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Robin Kenyatta

Robin Kenyatta - alto and tenor sax, flute

In the 1960s and 1970s, Robin Kenyatta was one of the more original players in the new sound of jazz. Unafraid to put his alto sax through unexpected twists, Kenyatta became famous for his free jazz performances. During a career spanning four decades, he released 12 albums and appeared on dozens more. He held his own against the greatest jazz men of the twentieth century and, according to All About Jazz, is remembered as “one of THE altoists of the '60s.”

Born Robert Prince Haynes on March 6, 1942, in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, Kenyatta was the third child of Thomas and Rebecca Haynes. The family, including older siblings Doris and Thomas, moved to New York City when Kenyatta was four. There, a neighbor played the saxophone. For years Kenyatta listened to him practice through the walls. He fell in love with the sound and, at the age of 14, got his hands on his first instrument an alto sax. He joined the school marching band, but as the instructor was focused on trumpets, Kenyatta learned mostly on his own. Eventually he met professional musicians who helped him along, including John Handy, a saxophonist who had played with Charles Mingus. Though alto sax would become his specialty, Kenyatta also learned tenor sax, soprano sax, and flute.

After graduating from high school, Kenyatta spent two years nurturing his craft. He learned how to write music and began composing. At the age of 19, he landed his first professional gig. In 1962 Kenyatta joined the U.S. Army and served two years in a military band. Upon his return to New York, he changed his name to Robin Kenyatta in honor of Jomo Kenyatta, the Kenyan nationalist leader, and begun to pursue a career as a professional musician.

Jazz during the early 1960s was in a heyday. Legends like John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, and Thelonious Monk were recording and gigging. Jazz sounds were as diverse as ragtime, swing, be-bop, and big band. In New York at the time, a style called free jazz was emerging. It was characterized by playing that broke the traditional rules of melody. Solos were sporadic, independent, and often mind-bendingly chaotic. Top free jazz players at the time included Coltrane, Bill Dixon, and Ornette Coleman.

Kenyatta was coming into his own as a musician during this era and he became known for his own experimentation on the sax. The Boston Herald noted that Kenyatta was considered “a fearless reedman willing to try his hand at any style, the edgier the better.”

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10
Album Review

Bill Dixon: With Archie Shepp, 7-Tette & Orchestra Revisited

Read "With Archie Shepp, 7-Tette & Orchestra Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


If Bill Dixon is today, in 2023, less widely remembered than other New Thing warriors such as Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler, it is partly because he had little desire for celebrity, devoting much of his energy to organizing on behalf of his fellow musicians and composers, and teaching. In 1964, midway through making the 1962-1967 recordings collected on this album, Dixon organized the historic October Revolution in Jazz at the Cellar Café in Manhattan, which ...

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Obituary

Saxophone great Robin Kenyatta dead at 62

Saxophone great  Robin Kenyatta dead at 62

Source: All About Jazz

NEW YORK (AP)- Robin Kenyatta, a jazz saxophonist known for his free style of jazz and bop, died in his sleep Oct. 26 in Lausanne, Switzerland, said his daughter Ayo Kenyatta Haynes. He was 62 and a resident of Manhattan.

Kenyatta collaborated with musicians like saxophonists Archie Shepp, Sonny Stitt, trumpeter Bill Dixon, and trombonist Roswell Rudd. Although known as an alto saxophonist, he also played tenor saxophone and flute.

Born Robert Prince Haynes in 1942 in Moncks Corner, S.C., ...

102

Obituary

Robin Kenyatta Memorial Service Sunday Nov.14th @ 7:30PM at Saint Peter's Church

Robin Kenyatta Memorial Service Sunday Nov.14th @ 7:30PM at Saint Peter's Church

Source: All About Jazz

Robin Kenyatta Memorial Service Sunday Nov. 14th @ 7:30PM at Saint Peter's Church.

619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street in New York City (54th & Lex Citi Corp Ctr.) 212-935-2200

First of all, thank you to all of you who have reached out to me to express your condolences for the loss of my father, Robin Kenyatta, and to share your memories of him with me. Both have been very much appreciated! The funeral service in ...

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