Robin Kenyatta
Robin Kenyatta (March 6, 1942 – October 28, 2004) was an American jazz alto saxophonist.[1]
Music career
Born Robert Prince Haynes, Kenyatta was born in Moncks Corner, South Carolina and grew up in New York City. In the 1960s, he played with Bill Dixon and his group, The October Revolution in Jazz. Later that decade he played with Jazz Composer's Orchestra, Roswell Rudd, Sonny Stitt, Archie Shepp, and Buddy Miles.
In the 1970s he played with Alan Silva and Andrew Hill. For a brief time, he experimented with instrumental pop music. He moved to Europe, finding it easier to make a living there as a jazz musician.
He played with Dizzy Gillespie, B. B. King, Dr. John, and George Benson, played the Montreux Jazz Festival, and went with his own groups on a European tour. He also led a jazz school in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2002, Kenyatta was back in the United States as a music director in Boston. He died in Lausanne in 2004.
Discography
As leader
- 1967: Until (Vortex, reissued on Wounded Bird)
- 1969: Beggars & Stealers (Muse) with Larry Willis, Walter Booker, Alphonse Mouzon
- 1970: Girl from Martinique (ECM) with Wolfgang Dauner, Arild Andersen, Fred Braceful
- 1972: Free State Band (America) with Aldo Romano, Kent Carter
- 1972: Gypsy Man (Atlantic) with Billy Cobham, Rick Marotta, Stanley Clarke, Larry Willis, David Spinozza[2]
- 1973: Terra Nova (Atlantic) with Pat Rebillot, Sonny Burke, Ron Carter, Gladstone Anderson, Winston Grennan, Enrico Rava
- 1974: Stompin' at the Savoy (Atlantic) with Dr. John, Ron Carter, Lew Soloff, Bernard Purdie, Chuck Rainey
- 1975: Nomusa (Muse) with Stafford James, Joe Chambers, Dom Salvador
- 1976: Encourage the People (Wolf) with Arthur Jenkins, Richard Tee, Ralph MacDonald, Hugh McCracken
- 1979: Take the Heat off Me (ITM) with Lew Soloff, Dom Salvador, Peter Solomon, David Eubanks, Sal Cuevas, Cornell Dupree
- 1987: Live at Cully: Blues for Mama Doll (Jazz Dance)
- 1991: Ghost Stories featuring Ronnie Burrage (ITM)
- 2003: Cool Blue (Jazz Dance)
As sideman
With Ted Curson
- Quicksand (Atlantic, 1974)
With Bill Dixon
- Intents and Purposes (1967)
With Andrew Hill
- Spiral (1975)
With Jazz Composer's Orchestra
- Communication (JCO, 1965)
With Sam Rivers
- Crystals (Impulse!, 1974)
With Roswell Rudd
- Everywhere (Impulse!, 1966) also released as part of Mixed in 1998
With Archie Shepp
- For Losers (Impulse!, 1971)
- Kwanza (Impulse!, 1974)
With Sonny Stitt
- Deuces Wild (Atlantic, 1966)