Gino Robair is an American composer, improvisor, drummer, percussionist, and magazine editor. In his own music work (as a soloist and in improvisation ensembles), he plays prepared/modified percussion, analog synthesizer, ebow and prepared piano, theremin, and bowed objects (polystyrene, customized/broken cymbals, faux daxophone, metal). Robair resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.
From January 4, 1994 to January 14, 1997, "The Dark Circle Lounge" was a weekly improvisational music series, that later became a festival, founded and led by Gino Robair at the Hotel Utah.[3][4] The Bay Area Improv Scene participated in The Dark Circle Lounge. At the time, Robair was a member of the Splatter Trio, alongside saxophonist Dave Barrett, and guitarist-bassist Myles Boisen.[3][4]
It is not always clear what instruments Robair is playin (for example, the duo CD "Sputter" with Birgit Ulher). In interviews (Paris Transatlantic, The Wire), he notes that the term "energized surfaces" refers to the use of drums as resonators for other objects, which he bows, scrapes, rubs, or activates with an ebow, motors, or compressed air through a horn.[citation needed] "Voltage made audible" is used to describe analog electronics and circuit bent instruments.
As a composer, Robair has written pieces for a variety of ensembles (including the ROVA Saxophone Quartet), scored numerous Shakespearean plays with the California Shakespeare Festival (where he was music director for five years), and created jingles for radio and television. He also served as music director and composer (within the Club Foot Orchestra) for the CBS/Film Roman Saturday morning cartoon series "The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat".
His large-scale work, "I, Norton,"[when?] is an opera based on the life of Emperor Norton, which combines improvisation, graphic scores, game pieces, and fully notated scores. The piece was featured in the documentary Noisy People, by Tim Perkis. Robair is currently involved in a multi-year research project developing real-time, computer-mediated, ensemble-improvisation systems with Palle Dahlstedt (Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden), Per Anders Nilsson (Academy of Music and Drama, Gothenburg, Sweden), and Tim Perkis. This project grew out of The Bucket System[5] developed by Dahstedt, Nilsson and Robair and presented at the 2015 NIME conference.[6] Robair is also a member of Anne Pajunen’s Stockholm-based S.M.O.K (Svenska Moderna Operaensemblen) 2.0, producing theatrical works with live electronics.
Gino Robair is the former editor-in-chief of Electronic Musician magazine,[7][8] and Keyboard magazine. He has written for Mix, Option, Remix, Guitar Player, and Acoustic Guitar magazines, authored two books—Making the Ultimate Demo (Artistpro, 2000) and The Ultimate Personal Recording Studio (Cengage, 2006)—and contributed chapters to Less Noise, More Soul (Hal Leonard, 2013) and The Hub: Pioneers of Network Music (Kehrer Verlag, 2021). Robair is a member of the San Francisco Chapter of the Recording Academy/Grammys and served a term as national trustee.[9] He has presented papers and chaired roundtable discussions at then NAMM, AES,[10] and New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME)[11] conferences.
Sabrina Siegel, Gino Robair, Tania Chen, Tom Djll, Bryan Day Blue Moon, 2019
"NoNoNo Percussion Ensemble: Excantatious" with Stefano Giust and Cristiano Calcagnile, Setola Di Maiale (Italy) SM4340, 2021. CD.
"Trio Music Minus One (For Dennis Palmer)" with Thollem McDonas, Setola Di Maiale (Italy) SM2650, 2014. CD.
"I, Norton: an opera in real time." Rastascan Records, 2009. CD.
"Postage Paid Duets - Vol. 2" David Sait w/Glen Hall w/Gino Robair w/LaDonna Smith. Apprise AP-03, 2009. CD.
"Other Destinations" (solo). Rastascan Records (San Francisco). CD.
"Singular Pleasures" (solo). Rastascan Records (San Francisco). CD.
"Sputter" with Birgit Ulher (tpt). Creative Sources (Lisbon, Portugal). CD.
"New Oakland Burr" with John Butcher. Rastascan Records (San Francisco). CD.
"Blood Money," "Alice," "Orphans," "The Tiger and the Snow" and "Bad As Me" with Tom Waits.
"Duets 1987," "Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003," and "Six Compositions (GTM) 2001" with Anthony Braxton.
"Grosse Abfahrt: Luftschiffe zum Kalifornien" 2007 Serge Baghdassarians - electronics; Boris Baltschun - electronics; Chris Brown - piano; Tom Djll - trumpet; Matt Ingalls - clarinet; Tim Perkis - electronics; Gino Robair - electronics; John Shiurba - guitar. Creative Sources (Lisbon, Portugal). CD.
"Supermodel Supermodel" 2006 Gail Brand trombone; Tim Perkis electronics; Gino Robair percussion, faux dax, horns, Styrofoam, ebow snare; John Shiurba electric guitar; Matthew Sperry double bass and preparations. On Emanem (UK). CD.
"Six Fuchs" 2004 Wolfgang Fuchs (reeds), Tom Dill(tpt), Gino Robair(perc), John Shiurba(gtr), Matthew Sperry(bass), and Tim Perkis (electronics). Rastascan Records (San Francisco). CD
"Gino Robair Live on the Artship" 2002 The Artship Recordings are a series of live solo improvisations each by a different artist, and each performed in "The Artship", a decommissioned US Navy troop transport which was docked in Oakland and served as a floating arts center for several years. (3.5-in CD).
"Buddy Systems" 1998 Gino Robair plays selected duos and trios, with John Butcher and Tim Perkis, Otomo Yoshihide, Carl Kihlstedt and Matthew Sperry, Dan Plonsey, LaDonna Smith, Splatter Trio, Oluyemi Thomas, and Myles Boisen On Meniscus(Minneapolis). CD
"Matthew Sperry Trio" 1997 Actually a quartet, that didn't include the late Matthew Sperry! Matt Ingalls, Tim Perkis, Gino Robair, John Shiurba. On Limited Sedition (Oakland). CD
Miya Masaoka is an American composer, musician, and sound artist active in the field of contemporary classical music and experimental music. Her work encompasses contemporary classical composition, improvisation, electroacoustic music, inter-disciplinary sound art, sound installation, traditional Japanese instruments, and performance art. She is based in New York City.
The Hub is an American "computer network music" ensemble formed in 1986 consisting of John Bischoff, Tim Perkis, Chris Brown, Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Mark Trayle and Phil Stone. "The Hub was the first live computer music band whose members were all composers, as well as designers and builders of their own hardware and software."
Philip Lionel Corner is an American composer, trombonist, alphornist, vocalist, pianist, music theorist, music educator, and visual artist.
Carla Kihlstedt is an American composer, violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and currently working from a home studio on Cape Cod.
Tim Perkis is an experimental musician and writer who works with live electronic and computer sound.
Chris Brown is an American composer, pianist and electronic musician, who creates music for acoustic instruments with interactive electronics, for computer networks, and for improvising ensembles. He was active early in his career as an inventor and builder of electroacoustic instruments; he has also performed widely as an improviser and pianist with groups as "Room" and the "Glenn Spearman Double Trio." In 1986 he co-founded the pioneering computer network music ensemble "The Hub". He is also known for his recorded performances of music by Henry Cowell, Luc Ferrari, and John Zorn. He has received commissions from the Berkeley Symphony, the Rova Saxophone Quartet, the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio, the Gerbode Foundation, the Phonos Foundation and the Creative Work Fund. His recent music includes the poly-rhythm installation "Talking Drum", the "Inventions" series for computers and interactive performers, and the radio performance "Transmissions" series, with composer Guillermo Galindo.
John Butcher is an English tenor and soprano saxophone player.
Dan Plonsey is a saxophonist. He is considered a jazz musician, though he rejects this label.
The Club Foot Orchestra is a musical ensemble known for their silent film scores. Their influences include Eastern European folk music, impressionism, and jazz fusion; The New Yorker described their style as "music that bubbles up from the intersection of aesthetics and the id."
Maybe Monday is an American experimental electroacoustic improvisation music ensemble comprising guitarist Fred Frith, koto player Miya Masaoka and saxophonist Larry Ochs. The trio was formed in San Francisco in March 1997 when they performed in a concert at the Great American Music Hall. They have since toured the United States, Canada and Europe, and released three albums between 1999 and 2008.
K-Space are a British-Siberian experimental electroacoustic improvisation music ensemble comprising Scottish percussionist Ken Hyder, English multi-instrumentalist Tim Hodgkinson, and Siberian percussionist and throat singer Gendos Chamzyryn. The trio was formed in Tuva, Siberia in 1996. They have played in concerts in Asia and Europe, and released four CDs, including Infinity (2008), which was a new type of CD that is different every time it is played.
Roger Turner is an English jazz percussionist. He plays the drumset, drums, and various percussion, and was brought up into the jazz and visual art cultures inhabited by his older brothers, playing drums from childhood in informal jazz contexts.
Scot Gresham-Lancaster is an American composer, performer, instrument builder, educator and educational technology specialist. He uses computer networks to create new environments for musical and cross discipline expression. As a member of The Hub, he is one of the early pioneers of "computer network" music, which uses the behavior of interconnected music machines to create innovative ways for performers and computers to interact. He performed in a series of "co-located" performances, collaborating in real time with live and distant dancers, video artists and musicians in network-based performances.
The Bay Area Improv Scene is a commonly used name for a loose association of musicians and composers centered in the San Francisco Bay Area who create a style of music that evolved largely from avant-garde jazz and modern classical music, with influences from other areas such as Electronic art music, Free improvisation, and Musique concrète. Other names of this scene tend to use phrases such as "Creative Music" to try to incorporate a wider focus than just the improvisational approach.
Dana Reason is a Canadian composer, recording artist, keyboardist, producer, arranger, and sound artist working at the intersections of contemporary musical genres and intermedia practices.
John Russell was an acoustic guitarist who worked in free improvisation beginning in the 1970s. He promoted concerts and appeared on more than 50 recordings.
Gordon Fitzell is a composer, concert organizer, and professor of music. His catalog consists of solo, chamber, and electroacoustic music, including open and improvisatory works.
Thollem McDonas is an American pianist, improviser, composer, singer-songwriter, touring performer, musical educator, and social critic. His musical compositions and performances have ranged from classical, and free jazz, to experimental and punk rock. He has toured North America and Europe since 2006, performing solo works and collaborating with an array of musicians, dancers, dance companies and filmmakers.
Gabriel Vicéns is a Puerto Rican guitarist, composer, bandleader, and visual artist currently based in New York City.
References
↑ Warburton, Dan (March 25, 2007). "Gino Robair". Paris Transatlantic Magazine. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
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