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Robinson's 'shock jazz'
has a purpose
By KEN FRANCKLING
Actor, playwright and saxophonist
Jeff Robinson's latest jazz project is unsettling, shocking, educational _ and a
startling contrast to the light music that dominates the "smooth jazz"
airwaves these days.
His trio recording, "Getting
Fixed," on the Honey Boo label, is a dark and at times brooding jazz-and-spoken
word project filled with frenetic urgency as it spotlights the problem of heroin
addiction.
"It's probably anti-smooth
jazz if it is anything. It is in your face, but it is for a purpose," says Robinson.
"It is all to enlighten people about the seriousness of drug addiction. It is
not glamorizing it in any way.
"I want people to take
it seriously and not look down on people who happened to fall through the wrong cracks
and are trying to pull themselves back up. It is difficult for them. Addiction makes
it that much more difficult to save yourself. You just can't put a patch on and your
addiction goes away."
Robinson's trio, with bassist
Blake Newman and drummer Dwight Hart, provides a musical context as the leader also
narrates the powerful poetry of ex-addict Marc Goldfinger.
The recording's eight songs
spotlight an addict on his winding trip through a strange city, exploring his highs
and lows and fears and frenetic yearnings _ while giving voice to the power of a
drug that continues to claim thousands of victims each year.
Its most telling line, which
scratches at the listener again and again, is that "Addiction only remembers
what it needs."
Abiodun Oyewole, a member
of The Last Poets, has described the work as a "Junkie Jazz Opera" that
lets you "smell the junk funk, taste the stale death of a junkie's breath. You
can see his gray days and the darker nights."
Robinson said he was drawn
to Goldfinger's story because several of his relatives have succumbed to heroin and
another is recovering from addiction.
It is a natural step beyond
Robinson's recent one-man play, "Live Bird," which explores the music and
life of Charlie Parker, the saxophonist and jazz shaper whose creative life was ravaged
and shortened by addiction.
"Having family members
who succumbed to the drug and having performed the Charlie Parker play, a monkey
had gotten on my back in a very subliminal way," Robinson says.
While the recording is all
about the power of addiction, Robinson did not emphasize it so much when writing
and performing "Live Bird." "Parker should be known more for his music
than his drug addiction. I made sure the play concentrated on his music and his personality.
But I had to deal with the drugs at some point because he was an addict and it was
a part of him.
"It was something I
had to deal with, but was not about to shoot some heroin. I like to do a lot of research
for my theater, but I'm not dumb," he says.
Robinson has performed "Live
Bird" in Boston, New York and Kansas City to strong reviews. He will return
to Kansas City _ Parker's birthplace - for two more performances on August 20 and
21 at the Gem Theater.
Robinson says Parker never
glamorized drug use but others did against his wishes. Some who emulated Parker's
lifestyle out of the belief that it was a major source of his creativity are still
alive _ and still addicts, he says.
"Heroin has made an
unfortunate return. It is cheaper and more pure than it has ever been. It is accessible
and kids are taking it. I really don't understand it. I can't fathom why people would
take that drug. It is nothing to play around with," Robinson says.
The St. Louis native began
performing in local blues bands, then attended Boston's Berklee College of Music
for a summer scholarship program while in high school. Attracted by the school's
way of teaching musicians how to find themselves, he returned to pursue music and
later branched out into acting as well.
Robinson is proud of what
he has been able to accomplish with his "Getting Fixed" project.
"A friend, who is a
musician and a reforming heroin addict, thanked me when he heard it. It has helped
him not go back down that path," he says. "I also have an uncle who is
recovering. When I was in the process of recording this, he told me, 'If it can help
one person, it is worth doing.'"
Some of the proceeds from
the recording benefit treatment programs in the Boston area.
All rights reserved.
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