Isaac L. "Banjo Ikey" Robinson (July 28, 1904 – October 25, 1990) was an American

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

ist and vocalist. Born in

Dublin, Virginia Dublin is a town in Pulaski County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,682 as of the 2020 Decennial Census. It is part of the Blacksburg– Christiansburg Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town was named after Dublin in Irelan ...

, United States, Robinson moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, in 1926, playing and recording with

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe ( Lemott, later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz ...

, Clarence Williams, and

Jabbo Smith Jabbo Smith (born Cladys Smith; December 24, 1908 – January 16, 1991) was an American jazz musician, known for his virtuoso playing on the trumpet. Biography Smith was born in Pembroke, Georgia, United States. At the age of six he went into ...

during 1928 and 1929. In 1929, Robinson recorded in Chicago with

Georgia Tom Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 – January 23, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and Christian evangelist influential in the development of early blues and 20th-century gospel music. He penned 3,000 songs, a third of them gospel, inc ...

, billed as The Hokum Boys. Their track, written by Dorsey, "I Had to Give Up Gym" was an early

dirty blues Dirty blues (also known as bawdy blues) is a form of blues music that deals with socially taboo and obscene subjects, often referring to sexual acts and drug use. Because of the sometimes graphic subject matter, such music was often banned from rad ...

song, sometimes described as

hokum Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music—a song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make humorous, sexual innuendos. This trope goes back to early dirty blues recordings, enjoyed huge commercial success in ...

. His groups included Ikey Robinson and his Band (w/ Jabbo Smith), The

Hokum Trio "Hokum Boys" was the billing (or part of the billing) of multiple jazz bands (typically, just studio grouping of musicians) active in 1920s and 1930s. The hokum subgenre of blues music got its name from these bands. "Hokum", originally a vaudevil ...

, The Pods of Pepper, Windy City Five, and Sloke & Ike.

Film

*''Louie Bluie'' (1986). Directed by

Terry Zwigoff Terry Zwigoff (born May 18, 1949) is an American film director whose work often deals with misfits, antiheroes, and themes of alienation. He first garnered attention for his work in documentary filmmaking with ''Louie Bluie'' (1985) and '' Crumb' ...

References

External links

WorldCat entry

Ikey Robinson recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database catalog of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The 78rpm era was the time period in which any flat disc records were being played at ...

.
Findagrave entry
1904 births 1990 deaths American banjoists Musicians from Virginia 20th-century American singers People from Dublin, Virginia 20th-century American male singers {{String-musician-stub