[3] Encouraged to visit the UK by a British fan, in 1984 Robinson began a series of tours which were so successful that he took early retirement from his engineering job to turn to a full-time career in music, appearing with established British jazz musicians such as fellow tenor Dick Morrissey, pianist Bill Le Sage, bassist Alec Dankworth and drummer Bill Eyden, among others.

A succession of albums, most as leader but some with artists such as Louis Stewart, Harry Edison, Al Cohn, Roy Williams and Claude Tissendier, attracted high critical and public praise.

He formed the band "Young Lions, Old Tigers" alongside UK Saxophonist Derek Nash, Drummer Pete Cater, Bassist Rob Rickenberg and Pianist Nick Weldon, releasing an album of the same name on Jazzizit records in 2000.

Despite his bebop beginnings, the mature musician who emerged in the 1980s from self-imposed exile was a consummate ballad player who explored the endless archives of the Great American Songbook.

In the early 1990s, Robinson was touring extensively from a UK base, recording many albums and headlining at clubs and festivals in Europe and the USA.

Broadly speaking, he was one of that school of tenor saxophonists who followed in the wake of Lester Young, players such as Stan Getz and Zoot Sims, but he had developed his own highly engaging voice within that style.