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Pete Robbins

Pete Robbins (born November 28, 1978) is a professional American jazz saxophonist and composer living in Brooklyn. He was born in Queens, New York and was raised in Andover, Massachusetts. After studying at Phillips Academy (Andover, MA), Tufts University (Medford, MA), and New England Conservatory of Music (Boston), he moved to New York in September, 2002 and immediately became “a welcome presence on the creative music scene” (Time Out New York). He has since performed and/or recorded with Vijay Iyer, John Hollenbeck, John Zorn, Craig Taborn, Mario Pavone, Tyshawn Sorey, Ben Monder, Dan Weiss, Thomas Morgan, Melvin Sparks, and Kenny Wollesen, and has performed at festivals and clubs in the US and throughout Europe. Robbins’s releases are consistently named on top-10 year-end lists by international media outlets. Robbins has been featured in Down Beat, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, JazzTimes, Jazzwise, Jazzman, Politikken, National Public Radio, and DRS-2 (Swiss public radio). For his compositional achievements, Chamber Music America awarded Robbins with their prestigious “New Works: Creation and Presentation” grant as well as their "New Works: Encore" award. Robbins was also a recently guest panelist with the Brooklyn Arts Council and is the Dean at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Robbins's music is an entertaining and sophisticated mix of jazz and rock that utilizes indepth harmony, odd meters, and catchy grooves. Pete's sixth album as a leader, Transatlantic Quartet - Live in Basel, was released to rave reviews on February 7, 2012. His next recording, Reactance, will feature Vijay Iyer on piano, Eivind Opsvik on bass, and Tyshawn Sorey on drums; the release date and record label are still to be determined.