supreme, featuring a large-scale ensemble with Robinson in the role of Musical Director, received critical acclaim at the 2014 South Bank Meltdown Festival curated by James Lavelle.

He produced Carleen Anderson's album Cage Street Memorial (2016). In 2017 Anderson was nominated Best Jazz Vocalist at the Jazz Fm Jazz Awards. In 2018 the album was nominated in the Jazz Innovation category at the same awards.

As leader

• When Tomorrow Comes (Blue Note, 1993)
• Pyrotechnics (Blue Note, 1993)
• The Vibes Describes (Blue Note, 1994)
• The Funky End of Things (Blue Note, 1994)
• Life (Blue Note, 1994)

With Savanna

• I Can't Turn Away (1981)
• Never Let You Go (1982)
• Black Top Number 1 with Steve Williamson (Babel, 2014)
• Black Top Number 2 with Evan Parker (Babel, 2015)
• Black Top Number 3 with William Parker and Hamid Drake (Babel, 2017)
• Orpheum Theatre with Sun Araw & Orphy Robinson Otoruku Download Releases 21.09.15
• Priming the Population Thru Subversive Experimental Sonic Gestures, Jamal Moss, Mark Sanders & Orphy Robinson Otoruku Download Releases 01.01.16
• Corsano / Mcphee / Prévost / Robinson Otoruku Download Releases - 15.2.16
• Pat Thomas & Orphy Robinson Otoruku Download Releases 18.4.17

As guest

With David Jean-Baptiste

• Feeling Tones (1997)
• Neuriba (1999)

With Beggar & Co

• Brass, Strings n Tings (2007)
• The Legacy (2011)

With Tony Bevan

• Bruised (2005)
• Bruise with Derek Bailey (2006)
• We Packed Are Bags (2007)

With Alexander Hawkins

• No Now Is So (2009)
• All There, Ever Out (2012)

With HKB Finn

• Natural Eloquence (2011)
• Vitalistics

With Jazz Warriors

• Out of Many, One People (1987)
• Chameleon (1993)

With Nigel Kennedy

• The Four Elements, (2011)
• The New Four Seasons, (2015)
• My World, (2016)

With the London Improvisors Orchestra

• The Hearing Continues (2001)
• Freedom of the City (2002)
• Proceedings (2000)
• Responses, Reproduction & Reality (2003)

With Mica Paris

• I'd Hate to Love You (1988)
• Like Dreamers Do (1988)

With Courtney Pine

• Traditions Beckoning (1986)
• Journey to the Urge Within (1986)

With Andy Sheppard

• Andy Sheppard (1987)
• Introductions in the Dark (1989)
• Soft on the Inside (1990)

With others

• Imagination, In and Out of Love, Body Talk (1981)
• The Hudsons, Show Me You Care (1982)
• Total Contrast, Takes a Little Time (1985)
• Working Week, Fire in the Mountain (1989)
• Freedom Principle, Acid Jazz & Other Illicit Grooves Vol 2 (1990)
• Shivanova, Polygamy (1993)
• Jessica Lauren, Siren Song (1994)
• Monday Michiru, Jazz Brat (1994)
• Sandra Cross, Just a Dream (1996)
• Byron Wallen, Sound Advice (1996)
• Camelle Hinds, Soul Degrees (1996)
• Ensemble Bash, Suite D'Lorenzo, Launch (1996)
• Shawn Lee, Discomfort (1996)
• Richard Anthony Davis, When You Need My Lovin (1997)
• Simon Fell, Composition No30 BF27 (1998)
• Noel McKoy, Mind is the Keeper (1998)
• Lol Coxhill, Spectral Soprano (2001)
• Cleveland Watkiss, Victory's Happy Songbook (2001)
• Jazz Jamaica, Massive (2003)
• Rise Kigona & Doug Vetch, Tanzwa Nekutambura (2004)
• Tony Kofi, Plays Monk, All is Now (2004)
• Katy Havnevik, Embla (2005)
• Kate Shortt, Something to Tell You (2006)
• Descendants of a Quest, From a Song to a Story (2007)
• Oxford Improvisors, Cohesion Festival (2007)
• Robert Wyatt, Comicopera (2007)
• Cameron Pierre, Return to the Source (2007)
• Harry Beckett, The Modern Sound of Harry Beckett (2008)
• Louis Moholo, An Open Letter to My Wife Mpumi (2008)
• Spring Heel Jack, Songs & Themes (2008)
• Clear Frame, Clear Frame (2008)
• Light of the World + Beggar & Co feat The Funk Jazz collective, Round Trip + Bonus track (2008)
• Steven Grew & Grutronic, Essex Foam Party (2009)
• Burn Out Mama, Out of Office (2009)
• Pat Thomas, 4 Compositions for Orchestra (2010)
• Karin Franssen, Private Behaviour (2011)
• Joss Stone, Water for the Soul, (2015)