Live Bird

One-Man Jazz Show

Live Bird

One-Man Jazz Show

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Biography

St. Louis Missouri native, saxophonist, composer, radio disc jockey, actor, director, playwright and poet, Jeff started the band the Jeff Robinson Trio in 1995 as a bridge between music and theatre. The “Trio” would accompany poets at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, MA and have a weekly residency that has lasted for more than 20 years. The Jeff Robinson Trio has performed with some of the best poets in the United States of America, including Patricia Smith, Amiri Baraka and Quincy Troupe amongst thousand more.

Jeff is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he studied with saxophonists Bill Pierce and George Garzone. He’s studied theatre with Oleg Tabakov, Artistic Director of the legendary Moscow Art Theatre Company and Shakespeare scholar Kristin Linklater. Jeff’s one-man show about jazz legend Charlie “Bird” Parker entitled “Live Bird” has appeared in New York City and Charlie Parker’s hometown of Kansas City Missouri. “I knew Charlie as a man and not simply as a musical genius. Jeff portrays the Charlie I knew.” Widow, Doris Parker

He has directed several plays including Pearl Cleage’s “Blues for an Alabama Sky” which he received an Independent Reviewers of New England Awards (IRNE) nomination for Best Director. Robinson directed Craig Lucas’s “Reckless” for Theatre Zone and also his self-scripted “Alley Cats” at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston, MA with the Baldwin Theatre Company

He received an IRNE Award nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of the ‘Stage Manager” in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” at the Wheelock Theatre as well as his portrayal of Charlie Parker in “Live Bird” for the Baldwin Theatre. Jeff toured the United States portraying Reverand Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Grimes Theatre Group production of Jeff Stetson’s award-winning play “The Meeting.” His radio show “Poetry Jam” was aired on WMBR 88.1 FM in Cambridge and was streamed live via the internet. He has recorded for Rounder Records and is presently working on a new recording with his trio.

Speaker Videos

Live Bird Trailer

Speech Topics

LIVE BIRD: A One-Man Play Celebrating the 100th Birthday of Jazz Legend Charlie “Bird”

Testimonials

“Jeff’s artistry, both as an actor and a jazz musician, is breathtaking. Audience members were riveted. And while Jeff’s talents were on full display, what audience members really got was an hour with jazz icon Charlie Parker. That’s how good ‘Live Bird’ is.”

- Minnesota State University- Moorhead (Performing Arts Series)

"I knew Charlie as a man and not simply as a musical genius. Jeff portrays the Charlie I knew."

- Widow, Doris Parker

"He got him! He caught the spirit and sound of Bird, from the tone of his voice to the sound of his saxophone. Live Bird lifted me. I was touched by the play and Jeff’s performance. Brilliantly constructed."

- Charlie Parker’s daughter, Kim Parker

"When Jeff Robinson becomes Charlie Parker onstage, as he did in August at the Green Lady Lounge downtown, the transformation startles. The performer, middle-aged, with two sons and a wife in Boston, disappeared. In his place was Bird, slumped in a chair at a small table, his double-breasted suit unbuttoned and askew, the booze helping him brag and name-drop and angle to get paid ahead of the gig, the better to score later."

- Ron Knox, The Pitch in Kansas City

"Everyone’s agreed on what Charlie Parker did for Jazz. The arguments start when anyone talks about who he was. But there’s a remarkable consensus – even among people who knew the alto saxophonist – that Live Bird, Boston-based playwright, actor, saxophonist Jeff Robinson’s one-man play about Parker gets him right."

- Ed Hazell, Jazziz Magazine

"Live Bird should be moved to off-Broadway…It deserves wider exposure."

- Ira Gitler, Jazz Historian, Critic

"Robinson has Bird down cold…Robinson does it so convincingly you’ll forgive Parker for his flaws just to be in his presence."

- David Yaffe, The Village Voice

"If you have an opportunity to see Jeff Robinson’s Live Bird you must."

- Nick Catalano, All About Jazz.com

"It takes a multifaceted individual to conceive and perform a one-man play on Charlie Parker, and Jeff Robinson fits the bill."

- Bob Blumenthal, Boston Globe