Phil Robson

David Lyttle & Phil Robson: IN2

by Ian Patterson
March 7, 2023

The title of drummer David Lyttle and guitarist Phil Robson's debut duo album is as direct and uncluttered as the music contained herein. Equally divided between time-honored standards and stylistically sympathetic originals--three by the Lyttle and one by Robson--the duo's straight-ahead, tradition-grounded language is perhaps a departure from their more genre-fluid work, particularly Lyttle's hip-hop filtered, MOBO-nominated Faces (Lyte Records, 2015), and Robson's wildly eclectic EP Portrait in Extremes (Lyte Records, 2022), which careened entertainingly from ambient soundscapes and straight-ahead ...

The Peter Leitch New Jazz Orchestra: New Life

by Jack Bowers
December 18, 2020

After what Canadian-born guitarist Peter Leitch has been through in the last eight years, it's little wonder he named the ensemble he now leads the New Life Jazz Orchestra. Diagnosed in 2012 with stage 4 lung cancer, Leitch faced the choice of throwing in the proverbial towel or undergoing career-ending cancer treatment. He chose the latter, reluctantly setting aside his instrument of choice and continuing his musical career as a composer, arranger and conductor of an orchestra whose library consists ...

Phil Robson: The Cut Off Point

by Roger Farbey
May 16, 2015

With four albums already to his name and another four by the band Partisans which he co-leads with saxophonist Julian Siegel, British guitar phenomenon Phil Robson hardly needs any introduction, save that his new musical departure is realised by an organ trio offering a smörgåsbord of exciting and imaginative compositions. “Thief" hits the ground running, with Phil Robson's lithe fast guitar running alongside nimble Hammond lines to carve out the melody and a subsequent brief but enticing organ ...

Phil Robson: Jazz For Babies - The Guitar Album

by Bruce Lindsay
May 16, 2013

Just what is the target demographic for a typical jazz album? Twenty to thirty year-olds? Forty to sixty year-olds? Anyone with enough spare cash to buy a copy? This series of recordings from bassist Michael Janisch makes its target audience perfectly clear both in the title--Jazz For Babies--and in the bottom left of the rather snazzy album cover, where a brown circle boldly states “In Utero to 3 years +." Janisch has put together a set of five ...

Phil Robson: The Immeasurable Code

by Bruce Lindsay
November 6, 2011

The chance to handpick a quintet of top-flight jazz musicians and then tailor-make an album's worth of tunes with their own particular styles and talents in mind doesn't come along every day. Guitarist and writer Phil Robson grabbed the chance on The Immeasurable Code, an album based on musical interpretations of communication methods. The result is a stunning live album, combining inventive writing with superb musicianship. Of course, it helps if the composer is also a top-flight ...

Phil Robson: Six Strings & The Beat

by Chris May
June 30, 2008

Surrounded by an animated buzz since its live debut in 2007 at Derby Jazz Week, London-based guitarist Phil Robson's first outing with a string quartet proves to be every bit as exciting as the grapevine promised.

Best known to date for his work with the revved up and riotous Partisans band, which he co-leads with saxophonist Julian Siegel, Robson's credentials as a composer and arranger have already been well established--both with the Partisans, of whose Max ...

Liam Noble: Romance Among The Fishes

by AAJ Staff
December 14, 2005

In his informative album notes to this invigorating recording, British pianist Liam Noble writes that he wanted to create a music in which he and his collaborator, guitarist Phil Robson, interacted as two equal voices rather than as soloist and accompanist. He wanted flexible, organic, mutating rhythmic ideas to underlie the lead players, which is precisely what bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tom Rainey provide. Romance Among The Fishes is the very rewarding result.

This music produces constant interplay, sometimes ...