Lenny Robinson interview, 2022-11-17T00:00:00+00:00
Scope and Contents
D.C. Oral History Collaborative (DCOHC) is a citywide initiative to train community members in oral history skills, fund new and ongoing oral history projects, connect volunteers with oral history projects, and publicize existing oral history collections. DCOHC is a project of DC Public Library, HumanitiesDC, and the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. This collection contains oral history interviews, transcripts, and indexes produced by DCOHC grantees.
Dates
- Creation: 2022-11-17T00:00:00+00:00
Biographical / Historical
Leonard 'Lenny' Robinson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1956. He moved to Baltimore in the early 1960s with his family for his father’s work as a Pentecostal minister. He started playing trumpet in junior high before moving to drums and percussion at Walbrook High School, a progressive Black high school in Baltimore. He studied percussion with Chuck Memphis at Morgan State University then moved to New York in 1979 to join the Army and play with the Army field band. After getting out of the army and gigging around New York for a few years, Robinson and his family moved to Silver Spring in 1985. He began playing at the now closed One Step Down in Foggy Bottom, playing with local musicians and national icons, as well as touring with some major jazz figures like Stanley Turrentine and Lou Donaldson. In 1999, he began teaching music at The Landon School in Bethesda. He has played the Westminster Presbyterian Church’s 'Jazz Night in D.C.' series an estimated 200+ times since the series began in 1999.
Extent
From the Collection: 1.13 Terabytes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The video of the sixth and final interview in our project, with drummer Leonard 'Lenny' Robinson, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1956. He moved to Baltimore in the early 1960s with his family for his father’s work as a Pentecostal minister. He started playing trumpet in junior high before moving to drums and percussion at Walbrook High School, a progressive Black high school in Baltimore. He met his percussion mentor, Chuck Memphis, and began attending the Peabody Conservatory before he transferred to Morgan State University. He talks about the impact of his first major tour as a professional musician at age 20 and the impact it had on his perspective as a musician. He talks about moving to New York to join the Army field band in the late 1970s and early 1980s and further developing his craft playing with jazz, Latin, and all sorts of bands across the five boroughs. His family moved to Silver Spring in the mid-1980s and he began playing with and meeting major figures in the D.C. jazz scene at the One Step Down in Foggy Bottom. He played there and around the city for years while also touring with national jazz acts like Stanley Turrentine and Lou Donaldson. He talks about becoming an educator at The Landon School in Bethesda in 1999 and the changes he's seen in D.C.’s neighborhoods as a result of gentrification since then. He also talks about the importance of the Westminster jazz series in that ever-changing landscape of gigs, venues, and taste.
Topical
Repository Details
Part of the The People's Archive, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library Repository