Kynan Robinson
Kynan Robinson is an Australian musician.
Career
He was born in Australia but spent his childhood in Bangladesh, returning to Australia to complete his high school years. After completing his initial studies in psychology he completed his bachelor of music at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Robinson is considered one of Australia's premier jazz trombonists and composers. However he hasn't limited himself to that genre playing and leading groups in a range of styles.
He has recorded and played with numerous artists including C.W. Stoneking, Brian Brown, The Adam Simmon’s Toy Band, Skazz of Melbourne, Peter Knight’s 5plus2, Adrian Sherriff’s Oynsemble Melbourne and Bone Clan, Ronnie Ferrella’s Broad Band, Ted Vining, The Tim Stevans Quintet, Antboy, Big Fela, Bucketrider, Anita Hustas Ensemble, the Chipolatas (UK) and Honkey Trash and Melbourne Ska Orchestra.
In the last five years he has been active mostly in Melbourne forming his own contemporary improvising quintet, En Rusk which has toured Australia a number of times. They recorded their debut self-titled CD in 2001 to rave reviews and have recently (2004) finished their second recording, "1000 Wide". This CD received significant reviews in both Australia and internationally and really established Kynan as one of the original voices of Australian Jazz composition.
Since then he developed the ensemble The Escalators, which released an album entitled Wrapped in Plastic, inspired by the films of David Lynch and is coleader (along with Adam Simmons) of the Melbourne group Collider. He has also ventured successfully into electronic music firstly with his dance/performance act, Des Peres (originally known as Old Des Peres and secondly with Hard Hat, a group that brings together both electronic and acoustic musicians. Both acts have performed regularly for venues and festivals around Australia and internationally, most recently at the Live et taut festival in New Caledonia. Des Peres recently completed their debut CD in 2004. The album is released through Flict/Shock. Their second album Ace Doubt was released in 2006 through Flit/MGM. Des Peres is considered a unique voice in the Australian pop scene combining a very theatrical stage approach to their sample heavy sound. Des In Des Peres Kynan takes the moniker of Old Des and works very closely with Luva DJ (Michelle Robinson) and Mr. Ection (visual artist and brother Kiron Robinson) as well as guitarist Tom Bass and Kelsey James. Their third album was entitled The Adventures of Cowboy and Miniman. Recently he has recorded and released two albums with a band he coleads with Melbourne saxophonist Adam Simmons called Collider, words and Solo In Red. Solo In Red is a piece composed by Robinson and commissioned by The Melbourne Writers Festival. It focuses on the writings of American author [http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/ Cormac McCarthy.
He has composed music for jazz ensembles, dance productions, musical theatre, contemporary classical ensembles and electronic dance acts and has had his compositions performed in many festivals around the world.
In 2001 he was a collaborative composer for Double Venturi, a collaborative piece involving musicians and funded by Arts Victoria. In 2004 he received funding through the Australia Council to compose a concert length work for prepared piano and small ensemble that was premiered at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz.
He also has scored the music to six short films and has collaborated in numerous cross arts projects with visual artists including Kiron Robinson, Narinda Reevers and Dave Macleod.
Robinson runs a collaborative arts organization called VerSus which holds monthly events and has held events in regional Victoria. He has been featured many times in newspapers and magazines and on both radio and TV Kynan also runs his own record label Flict Records.
Discography
As Leader
- En Rusk (Newmarket Music) 2001
- En Rusk — 1000 Wide (Newmarket Music) 2003
- Old Des Peres — Preserved (Flict/Shock) 2004
- Des Peres — Ace Doubt (Flict/MGM)2006
- Des Peres — The Adventures of Cowboy and Miniman (House of Pow/Amphead)2008
- The Escalators — Wrapped in Plastic (Jazz Head)
- Collider — Words (House of Pow)
- Collider — Solo In Red (House of Pow)
Contributions
- Adam Simmons Toy Band — Happy Jacket
- Melbourne Acid Techno (Dark Matter Records)
- Sample Synthesis 4 and 5 (Clan Analogue Records)
- Paul Colman Trio — Turn (Control Records)
- Matt Fagan
- Malone — This is it (Cavalier Music)
- The Mavis’s — Throwing Little Stones (FMR)
- City City City (Remote Control Records)
- Skazz of Melbourne
- 5+2 Ensemble — Invisible Cities and other Works (Rufus)
- C.W. Stoneking — Jungle Blues
- Melbourne Ska Orchestra
Remixes
- Machine Translations (Spunk)
Film scores
- The Only Person in the World – Ben Chessell
- 3 Weeks in Koh Samui - Alistair Reid
- From The Top – Alistair Reid
- Is God a DJ – Ben Chessell
Installations
- Double Venturi – Collaborative composition with Garth Paine 2001
- The Slow Burn – Collaborative composition with Erik Griswold 2004
Grants and Awards
- Australia Council Promotion and Presentation (En Rusk Recording) 2004
- Australia Council New Works 2005
- Arts Victoria Music for the Future Recording (Des Peres) 2005
- Arts Victoria Music For The Future Touring (Des Peres) 2005
- D.C.I.T.A. Touring (Des Peres) 2005