Robin Kenyatta

Robin Kenyatta (March 6, 1942 – October 28, 2004) was an American jazz alto saxophonist.

Career

Born Robert Prince Haynes in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, United States, Kenyatta grew up in New York. He played with Bill Dixon there in the 1960s, playing with his project "The October Revolution in Jazz". Later that decade he played with Jazz Composer's Orchestra, Roswell Rudd, Sonny Stitt, Archie Shepp, and Buddy Miles among others. In the 1970s he played with Alan Silva and Andrew Hill; for a brief time he experimented with instrumental pop music during this decade as well. He moved to Europe during that decade, finding it easier to make a living there as a jazz musician.

Later, he played with musicians such as 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. In 2002, Kenyatta was again back in the United States and active as a director of music in Boston.

He died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2004.

Discography

As leader

• 1967: Until (Vortex Records, 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 Francois Nyombo, Keino Spellar, Aldo Romano, Kent Carter
• 1972: Gypsy Man (Atlantic) with Billy Cobham, Rick Marotta, Stanley Clarke, Larry Willis, David Spinozza
• 1973: Terra Nova (Atlantic) with Pat Rebillot, Sonny Burke, Ron Carter, Ralph MacDonald, Gladstone Anderson, Winston Grennan, Carlos Garnett, Enrico Rava, Jonas Gwangwa, Betty Davis, et al.
• 1974: Stompin' at the Savoy (Atlantic) with Dr. John, Ron Carter, Alphonse Mouzon, David Spinozza, Lew Soloff, Bernard Purdie, Chuck Rainey, Jimmy Knepper, Ralph MacDonald
• 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)

External links

• Robin Kenyatta at Find a Grave