What has keyboardist/producer/arranger Robby Robinson been doing for the past 45 years after leaving the small southern Illinois town of Litchfield? He’s been Musical Director for famed Four Seasons’ vocalist Frankie Valli! How did that all come about?
Robinson would take an interest in music at a young age. He started taking piano lessons when he was seven years old, and saxophone lessons at age eight. By the time he was 14 he got interested in playing in bands. His first was The Rebels, with Robinson on sax playing surf music. From there he got a call from a relatively successful local group Joe Eddie and the Penetrators, joining up with them.
“It wasn’t long until I connected with Frank Mattioda, a drummer who was a couple years older,” remembers Robinson. “We put together a band called The Sonics and became pretty successful for a local group.” Offering up “The Swinging Sounds of The Sonics,” they won the battle of the bands at the Springfield Illinois State Fair. The Sonics would ultimately evolve into The Far Cryse as Robinson would continue playing in bands all through high school.
Robinson would head to Southern Illinois University where he studied music and played in the school’s Concert and Jazz bands. He would fit classes in between gigs. “I was gigging the whole time that I was going to school,” says Robinson. “I eventually started going out on tours with various groups and would come back in between tours and take some more classes. I finished all my course work for a Bachelor of Music but didn’t graduate because I never went back to give my Senior Piano Recital.”
He and his brother Rex had a band called Patch when he got his first taste of a recording in the early ‘70s. “I started experimenting with different music ensembles, always as a bandleader. One of the groups Seven. “There was a local agent who had the idea of combining us with a family of three singers – The Guidry’s with Greg, Sandy and Susan,” recalls Robinson. They started playing gigs at places like Rush Up in Chicago. “Marv Stuart from Curtom heard us and signed up. Curtis Mayfield was gonna be writing and producing.” It seemed like they were on their way, “But the internal friction just was too great and the band imploded and self-destructed from within before we could finish a record.”
Robinson would continue honing his skills playing different musical styles. He played briefly with blues legend Albert King, played Jimmy Smith-style organ in jazz clubs, and was even Music Director at the St. Louis Playboy Club for a year. “I was doing a lot of playing in those days. Some weeks it would be – go to college from morning until afternoon, play from 8-12 in one club and then 2-4 a.m. in an after-hours jazz club, then get up and do it again.”
Around 1973 Robinson with working with his brother Rex in Patch playing weeklong gigs in Midwest supper clubs. One week they were in Granite City, Illinnois backing Didi Carr, a young singer from New York. “We hit is off, and ended up running around the country playing week-long engagements in supper clubs and showrooms as Didi and Patch. Ultimately we all ended up in L.A.”
After that ran its course, more gigs ensued. After some more touring supporting other acts while continuing his schooling, Robinson would finally front his own group, moving to Jacksonville, Florida. “While there, I got a gig playing with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra which opened up new musical vistas.”
Continuing, “I had a manager who kept trying to get me to relocate in L.A. Finally in 1976, my brother and I went out to check it out. Things started to happen immediately. After being there for about a month, we got a gig with legendary drummer Alphonse Mouzon (Weather Report, McCoy Tyner). We instantly found ourselves playing cutting edge jazz fusion and recorded an album Blue Note Live at the Roxy (Blue Note LA663) with a host of jazz stars.”
Settling in the L.A. scene they Robby and Rex would continue working in both the funk and jazz circuits as the Robinson Brothers Band. After a tour opening for Steve March (Mel Torme’s son), they would head into the studio in support of Liza Minelli on her album Tropical Nights (Columbia 34887) and work extensively with fusion drummer Les DeMerle, holding down a regular Monday night house band gig at the Cellar Theatre. While it was DeMerle’s band, Robinson handled most of the writing and arranging and was named executive producer on DeMerle’s 1978 album Transfusion (Dobre 1020).
“I’ve always been a bandleader, arranger, music director-type since I was a young teenager,” Robinson comments.
Becoming known in the musical circles for his work as a musical arranger and performer he was recommended by renowned band leader Don Ellis to fill a slot as Music Director for popular vocalist Buddy Greco.
“Working with Buddy took me to a different dimension of gigs, conducting a lot of big bands in Vegas and Europe,” recalls Robinson. “One of the highlights was conducting the Count Basie Band, as well as doing a lot of TV shows.”
While touring with Greco, “I got a call from an old Illinois friend, Richie ‘Gajate’ Garcia, who was playing percussion for Frankie Valli. Frankie was hot with the song ‘Grease’ and was looking for a new keyboard player. I was recommended and after some ‘long-distant’ auditioning got the job. That was August 1978…’Grease’ was #1 on the charts and things were rockin’! At the end of the year, his music director decided to leave and I got the gig!” That was more than 45 years ago and Robinson still has the job, sometimes hailed as “the fifth Season!”
Keeping the gig among friends, original Patch drummer Lynn Hamman ended up playing drums with Frankie Valli, and then 25 years with Kenny Rogers. Robinson’s brother Rex also joined Valli’s group, playing bass for over 20 years before retiring in 2000.
“Working with Frankie Valli for over 40 years has been an incredible ride. His formula for success is no secret. Couple an amazing God-given talent with an extraordinary work ethic, you have Frankie Valli. He is the most tenacious man I know. Even now at age 89 he is still passionate about the music, still driven.
“I have had a world-class education being able to rub shoulders with the legendary forces in music. The icing on the cake has been the success of ‘Jersey Boys’ and we are still selling out venues, doing records and TV. Kind of fun these days!”
Valli’s resurgence of popularity had found Robinson working on and arranging material form Frankie’s recent releases Romancing the ‘60s (Universal Motown 9908) in 2007, his holiday album ‘Tis the Seasons (Rhino 556984) in 2016 and A Touch of Jazz (Green Hill 6380) in 2021.
And when Frankie Valli is not touring, Robinson take any time off. He just keeps working with the same energy of Frankie Valli. Back home, he’s the Minister of Music at the Lutheran Church in Simi Valley, California. And currently he’s working on a Christian album project with Doc Kupka from Tower of Power.
His philanthropy work he founded an annual Christmas concert Jam for Jesus at the Bethlehem SCV in Santa Clarita and has returned to his hometown Litchfield raising more than a quarter of a million dollars with benefit concerts for St. Francis Hospital there.
It doesn’t stop there.
He’s founded his own record company – Robby’s Records. “For decades I have been writing and producing. I’ve never been able to wear an ‘artist hat’ because I’ve been so busy with other artists. Technology had changed music distribution so much that it is now practical to distribute without a traditional record company. So, I decided to create my own record label as a platform for my music,” he says. Always marketing himself through digital distribution YouTube channel www.youtube.com/ROBBYROBINSONMUSIC
And Instagram www.instagram.com/robbyrobinsonmusic/ channels, “Jam‘n Java” weekly internet program www.facebook.com/jamnjava , along with websites www.robbyrobinsonmusic.com and www.robbysrecords.com, he says he is nearing two million views!