Scott Robinson (jazz musician)

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Scott Robinson (born April 27, 1959 in New Jersey) is an American jazz musician. Robinson is best known for his work with various styles of saxophone, but has also performed with the clarinet, flute, and sarrusophone, along with other, more obscure instruments.

[edit] Musical career

The son of a piano teacher and an editor for the magazine National Geographic^[1], Robinson graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1981. The next year, he joined the college's staff, becoming the youngest instructor in the institution's history.^[2]

Robinson has appeared on more than 150 professional recordings, including seven under his own name,^[3] with musicians such as Lionel Hampton^[2], Anthony Braxton, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Ella Fitzgerald, Paquito D'Rivera, Sting, Elton John,^[3] Buck Clayton, and the New York City Opera.^[1] Two of these recordings won a Grammy Award.^[3]. He has also received four fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.^[1]

In 2000, the U.S. State Department named Robinson a "Jazz Ambassador" for the year 2001,^[1] funding a tour of West Africa in which Robinson played the early works of Louis Armstrong.^[2] Material from these appearances was subsequently released on the album Jazz Ambassador: Scott Robinson Plays the Compositions of Louis Armstrong by Arbors Records.

Throughout his career, Robinson has worked to keep unusual and obscure instruments in the public view. For example, he has recorded an album featuring the C-melody saxophone and performs with the ophicleide. He also owns and records with a contrabass saxophone, so rare that fewer than twenty in playable condition are known to exist.^[3]