Spike Robinson born 16 January 1930

Henry Bertholf "Spike" Robinson (January 16, 1930 – October 29, 2001) was a jazz tenor saxophonist. He began playing at age twelve, recording on several labels, including Discovery, Hep and Concord. However, he sought an engineering degree and followed that profession for nearly 30 years. In 1981 he returned to recording music. 

Robinson was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin on January 16, 1930. Originally from Kenosha, Wisconsin, he studied the clarinet as a child with a teacher from the Vienna Conservatory and began playing in local bands at the age of 14, lying about his age in order to join the Musicians' Union. He took up the alto saxophone shortly afterwards, having heard Charlie Parker. He played jazz in local clubs during his high school years, before enlisting in the US navy as a musician. 

In 1948, he was billetted in London and, by now a proficient alto performer and bebop aficionado, arrived at Club Eleven in Soho, a meeting place for jazz modernists such as Johnny Dankworth and Ronnie Scott. He was soon regularly jamming at London's Downbeat Club and Studio 51 with leading UK beboppers, including Tommy Pollard.

Robinson became a regular participant in their sessions - in defiance of Musicians' Union rules prohibiting foreign players - even recording with Scott's Boptet, and Victor Feldman on piano, for the Esquire label in 1951. By the time his national service ended later that year, he had had built up a lucrative circuit of London engagements. 

                             

Back in the US, unhappy with the music scene and with a family to support, Robinson realised that he needed a more secure lifestyle, so he invoked the GI Bill of Rights and studied mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado, later taking a master's at Detroit University. He then embarked on a career in the aerospace industry around Denver, tried running his own club (which took him years to pay off the debts) and worked as an engineering supervisor. But throughout this 30-year period, Robinson played jazz gigs - now exclusively on tenor-saxophone - becoming something of a local treasure, largely unknown elsewhere.  A constant musical companion of these times was Dave Grusin. 

In 1981, Robinson recorded for the first time since his London sessions, which also featured pianist Victor Feldman and bassist Ray Brown. His album was Spike Robinson Plays Harry Warren on the Discovery label. British jazz historian Brian Davis heard the recording, was impressed and arranged playing visits to Britain for Robinson in 1984 and 1986. This resulted in more recording work and good reviews. 

Newly divorced, in 1985 Robinson took early retirement from his day job and built a new career, playing US clubs and touring in Europe, appearing with established British jazz musicians such as fellow tenor Dick Morrissey, pianist Bill Le Sage, bassist Alec Dankworth and drummer Bill Eyden, among others. When he contracted meningitis in France, Susan May, his British agent, had him flown back to Essex and recovery. 

Robinson's playing was characterised by a mellow tone, unaggressive approach and a deep affinity with the classic American song. Broadly speaking, he was one of that school of tenor saxophonists who followed in the wake of Lester Young, players such as Stan Getz and Zoot Sims, but he had developed his own highly engaging voice within that style. Later, when Robinson and May were married, he began a wonderfully productive decade. His warmth and humour - plus his engaging way with nice old tunes - made him everyone's friend. He joined Essex County Cricket Club and performed regularly at Test matches at Lord's with the In-swingers, a band led by fellow saxophonist John Barnes.

Throughout the rest of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, he played at clubs and festivals throughout the UK, Europe and in various parts of the US, making his New York debut at Christmas 1990. A succession of albums, most as leader but some with artists such as Louis Stewart, Harry Edison, Al Cohn, Roy Williams and Claude Tissendier, attracted high critical and public praise. 

Despite his bebop beginnings, the mature musician who emerged in the 1980s from self-imposed exile was a consummate ballad player who explored the endless archives of the Great American Songbook. His rhapsodic, breathy style is instantly identifiable and the effortless loping swing of everything he played. In the early 1990s, Robinson was touring extensively from a UK base, recording many albums and headlining at clubs and festivals in Europe and the USA. He moved to England in 1989. He provided the voice of Brother Marcus in Grand Theft Auto in1997. 

During his later years he suffered bouts of ill health and died of a heart attack in Writtle, Essex on October 29, 2001. 

(Edited from article by Peter Vacher @ The Guardian & Wikipedia)