Bob Baldwin

Robert Baldwin (born December 9, 1960) is an American contemporary jazz pianist, composer, music producer, author, radio host, and creator of the NewUrbanJazz Lounge and City Sketches Inc. His music is distributed by Sony Music.

Baldwin's debut album, A Long Way to Go, was released in 1988. All but seven discs in his solo recording catalog are owned by his label, City Sketches. Baldwin has won five SESAC Music Awards, for his 2002–2003 airplay of "The Way She Looked at Me", his 2008 airplay on NewUrbanJazz.com, his 2010 album, 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.

Since 2018, he has charted on eight Billboard Smooth Jazz Top-10 hit records as either producer/arranger or composer for flutist Ragan Whiteside (Randis Records). Baldwin completed 11 albums in January 2026, subtitled the Urban Jazz Music Series. His radio single "HEPnotic (Hep is the new Hip/100 years of Cool)", from his album BSpoke, peaked at #1 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Radio Airplay chart on August 8, 2026.

Early life and education Baldwin grew up in a musical household in Westchester County, New York. His father, Robert Baldwin Sr. (1926–2008), worked as an engineer and performed as a pianist.

Baldwin attended Geneva College in 1978 and graduated in 1986. He majored in Business Administration, minoring in Broadcast Communication. He hosted his first radio program at college radio station WGEV from 1979 to 1980. After falling short on college funding at Geneva, he returned to New York in 1981, where he completed his college degree.

Career In September 1981, Baldwin secured a radio internship at Inner City Broadcasting (WLIB/WBLS) in New York City, then owned by Tuskegee Airman Percy Sutton. In 1981–1983, he worked briefly at WINS, where he pulled news wire for the staff writers. In 1984, he was a field news reporter in Westchester County for WVIP Radio, then located in Mount Kisco, New York.

In 1986, Baldwin performed briefly in Tom Browne's band at The Bottom Line in New York City, and in 1987, Browne asked Baldwin to participate on "No Longer I" for Browne on the short-lived Malaco Records Jazz Label.

Between March and September 1986, Baldwin, along with New York–based guitarist Al Orlo, created the Bob Baldwin/Al Orlo Project, and they performed on Sundays at the Crazy Horse, a small rock and roll club in New Rochelle, New York owned by Vincent Pastore.

In 1986, Baldwin and Orlo opened up for trumpeter Tom Browne at The Bottom Line, based in New York City. From that performance, Browne hired Baldwin to play in his band, and later collaborated with him on his disc No Longer I, a Gospel-Jazz recording in 1987. Through those sessions, he met Danny Weiss, the president of Malaco Jazz. In 1988, they co-produced Baldwin's first album, I've Got a Long Way to Go, released on Malaco Records. The project won the Sony Innovators Award in 1989, an annual award given to aspiring African-American artists who have shown outstanding talent in music and the visual arts, selected by Roberta Flack.

In 1990, Baldwin worked briefly with keyboardist Kashif. In 1989-1990, he was hired by Kashif to play keyboards and piano on a recording project by a new group called The Promise (Arista Records) featuring vocalist Joi Cardwell, but the project was never released.

With the help of Weiss and David Wilkes, along with producer Larry Maxwell, Baldwin secured his first artist solo deal with 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 2000, he co-wrote and co-produced two songs on Will Downing's All the Man You Need album, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2000 (Best Traditional R&B Album). He has also contributed as composer, co-producer and performer on Ragan Whiteside's Treblemaker.

Between 1998 and 2004, he wrote, sang and produced the CD101.9 jingle. In 2004, he was hired by Glenn Cherry, owner of Tama Broadcasting as the music director at WJSJ in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 2005, Baldwin assisted in launching Bermuda’s first smooth jazz radio station, KJAZ 98.1 FM, operated by LTT Broadcasting Co. Ltd. and led by broadcaster Leo Trott. In 2007 he served as music director at WCLK in Atlanta and later worked at WJZZ until its format change in 2009.

From 2007-2009, he was hired at WJZZ, a Radio-One company.

Baldwin launched NewUrbanJazz Lounge in October 2008. The program is a two-hour contemporary jazz show that has aired on terrestrial stations in the United States, including affiliates in Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina, and later expanded to additional markets.

Music production

In 1997, Baldwin founded the music production company, City Sketches, Inc. In 1997, he released his first independent project, Welcome to the Games, a tribute to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In 2000, as a free marketing tool with radio stations, he used his self-titled webpage as an album title with the album BobBaldwin.com.

Since 2000, Baldwin, through City Sketches 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 now-defunct Chicago-based A440 Music Group, City Sketches purchased back the rights from the label (Brazil Chill and All in a Day's Work), prior to their bankruptcy filing in 2005.

In 2009, the label signed with UK-based Trippin' n Rhythm Records and recorded Never Can Say Goodbye (2010), and NewUrbanJazz 2/Re-Vibe (2011).

In 2013, he released his 20th original disc "Twenty" under the Distribution 13 (Lillian Industries) Music Distribution label. That deal was severed and settled out-of-court after City Sketches filed a lawsuit for not receiving contractually due distribution royalty payments.

In 2015, City Sketches signed with Red River Entertainment, where they distribute physical compact discs of the Baldwin catalog. City Sketches distributes digital recordings via a separate digital aggregator. with The Orchard, which is wholly owned by Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.

In 2018, Baldwin purchased the rights back from his Shanachie recordings "Cool Breeze", and "The American Spirit", which were originally released in 1997 and 2002, respectively. City Sketches Records released 11 CDs from the Smooth Jazz Architects. In 2024 and 2026, the label has released two each year. in 2024, "Songs My Father Would Dig", a straight-ahead album and "It's Okay to Dream" were both released in June, 2024.

Other activities Baldwin has also worked in music event planning and has curated jazz series in partnership with municipalities including Greenburgh, White Plains, Asbury Park, Riviera Beach, and Mount Vernon. In 2006 he was announced as an endorser for Baldwin Piano (then owned by Gibson Guitar Corp.).

In 2009, Baldwin wrote a book, You Better Ask Somebody, based on his business experiences in the music industry.

Discography (albums)

Billboard Top 30 Radio Singles (as musician, record producer or composer) (Smooth Jazz Radio)Performer / Co-Composer / Co-Producer 21 2021 Ragan Whiteside ’’Off the Cuff’’ Peaked at #9 on 09.17.2021 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Performer / Co-Composer / Co-Producer 20 2018 Ragan Whiteside ’’JJ's Strut’’ Peaked at #3 on 10.17.2019 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Performer / Co-Composer / Co-Producer 19 2018 Ragan Whiteside ’’Reminiscing’’ Peaked at #2 on 4.04.2020 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Performer / Co-Producer 18 2019 Ragan Whiteside f/ Bob Baldwin and the PR Experience ’’See You at the Getdown’’ Peaked at #2 on 2.22.2019 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Performer / Co-Composer / Co-Producer 17 2019 Ragan Whiteside ’’Jam It’’ #2 Billboard Contemporary Jazz Radio (Smooth Jazz Radio) Performer / Co-Composer / Co-Producer 16 2018 Ragan Whiteside “Corey's Bop” Peaked at #1 on 7.21.2018 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Co-producer / Co-writer / Keyboardist 15 2018 Bob Baldwin f/ Marcus Anderson “Be Blessed (no Stress)” Peaked at #6 on 7.21.2018 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Artist / Producer / Arranger / Co-Writer 14 2018 Ragan Whiteside Featuring Kim Waters “Early Arrival” Peaked at #7 on 8.19.2017 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Co-producer / Co-writer 13 2017 Bob Baldwin f/ Gabriel Mark Hasselbach “Mobile and Global” Peaked at #28 on 5.27.2017 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Artist / Producer / Arranger / Co-Writer 12 2017 Gabriel Mark Hasselbach f/ Bob Baldwin “Charmed Life” Peaked at #19 on 1.7.2017 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Producer / Co-Writer 11 2016 Bob Baldwin “Love's Light in Flight/Love Trippin” Peaked at #19 on 1.9.2016 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Artist / Producer / Arranger 10 2018 Ragan Whiteside f/ Bob Baldwin ’’Remind Me’ f/ Patrice Rushen’ #21 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Performer / Co-Producer 09 2014 Bob Baldwin f/ Ragan Whiteside and Gabriel Mark Hasselbach “Chameleon 3000” Peaked at #8 on 7.19.2014 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Artist / Producer / Arranger 08 2014 Bob Baldwin f/ Gabriel Mark Hasselbach “Seabreeze” Peaked at #5 on 3.15.2014 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Artist / Producer / Arranger / Co-Writer 07 2013 Paul Brown f/ Euge Groove “From the Ground Up” Peaked at #19 on 8.10.2013 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Co-Writer/Arranger 06 2018 Ragan Whiteside f/ Chieli Minucci ’’Off Kilter’’ #18 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Performer / Co-Producer 05 2012 Paul Brown f/ Bob James ‘Backstage Pass” Peaked at #1 on 12.29.2012 (Smooth Jazz Radio) Co-Writer/Arranger 04 2011 Bob Baldwin f/ Darren Rahn “For Grover and George” Peaked at #12 on 9.3.2011