Robinson plays ragtime at the Highland Park library

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Reginald Robinson

Updated: February 21, 2012 6:40PM

The ice cream truck that rolled through Reginald Robinson’s Chicago neighborhood when he was growing up was one of the first introductions to ragtime for the future jazz pianist.

But it was when he was in seventh grade, in 1986, that the sub-genre of jazz made its greatest impact on him. During a school assembly called “From Bach to Bebop,” jazz trumpeter Orbert Davis played Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer.”

Robinson knew right then that he wanted a piano.

“At that age, children are very impressionable,” he said. “What I like about the music is you can express yourself in it.”

Sound idea

He added, “Hearing ragtime being played not on the ice cream truck, it was like, ‘Wow! This is what I want to do!’ ”

And, that’s what he’ll do at a ragtime concert at 2 p.m. on March 4 at the Highland Park Public Library, where he’ll perform original tunes and some traditional ragtime numbers, such as Joplin’s “The Entertainer.”

After receiving a keyboard, then a piano, Robinson went on to teach himself how to read music and began writing his own compositions.

In 1992, six years after the “Bach to Bebop” program, he recorded some of his own compositions with the help of Jon Weber, another Chicago pianist. Robinson went on to record three albums for Delmark Records.

In 2004, Robinson received the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius” award for his ragtime compositions and recordings. In 2006, he was named a Chicago legend by the National Association of University Women and, in 2010, the eta Creative Arts Foundation honored him for upholding tradition.

Robinson has also written music for film and theater productions, and performed with several ensembles including Orbert Davis’ Chicago Jazz Philharmonic.

Robinson said 2012 will be about writing more music, putting together another book of music and presenting new music with a band, which is a departure from his usual solo performances.

Family support

In addition to the ice cream truck and the Davis concert, Robinson credits his brother Marlando for turning him on to jazz.

“I had an appreciation for older music by that time in 1986 because I listened to it when my brother played it back at the house,” he said. “Lots of big band music.”

And it was at home where he found the encouragement to play, not at school.

“Back then, every room had a piano in it and I would always go past and try to touch the keys,” he said.

But, he added, the teachers always told him to keep his hands off. He surmised they were afraid kids would just start banging away on the pianos.

Little did they know.

“It was very powerful music,” he said about ragtime. “I liked it.”