Young alto saxophonist/composer Pete Robbins has been garnering accolades in the Big Apple and beyond with his sophomore release, Waits and Measures (Playscape). On Saturday night, January 27th, Robbins and his Centric ensemble will tune up to a spring tour of Spain with a one-night stand at Tonic in Manhattan. Centric features Sam Sadigursky on tenor and soprano sax, Eliot Cardinaux on Nord Electro keyboard, Thomas Morgan on bass, and Dan Weiss on drums, Centric All but Carindaux also appear on Waits and Measures, which included keyboardist Eliot Krimsky.

A Boston native, Pete Robbins studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music before moving to New York in 2002. In addition to his own ensembles, he has collaborated with such innovative musicians as Mark Dresser, Randy Peterson, Daniel Levin and Mary Halvorson. In addition to appearances as New York clubs such as the 55 Bar, Tonic, Cornelia Street Café and Bowery Poetry Club, Robbins regular appears in other east coast cities and in European venues and festivals. In 2004, he curated a jazz series at Cornelia Street that earned him recognition from the Village Voice as the season’s featured jazz artist. Robbins released his first recording, Centric, in 2003 and recently was awarded a 2006 Chamber Music America composition grant. He plans to return to the recording studio this spring.

 Centric is described as a “jazz-rock hybrid,” and indeed their new recording is infused with rock beats and a free jazz approach to improvisation. Although Robbins did not label the Waits and Measures ensemble as “Centric,” the form of his nine compositions resembles a pool of concentric circles, repetitive themes tightly woven onto themselves in a cerebral analysis of time, space and harmony. “Waits and Measures” aptly describes the detailed attention to each motif. The nine tracks offer an introspective pursuit of recurring ideas rather than widely divergent themes, and Robbins makes the most –perhaps at times too much—of repetition of chords, patterns, and rhythms. [Click here for a full review of Waits and Measures]

One wonders what territory Pete Robbins and Centric will explore as they continue to evolve as a thoughtful unit, poised to unravel, one layer at a time, a chorus of ideas marked by subtlety flecked with surprise. Enjoy their journey Saturday night, January 27^th, at Tonic at 8 pm.

Centric will perform January 27^th at Tonic, 107 Norfolk St. (between Delancey and Rivington); www.tonicnyc.com; on February 14th at 55 Bar (www.55bar.com) ,and February 19^th at Bar 4 (www.bar4.net). Their tour in Spain begins March 24^th. Check calendar for updates at www.peterobbins.com