Bob Baldwin - “Songs My Father Would Dig” and “It’s Okay to Dream”

In his 35th year as a recording artist, jazz keyboardist Bob Baldwin double-downed on himself. Instead of releasing one new 12-song album as he’s done every year of his unparalleled career, he released two collections: one straight-ahead jazz set and one contemporary jazz record. Both albums, “Songs My Father Would Dig” and “It’s Okay to Dream,” and two tracks culled from the projects, "Malema" and “Cape Town at Night,” are up for GRAMMY® consideration. 

Baldwin is a seminal urban-jazz mixologist, a maverick who owns the rights to the majority of his prolific 37-album catalogue. The musician, producer, composer and arranger owns the City Sketches label, which is distributed by BFD/The Orchard. Baldwin has created music for and/or recorded with an array of GRAMMY® winners and nominees, including Bob James, Paul Brown, Gerald Albright, Grover Washington Jr., Darren Rahn, Regina Carter, Freddie Jackson, and The Four Tops. He received a GRAMMY® nomination for his work on R&B balladeer Will Downing’s “All The Man You Need” album but has not yet had any of his own records nominated despite consistently writing, producing and performing music at the highest-level year after year after year. 

While Baldwin certainly does not make records with awards in mind, he would welcome the acknowledgement from his peers a GRAMMY® nomination would bring in recognition of the work he did on his two latest albums. 

“I enjoy the process of making music, but also enjoy how others receive the music I produce. When I receive emails about people bringing my music into chemotherapy, or into military battle, that tells me that the music is cathartic and peaceful. The fact that I’ve earned a living the last thirty years doing something I genuinely enjoy and having traveled around the world is a blessing,” said Baldwin, a Mount Vernon, New York native who divides his time between Westchester, New York and Atlanta, Georgia. 

For consideration as Best Instrumental Jazz Album, "Songs My Father Would Dig" is an intensely personal project for Baldwin inspired by the straight-ahead cool jazz music of the 1960s. He composed half the songbook for the album and reimagined tunes by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, and a song by his late cousin, Larry Willis, a pianist who was a member of the original Blood, Sweat & Tears band and played alongside Roy Hargrove, Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band, and Hugh Masekela. Flanked by a jazz trio, Baldwin played a century-old acoustic Steinway piano on the album that pays tribute to his late father. 

For consideration as Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, “It’s Okay to Dream” is comprised entirely of Baldwin songs served as a fusion of R&B, contemporary jazz, soul, funk, and dance music, some seasoned with authentic Latin and South African music. Baldwin says the music he wrote for the album is “a contemporary playlist of thoughts and dreams.” 

Two tracks from “It’s Okay To Dream” will garner GRAMMY® consideration, both of which Baldwin wrote with Mozambique artist Jimmy Dludlu and were performed by Dludlu’s bandmembers. Included on the album in two parts, "Malema" is for consideration as Best African Music Performance while “Cape Town at Night" is being considered for Best Global Music Performance. 

This fall, Baldwin’s “Complicit” from “It’s Okay To Dream” will drop as a single. It’s the latest cut from his repertoire that indulges his passion for Brazilian music. 

“I created it through my jazz-funk-Brazilian lens. The track has a minimalist-type groove that’s carried by its distinct percussive rhythm and simple melody,” said Baldwin. 

Baldwin, who cowrote eight of soul-jazz flautist Ragan Whiteside’s Billboard top 10 singles, is working on the second edition of his book, “You Better Ask Somebody! Staying On Top Of Your Career in the Friggin’ Music Business,” adding content to confront music streaming issues. He also produces and hosts the long-running nationally syndicated radio show NewUrbanJazz Radio. 

See Baldwin in concert on the following dates (shows will be added, including a 2025 tour of Trinidad and Tobago): 

• October 25 | Tin Pan | Richmond, VA
• December 6 | St. James Lounge | Atlanta, GA
• December 7 & 8 | Chayz Lounge | Columbia, SC