Bob Baldwin (musician)

Bob Baldwin at Ponce City Market, Atlanta, GA

Bob Baldwin on the piano at the Maya Riviera Jazz Festival, Nov 30, 2018 (Bob Baldwin, Lori Williams/Bebel Gilberto @ Mamitas Beadh, Playa de Carmen, Mexico)

Bob Baldwin
Birth name	Robert Baldwin
Born	(1960-12-09)December 9, 1960 Mount Vernon, New York, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, urban
Occupation(s)	Musician, Arranger, Producer, Radio Host, Inventor
Instrument(s)	Piano, Keyboards
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Atlantic, 215, Shanachie, Malaco, CSI, Narada, Nu Groove, Peak, Trippin' N' Rhythm, Orpheus, A440, Distribution 13, BFE
Website	www.bobbaldwin.com

Bob Baldwin is an American (New York State) - born contemporary jazz pianist, music composer, author, and producer, who learned music from his father, Robert Baldwin, Sr. Baldwin's recording career started in 1983 and his debut album, A Long Way to Go, released in 1988. His latest release, Bob Baldwin Presents Abbey Road and the Beatles, which honors the English pop group, the Beatles.

Baldwin has earned five SESAC Music awards, initially for his 2002–2003 airplay of "The Way She Looked at Me", followed by his 2008 airplay on NewUrbanJazz.com, one in 2010 for his Never Can Say Goodbye: A Tribute to Michael Jackson, in 2011 for NewUrbanJazz.com2 / Re-Vibe, and his 2013 album Twenty. His 2015 release, MelloWonder: Songs in the Key of Stevie, which honors Stevie Wonder, debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard Overall Jazz Chart..

He's also written and/or arranged for Regina Carter, The Four Tops, Grover Washington, Jr., Paul Brown, Richard Elliot, Marion Meadows, Ragan Whiteside, Lori Williams, Tom Browne, Bob James, Will Downing, Freddie Jackson, Rhonda Smith, James Robinson, Joey Sommerville, Vaneese Thomas, Tiffany Bynoe, Howard Hewitt, Whistle, Michael Urbaniak, the Lisa ("Left-Eye") Lopez'-produced girl group Blacque, Canadian trumpeter Gabriel Mark Hasselbach and Pieces of a Dream.

Bob arranged and produced "No Longer I" for Tom Browne for the Malaco Jazz Label. This Gospel-Jazz offering was only preceded by the groups Koinonia and the A&M group Seawind in the history of Gospel-Jazz.

He co-wrote and co-produced two songs on Will Downing's "All the Man You Need" album, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2000 (Best Traditional R&B Album). He has also contributed as composer, co-producer and performer on Ragan Whiteside’s ‘Treblemaker’, which charted three top-40 Billboard Contemporary Jazz radio singles; including ‘Corey’s Bop’, which peaked at #1 on 7.21.2018.

Featured artists on his own solo recordings since 1988 include; Eric Essix, Kim Waters, Gerald Albright, Phil Perry, Fred Vigdor, Sharon Bryant, Porter Carroll, Jr. (both of Atlantic Starr), Noel Pointer, Lenny White, Larry Coryell, Dean James, Jeff Kashiwa, Chieli Minucci, Chuck Loeb, Edson Da Silva, Leo Gandelman, Lil' John Roberts (drummer), James Robinson, Rohn Lawrence, Darren Rahn, Russ Freeman (Rippingtons), Dennis Johnson, Barry Danielian, Poogie Bell, Euge Groove, CeCe Peniston, Najee, U-Nam, Steve Oliver, Toni Redd, Nils Jiptner, Marcus Anderson, Walter Beasley, as well as the aformentioned Sommerville, Robinson, Washington, Jr., Brown, Meadows, Whiteside, Williams, Downing, Browne, Thomas, and Jackson.

Bob Baldwin grew up in a musical environment. His father, Robert Baldwin, Sr., (1926-2008) was a full-time Engineer, and a part-time pianist who worked local clubs throughout Westchester County, NY, just north of New York City. While his father was a fan of such jazz icons like Mikes Davis, Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson, his older sister, Deborah, was a fan of soul music of the 1960’s, including music by Motown, Stax record labels. These early musical experiences profoundly impacted Bob’s musical path. He's also a fan of his elder cousin, jazz pianist Larry Willis.

In 1987, Sony founded the Sony Innovator's Awards, an annual ceremony to award aspiring Afro-American artists who have shown outstanding talent in music and the visual arts. In his opening speech at the first ceremony held in 1988, music producer Quincy Jones stated that it was encouraging that a large firm like Sony was providing Afro-American artists a chance to be introduced to the entire nation. Baldwin was awarded the Sony Innovators Award in 1989 selected by Roberta Flack.

Out of necessity to maintain creative control, he independently learned how to record music from engineers Wayne Warnecke, Dennis. In 1990, Bob worked briefly with producer/arranger/keyboardist Kashif, where he learned about the ‘wall of sound’ panning technique.

Education

Bob attended Geneva College in 1978, and graduated in 1986, but to complete his degree, he would have to attend several New York-based Colleges, including Hunter, Concordia and Iona, transferring credits back to Geneva between 1980-1986. He majored in Business Administration and minored in Broadcast Communication.

It was at Geneva College where he discovered Broadcasting radio and hosted his first radio program at college radio station WGEV from 1979-1980, and after falling short on college funding at Geneva, he returned to New York in 1981, where he completed his college degree, and while in New York, he further developed his broadcasting skills. He later founded the NewUrbanJazz radio program in 2008, which originally aired on WFSK, WNAA, WJAB, WVAS, and WVSU.

Bob is listed as a famous Geneva College Alumni, according to Ranker Geneva College Alumni.

Radio Career

Between 1978-1980, Bob discovered his love of radio at Geneva College at WGEV, where he minored in Broadcast Communications.

In 1981, Baldwin secured an internship at Inner City Broadcasting (WLIB/WBLS) in New York, NY, then owned by Tuskegee Airman Percy Sutton, where he studied news reporting, and honed other broadcasting skills under the tutelage of Pat Prescott, the late Carl Ferguson, News Director David Lampel and Mark Reilly.

In 1981-1983, he worked briefly at WINS, then-owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting.

In 1984, he briefly covered the Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign in Westchester County for WVIP Radio, then located in Mt. Kisco, NY (now located in New Rochelle, NY).

Between 1998 and 2004, he wrote, sang and produced the CD101.9 jingle, up to when they changed their smooth jazz format to "New York Chill" in 2004.

In 2004, he was hired by Tama Broadcasting as the Music Director at WJSJ (Jacksonville, Fl.), and after that tenure, he helped to launch the first ever smooth jazz station in Bermuda (KJAZ - Trott Communications) from 2005 to 2006.

Bob then worked as the Music Director in 2007 at WCLK (Clark University), then later that fall at WJZZ, a Radio-One company. Radio-One's WJZZ became Urban AC “Magic 107.5” at 12:00am.

In 2008, Baldwin started programming music at both WCLK and WJZZ, which he would later coin as "NewUrbanJazz".

The NewUrbanJazz Radio Program

In October, 2008, Baldwin launched NewUrbanJazz Radio, which programs The NewUrbanJazz Lounge, a 2-hour program that is affiliated on over 40 stations in the U.S. WJAB (Huntsville, Al), WFSK (Nashville, Tn), WNAA (Greensboro, NC), WVAS (Montgomery, Al) and WVSU (Birmingham) were their initial affiliate base. NewUrbanJazz is a fusion of contemporary Jazz, fused with Urban and Brazilian flavors, but also spins music from independent artists. Baldwin decided to launch NewUrbanJazz Radio Format following the closure of CD101.9.

Early Career

In 1986, Baldwin, along with Guitarist Al Orlo, created the Bob Baldwin/Al Orlo Project, and they performed on Sundays at the Vinnie Pastore-owned Crazy Horse, a now-defunct small Rock and Roll club (with a capacity of 50 people) in New Rochelle, NY.

Baldwin opened up for trumpeter Tom Browne at The Bottom Line. From the performance, he began sideman work for Browne, and later collaborated with him on his disc No Longer I, a Gospel-Jazz recording in 1987. Through that production, he met Danny Weiss, the then President for Malaco Jazz. They later co-produced Baldwin's first disc, I've Got a Long Way to Go together on Malaco Records in 1988 along with David Wilkes. He began his Contemporary Jazz music career with his first solo album release in 1988 ("I've Got a Long Way To Go") on Malaco Jazz Records.The project was submitted to the Sony Innovators Award in 1989 and won first place. One of the top three finalists included the Detroit music group Straight Ahead. Roberta Flack was the finalist judge.

That award led to his artist signing to Atlantic Jazz, then presided by Sylvia Rhone. He produced 2 discs for in 1990 and 1992 (Rejoice and Reflections of Love). Reflections charted top-20 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts.

In 1997, Baldwin found the company, City Sketches, Inc., a production music house. It is now where Bob Baldwin houses all of his self-owned recordings.

Since 2000, Baldwin has charted other solo recordings (on various labels) for the Billboard Jazz top-20 charts, including BobBaldwin.com (2000), Brazil Chill (2004), Standing Tall (2002), NewUrbanJazz.com (2008), Never Can Say Goodbye, a Tribute to Michael Jackson (2010).

After recording two projects with the Chicago-based A440 Music Group, his solely-owned record label, City Sketches, Inc., purchased the rights from the A440 Music Group ("Brazil Chill" and "All in a Day's Work") prior to their bankruptcy filing in 2005.

In 2009, he signed with Trippin' n Rhythm Records and recorded "Never Can Say Goodbye" (2010), and "NewUrbanJazz 2/Re-Vibe" (2011). He severed the deal in 2012.

In 2012, he authored a book, entitled, You Better Ask Somebody, which speaks about his over twenty-five years of experience in the music business.

In 2013, continuing the independent music ownership route, releasing his 20th original disc "Twenty" under the Distribution 13 (Lillian Industries) Music Distribution label. That deal was severed and settled out-of-court after Artist filed a lawsuit for not receiving contractually due royalties.

In 2015, his label has signed with Red River Entertainment, where they distribute the following physical discs of the Bob Baldwin catalog ("MelloWonder - Songs in the Key of Stevie", "The Brazilian-American Soundtrack", "The Gift of Christmas", "Never Can Say Goodbye (A Tribute to Michael Jackson)" - Remixed and ReMastered. City Sketches, Inc. distributes digital recordings via a separate digital aggregator. with The Orchard, which is wholly owned by Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.

In 2018, Baldwin was able to purchase the rights back from his Shanachie recordings ("Cool Breeze" and "The American Spirit").

Other Work

In 1997, Baldwin founded City Sketches, Inc., which is a music production, and music event planning company. He has worked with city municipalities in an effort to improve locally produced jazz shows and venues. He has curated music series programs in conjunction with the cities/municipalities of Greenburgh, NY, White Plains, NY, Asbury Park, NJ, Riviera Beach, Fl., and Mount Vernon, NY.

In 2006, Bob signed on with Baldwin Piano (owned by Gibson Guitar Corp.) as an endorser.

In the historic The Jazz of the City Atlanta portrait taken by Art Kane in April 2007, Baldwin stands tall—at the height of the stairs of the Atlanta City Hall Atrium—with over 100 fellow jazz musicians surrounding Mayor Shirley Franklin.

Discography (Album)

Disc #	Year	Album	Label	Billboard Chart Activity	Original Label !
30*	2018	Welcome To The Games (Remixed and ReMastered)	CSI		City Sketches (CSI) Records
29	2018	Bob Baldwin Presents Abbey Road and the Beatles	CSI/BFE	Peaked #10 Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album	City Sketches (CSI) Records
28*	2017	Never Out of Season (Remixed and ReMastered)	CSI		City Sketches (CSI) Records
27*	2017	Never Can Say Goodbye (Remixed and ReMastered)	CSI/BFE		City Sketches (CSI) Records
26	2016	The Brazilian-American Soundtrack' (2-Cd Set)'	CSI/BFE	Peaked No. 14 on Contemporary Jazz Album	City Sketches (CSI) Records
25	2015	MelloWonder / Songs in the Key of Stevie	CSI/BFE	Debuted No. 16 on Contemporary Jazz Album	City Sketches (CSI) Records
24	2013	Twenty	CSI/BFE	Peaked No. 3 on Contemporary Jazz Album	City Sketches (CSI) Records
23	2012	The Gift of Christmas	CSI		City Sketches (CSI) Records
22	2012	Betcha by Golly Wow/The Music of Thom Bell	Peak	Peaked No. 11 on Contemporary Jazz Album
21	2012	Never Out of Season	CSI		City Sketches (CSI) Records
20	2011	NewUrbanJazz.com2: Re-Vibe	CSI	Peaked No. 9 on Contemporary Jazz Album	Distributed by Trippn' 'n Rhythm
19	2010	Never Can Say Goodbye: A Tribute to Michael Jackson	Trippn' 'n Rhythm	Peaked No. 14 on Contemporary Jazz Album	Distributed by Trippn' 'n Rhythm
18	2009	Bob Baldwin (3 disc compilation)	Nu Groove
17	2009	Lookin' Back	CSI		Distributed by Nu Groove
16	2008	NewUrbanJazz.com	Nu Groove	Peaked No. 15 on Contemporary Jazz Album	Distributed by Nu Groove
15	2007	Memoirs from the Hudson (DVD)	Nu Groove		Distributed by Nu Groove
14	2007	Soul Providers Featuring Bob Baldwin/Smooth Urban Grooves	Import		Distributed by Koch Records
13	2007	The Sanctioned Bootleg - live	CSI		Distributed by Nu Groove
12	2005	All in A Day's Work	CSI	Peaked No. 14 on Contemporary Jazz Album	NuGroove
11	2004	Brazil Chill	CSI	Peaked No. 13 on Contemporary Jazz Album	A440 (Bankrupt)
10	2002	Standing Tall	Narada	Peaked No. 12 on Contemporary Jazz Album	Narada
9	2002	Bob Baldwin Presents the American Spirit	CSI		Formerly Distributed/Owned by Shanachie
8	2000	BobBaldwin.com	CSI	Peaked No. 16 on Contemporary Jazz Album	Distributed by Orpheus Records
7	2000	For You (UK Release)	Expansion
6	1997	Cool Breeze	CSI		Formerly Distributed/Owned by Shanachie
5	1996	City Sketches I / Welcome to the Games	CSI		City Sketches (CSI) Records
4	1993	State of Mind	CSI		Atlantic Jazz
3	1992	Reflections of Love	Atlantic Jazz	Peaked No. 10 on Contemporary Jazz Album	Atlantic Jazz
2	1990	Rejoice	Atlantic Jazz		Atlantic Jazz
1	1989	A Long Way to Go/The Dream	Malaco
*		Denotes Remixed project, not Original

Billboard Top 20 Radio Singles (As Artist, Producer or Composer)

Year	Song	Artist	Activity	Notes !
#14	2018	’’See You at the Getdown’’	Ragan Whiteside f/ Bob Baldwin	Peaked at #5 on 2.23.2019	Performer / Co-Producer
#13	2018	Ragan Whiteside Featuring Kim Waters	“Early Arrival”	Peaked at #7 on 8.19.2017	Co-producer / Co-writer
#12	2018	Ragan Whiteside	“Corey’s Bop”	Peaked at #1 on 7.21.2018	Co-producer / Co-writer
#11	2018	Bob Baldwin f/ Marcus Anderson	“Be Blessed (no Stress)”	Peaked at #6 on 7.21.2018	Artist / Producer / Arranger / Co-Writer
#10	2018	Ragan Whiteside Featuring Kim Waters	“Early Arrival”	Peaked at #7 on 8.19.2017	Co-producer / Co-writer
#9	2017	Bob Baldwin f/ Gabriel Mark Hasselbach	“Mobile and Global”	Peaked at #28 on 5.27.2017	Artist / Producer / Arranger
#8	2017	Gabriel Mark Hasselbach f/ Bob Baldwin	“Charmed Life”	Peaked at #19 on 1.7.2017	Artist
#7	2016	Bob Baldwin	“Love’s Light in Flight/Love Trippin”	Peaked at #19 on 1.9.2016	Artist / Producer / Arranger
#6	2014	Bob Baldwin f/ Ragan Whiteside and Gabriel Mark Hasselbach	“Chameleon 3000”	Peaked at #8 on 7.19.2014	Artist / Producer / Arranger
#5	2014	Bob Baldwin	“Seabreeze”	Peaked at #5 on 3.15.2014	Artist / Producer / Arranger / Co-Writer
#4	2013	Paul Brown f/ Euge Groove	“From the Ground Up”	Peaked at #19 on 8.10.2013	Co-Writer/Arranger
#3	2012	Paul Brown f/ Bob James	‘Backstage Pass”	Peaked at #1 on 12.29.2012	Co-Writer/Arranger
#2	2018	Bob Baldwin f/ Darren Rahn	“For Grover and George”	Peaked at #12 on 9.3.2011	Artist / Producer / Arranger / Co-Writer
#1	2018	Bob Baldwin	“Third Wind”	Peaked at #23 on 7.5.2008	Artist / Producer / Arranger

External links

• Bob Baldwin at AllMusic
• Photo session at Ford Piano, Peekskill, NY (Photo by Sacha Brezina, Augsburg Jazz Fest, Germany)