Jimmy Robinson

Jimmy Robinson died in New York on January 6, 2018, at the age of 67.

The sudden death of his close friend Gary Kellgren in 1977 devastated Robinson. Although he continued to work at The Record Plant Los Angeles, the infamous studio didn't feel the same and so with great sadness Robinson left to pursue other endeavors.

As Jimmy was working at Larabee his fondness for technology and instrument construction led him to begin working with Paul Beaver as part of the synthesizer team Beaver and Krouse on a suggestion from Walter Sear; he began developing a polyphonic synthesizer with Paul Beaver that unfortunately never came to fruition due to Beaver's untimely death in 1974.

In January 1973 Bob Margoulieff and Malcolm Cecil invited Jimmy out to Los Angeles to work on a few projects, and Robinson decided it was time to leave NYC.

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Robinson quickly found himself as the lead candidate to be Chief Engineer of Larrabee Sound on Bob Margoulieff and Malcolm Cecil's recommendation. In February 1973 Robinson was invited to join Larabee Sound as Chief Engineer under the supervision of Jackie Mills. The first slate of recording projects included Cher, Al Wilson, Robbie Krieger, John Densmore from The Doors, Chris DeMarco, and Rachel Perry.

Under the advice of Eddie Kramer and manager Michael Jefferies, Hendrix decided to construct his own recording studio, Electric Lady. After construction was completed, Kramer and Andy Edlen invited Robinson to work there in the summer of 1970. During his tenure working at Electric Lady, Robinson began working on a few tracks for Stevie Wonder's Talking Book and Innervisions. Robinson also worked with several prominent artists of the time including Roberta Flack, Led Zeppelin (on Houses of the Holy), Blood Sweat and Tears, and Miles Davis' Live Evil. In August 1972, jazz vibraphonist Michael Manieri asked Robinson to be his assistant and join GNU Music. Robinson worked for Manieri until the end of the year.

In 1969, The Nowhere Men were playing a show at The Cellar Door in DC's Georgetown district when Robinson met former Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles. Buddy took a liking to Robinson's sax playing and invited him up to New York City to work a few gigs and meet Gary Kellgren, and subsequently Jimi Hendrix, at the Record Plant recording studios in New York City.

Gary Kellgren immediately was impressed with Robinson's technical ability and asked him to begin working as an assistant engineer at the Record Plant NYC. At his first session there in 1969, he worked with engineer Jack Adams and R&B singer Patti Labelle.

Capitol Records sent out Wally Heider to record the live debut of the Band of Gypsys and Gary Kellgren sent Robinson as the Record Plant's preferred engineer. The first live show was to be performed at the Fillmore East on New Year's Eve 1969 with the Voices of East Harlem as the opening act.

James Kelly Robinson II (July 29, 1950, Washington, D.C. – January 6, 2018, New York) was an American recording engineer, record producer and musician. He was best known for his engineering techniques with both analogue and digital audio recordings with prominent popular pop and rock records in American music from the late 1960s to the present. In addition to his recording expertise, Robinson was also an accomplished musician in his own right and had been awarded gold records as both a saxophonist and bass guitarist.

Jimmy Robinson was born July 29, 1950 in Washington D.C. to James K. Robinson I and Louise H. Robinson and spent his early childhood growing up in College Park, Maryland. At an early age Robinson took a strong interest in music and electronics while attending schools in the Washington metropolitan area and began playing saxophone at age of 12 with various bands before joining in the band "The Nowhere Men" at the age of 18 in 1968.