Roland Robinson (1949,

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

– November 8, 2004,

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

) was a longtime Memphis studio session bass player and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

. Robinson was a cousin and close friend of Teenie Hodges, Al Green's lead guitarist in the 1970s when Green recorded with the famed Hi Records staff band, the Hi Rhythm Section. Robinson played for several years with Stax stars like Eddie Floyd and once jammed with Jimi Hendrix,

Buddy Miles Express The Buddy Miles Express was a musical group fronted by American drummer/vocalist Buddy Miles. It was formed after the 1968 breakup of Miles's earlier group Electric Flag. They released four albums. Background 1968 The Buddy Miles Express was ...

' guitarist Jim McCarty and Jimi Hendrix' drummer Mitch Mitchell, a heavily edited recording of which was released as 'Jimi/Jimmy Jam' on the posthumous compilation Jimi Hendrix album ''

Nine to the Universe ''Nine to the Universe'' is a posthumous compilation album by American guitarist Jimi Hendrix. It was released in March 1980 in the US and in June 1980 in the UK. It was the third album of Hendrix recordings to be produced by Alan Douglas. The al ...

'' which features other heavily edited, disparate studio jams with widely varying personnel, recorded over the span of six months during 1969, that producer Alan Douglas (although not involved in the original recordings, but was himself a jazz producer from the early sixties, and also a compiler, and editor of other posthumous compilation releases of some note.) considered exemplified Hendrix' jazz leanings. He regularly performed and recorded on albums for a few years with the late rock and funk drummer Buddy Miles, who had previously played with Mike Bloomfield and Jimi Hendrix, (although not the same one as Robinson and was recorded two months later), prior to developing a solo career. He worked as a songwriter and performer in 1973 in a group called The New Cactus Band with Duane Hitchings (an original member of Buddy Miles Express, who was also recorded jamming with Hendrix (but quite sporadically, over at least two years), although, (unlike Robinson) he was edited out of the only official release of his jams by Alan Douglas, and this "fame" has to rely on the untampered, bootlegs of the original recordings), the sole member from the final lineup of the

Cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gre ...

band, which had disbanded in 1972.And which reformed in 2006: see

. They released one album on Atco, disbanding shortly thereafter. His

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

band Quo Jr. ("The Son Of What's Happening"), composed of veteran R&B players including The New Cactus Band drummer Jerry Norris, opened one show for the Sex Pistols' notorious first U.S. tour at the Taliesyn Ballroom in Memphis in 1978, performing regularly for several years into the 1980s. Hitchings and Robinson, who also worked together in a group called Steel, later collaborated to write Rod Stewart's 1984 hit song, "Infatuation." Robinson recorded with the Mar-Keys and blues great

Willie Cobbs Willie C. Cobbs (July 15, 1932 – October 25, 2021) was an American blues singer, harmonica player and songwriter. He is best known for his song " You Don't Love Me". Life and career Born in Smale, Monroe County, Arkansas, United States, C ...

, among others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Roland 1949 births 2004 deaths Songwriters from Michigan 20th-century American bass guitarists Guitarists from Michigan Tav Falco's Panther Burns members