Christopher Robin Cox

"Razor sharp and bone deep." - Free Jazz Blog

Trombonist/Improviser/Composer

Christopher Robin Cox (yes, that is his real name) is a veteran trombonist, composer, and improviser who has worked with many of the world’s most celebrated free jazz explorers. Born and raised in Northern California, he was fortunate to be a young man during the 1990s Bay Area free jazz Renaissance. He has performed with Marco Eneidi, Glenn Spearman, Billy Bang, Cecil Taylor, famed poet Amiri Baraka, German trumpeter Franz Hautzinger, and has toured in Europe and the United States with many artists, including Elliott Levin, Junkyard Empire, Tracy Lisk, electronic music composer Zeynep Sarikartal, Jason Robinson, and the Macedonian doom-jazz group Svetlost. He leads the Cox/Ajtai/Gyárfás Trio (PMG Jazz) and co-leads the Sürgős Quartet, the Cox/Hanson Quartet, with new projects in the works, soon to be announced.

When performing solo, his work involves a thick mix of extended acoustic techniques, like multiphonics, split-tones, and throat-singing. He is also frequently heard using a bassoon reed placed into he leadpipe of the horn, which creates a very unique bluesy squawk that has become known as the "dragon bone." Then there are the various foils and construction papers that he places on the bell of the horn, adding different layers of buzz to the tone, not unlike the rivets in a jazz ride cymbal. When you then combine all of this with the use of distortion, delay, reverb, octavers, and a looping station, the sound of his solo performances can go from ethereal, ambient soundtrack-like sounds to industrial post-apocalyptic mayhem.

https://christopherrobincox.bandcamp.com/album/alone-in-zagreb

https://christopherrobincox.bandcamp.com/album/alone

When playing in ensembles, he avoids the horn player in front stereotype, opting for a more crossover role that is at once soloist and accompanist. As stated by Josh Roseman, "Cox has a rare, targeted way of hearing the presence of the instrument within an ensemble." The Cox/Ajtai/Gyárfás Trio recently released their first recording for the burgeoning Macedonian label PMG Jazz. He is a regular on the Budapest underground and can also be heard with Dunyha, an international avant doom folk ensemble featuring Transylvanian folk singer Ilka Kisgyörgy. He has recently toured in nine European countries with various groups and as a solo artist. His next trio record, Something Wrong Has Happened, is due out on PMG Jazz in 2026.

He lives in a small town on the outskirts of Budapest, Hungary, with his wife, Szilvia, and their 11-year-old son, Oliver, who sings in the famed Vienna Boys Choir.

He plays a 1979 King 4B straight bell section with a 1980 Benge 165F slide.