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Carol Robbins
Carol Robbins: Taylor Street
by Roger Farbey
In the context of jazz, the harp is a rare instrument indeed and there are proportionately few players in the field. Two exponents of this rare art are Alice Coltrane and the British harpist David Snell whose library composition International Flight" is a jazz harp classic. A third is Carol Robbins, whose album Taylor Street is the follow-up to her 2012 album Moraga. It's important to emphasise that this is an ensemble album, so the musicians are afforded ...
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by Hrayr Attarian
The harp is certainly rare in jazz and so its role in a traditional combo is not well defined. Alice Coltrane, for example used it as a supplement to her keyboards, while Adele Girard, played it like a boogie woogie piano. Others like Janet Putnam and Betty Glamann were relegated to a rhythm guitar role in bands--very few approached it as a frontline instrument. Of those few, perhaps, the most preeminent representative is Dorothy Ashby who revolutionized the harp, taking ...
read moreCarol Robbins: Moraga
by Dan Bilawsky
While the harp is often pigeonholed as an instrument that belongs in the confines of classical music, artists like Carol Robbins, Zeena Parkins and Edmar Castaneda are helping to change public perception about this topic. Castaneda has created rhythmically engaging music that's high on excitement, and Parkins is constantly breaking barriers by invading every area, from edgy, alternative rock to avant-garde jazz, with her harp in hand(s); but Robbins is the one that found a way to manipulate the instrument's ...
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by Edward Blanco
The harp is probably one of the least recognized and utilized instruments in jazz yet, the jazz harp is as much a part of the genre as the saxophone, with only a handful of musicians making it their instrument of choice. The late Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane, along with Lori Andrews, Columbian Edmar Castaneda and Frenchman Jakez Francois are a few of the exponents of the harp within the jazz realm. There is another prominent member of this list ...
read moreCarol Robbins: Jazz Play
by Elliott Simon
Close in timbre to a guitar but with a much wider scope and open feel, the concert harp can both thrill with sheets of sound and soothe with delicate nuance. There is all this and more on Jazz Play. Harpist Carol Robbins places her instrument in the midst of a jazz ensemble for a most agreeable musical junction that features new music and delightful takes on standards. Aided by the flexible rhythm section of bassist Derek Oles and drummer Tim ...
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by Jerry D'Souza
The harp makes one of its rare appearances in jazz in the hands of Carol Robbins on Jazz Play. She also wrote several of the tunes on this recording and included some standards. And where does that place the music? Right in the mainstream, with some softer shades of what is known as contemporary jazz. The introduction of the latter causes no damage; the soothing waft it brings in is pleasant enough, without detracting from the core.
One of the ...
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by John Kelman
In the second Dirty Harry movie, Magnum Force, the catchphrase of Clint Eastwood's Inspector Callahan is A man's got to know his limitations. Over the past decade, harpist Carol Robbins has attempted to defy the preconceived limitations of her instrument. She's employed the harp--surely one of the most unwieldy of instruments--in a jazz setting, despite inherent challenges involved in manipulating its complicated set of pedals on the fly to meet the spontaneous demands of improvisation.
Still, while the harp has ...
read moreJazz Duets Featuring Carmen Lundy & Harpist Carol Robbins
Source:
Dorothy Riley
Experience world-class jazz at the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum during Black History Month! Jazz @ the Clayton presents Jazz Duets, an incredible series of four (4) unique jazz concerts. The series begins on Thursday, February 7, 2013 and ends on Feb. 28, 2013 with the final concert featuring celebrated Jazz composer and vocalist Carmen Lundy and Harpist Carol Robbins. Please note that each concert may be recorded live during the performance. The Jazz Duets Concert Series is produced ...
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Jazz Harpist Carol Robbins WRTI Interview Saturday
Source:
All About Jazz
January 20, 2006 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] Tune in to WRTI to listen to Jazz Harpist Carol Robbins hour long interview with Jill Pasternak Saturday at 11:30 AM eastern time. It can be heard on the web at http://www.wrti.org and will be on the web in the archives. The station is in Philadelphia, PA Check out the new CD.... Carol Robbins Jazz Play" Jazzcats-105 Street Date: February 14, 2006 Carol Robbins: Harp, Larry ...
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