Scott Robinson is an American jazz musician. Robinson is best known for his work with various styles of saxophone, but has also performed with the clarinet, flute, and sarrusophone, along with other, more obscure instruments.
Robinson has appeared on more than 200 LP and CD releases, including eleven under his leadership, with musicians such as Lionel Hampton, Anthony Braxton, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Ella Fitzgerald, Paquito D’Rivera, Sting, Maria Schneider, Elton John, Buck Clayton, and the New York City Opera. Two of these recordings won a Grammy Award.[3] He has also received four fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.
In 2000, the U.S. State Department named Robinson a “Jazz Ambassador” for the year 2001, funding a tour of West Africa in which Robinson played the early works of Louis Armstrong. Material from these appearances was subsequently released on the album Jazz Ambassador: Scott Robinson Plays the Compositions of Louis Armstrong by Arbors Records.
Throughout his career, Robinson has worked to keep unusual and obscure instruments in the public view. For example, he has recorded an album featuring the C-melody saxophone and performs with the ophicleide. He also owns and records with a vintage contrabass saxophone, so rare that fewer than twenty in playable condition are known to exist.