Jeffery Leon Robinson was born in Kentucky back in the mid-1950s knowing from a young age that music was his calling. All these years later, we here in Humboldt know him by a different name: Jimi-Jeff.
Known locally for rocking that old-school funk, blues, R&B and rock, Jimi-Jeff and his Gypsy Band have been rocking everything from Jimi Hendrix to Prince.
Robinson’s mother always worked hard and taught him and his siblings to be strong and independent.
While a pre-teen, he picked up bass guitar from a gospel player who played at his mother’s church. Then, when he was 14, he heard his first Jimi Hendrix album — the pivotal moment when he knew he wanted to be a great guitarist.
After that, the guitarist remembers the first full song he learned.
“Besides gospel stuff, and I don’t remember much from then, my first song on guitar was ‘Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay’ by Otis Redding,” he said.
For the most part a self-taught guitarist, Robinson knew that in order to get work back then as a black musician he’d have to learn funk, R&B and blues — so he did. By the time he was in his mid-20s, he was on tour in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.
By the mid-1980s, after Robinson had performed practically all over the South, he headed up to Chicago to tap their famed circuit. That was when he had the opportunity to play with folks like Buddy Guy and Junior Wells and really anybody who needed a guitarist.
In Chicago, the standout musician just took the calls as they came in for gigs. And the calls came from Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, Lefty Diz, Lee Shout Williams, James Cotton and others.
When the old-school rocker decided to leave Chicago, he chose to move to Minneapolis, Minn. where he started his first group, The Jeff Robbins Blues Band. In Minnesota his skills eventually caught the attention of Buzzy Linheart (who played vibraphone on the Jimi Hendrix record ‘Cry of Love’). That was when Linheart talked Robinson into a trip to Seattle to meet Hendrix’ father, Al.
Jimi-Jeff even has videos of he and Al Hendrix together. It was also in Seattle where Robinson met Warlock (Brian Mills, also known as Bigelow Culpepper), a musician who passed away in April 2011. He said he considered Warlock his musical soul mate.
It was finally in Seattle where the musician would be dubbed Jimi-Jeff. He and his band eventually moved up to Vancouver and re-formed themselves as Jimi-Jeff & The Gypsy Band.
Eventually, Robinson decided to kick the drugs and move to the North Coast.
These days, Robinson rocks shows all over Humboldt and frequently. If one were to drop in and see him they might hear him doing his favorite cover, “Machine Gun” by Jimi Hendrix or his most-requested original, a blues number called “Anie Mae.” His Gypsy Band includes Robinson on guitar and vocals, Tim Klassen on bass and Robert “Wes” Conley on drums.