"While Doug Robinson has technical facility to spare, feeling is primary in his deeply personal music." JAZZIZ Magazine
"In the space of a few minutes, he makes strong musical statements that take his listeners on musical excursions-- sometimes somber, sometimes slightly whimsical, but always intriguing." San Diego Troubadour
Welcome to my website, where you can audition and purchase my music, buy tickets to upcoming events, see cool photos and more.
As I write this, it's April of 2026 and a lot of creative projects are bursting forth!
First, I am excited to share my first ever audiobook: A Thousand Words: A Novella. Coming in at just an hour and forty eight minutes, this dark comedy thrusts you into the fine art scandal of the century, centered around Phillip Bailey (the world's wealthiest patron of the arts), his intriguing assistant Remedios Lara Alvarez Ortiz, and his childhood friend, art and ethics professor Thaddeus Flax. Things get pretty interesting with the purchase of a previously-undiscovered masterpiece by Vincent Van Gogh! The reviews so far have been humbling, but am happy to share some snippets that don't give away the twists:
""What a great read! Compelling, thoughtful and provocative. It raises such interesting questions about who “owns” the world’s masterpieces."
"Creative, imaginative and thought-provoking."
"Loved it. The premise is shocking."
“I really liked it. Fun stuff. It's really very good. I'm impressed.”
“I’m so impressed! It is an attention-grabbing, thought-provoking read, narrated winningly by the best person for the job: you! The subject matter—art fraud, intellectual property, the “improvement” of reality, perfection at what human cost—couldn’t be timelier, and you give it a pretty fascinating tug-of-war treatment, showing off your command of the issues. The last sentence was a real stunner, haha…”
Ok, so please be brave and click on this link to hear a little, and then download it to enjoy at your leisure--and just know that every penny of the proceeds goes directly to LITTLE PICASSOS, a wonderful arts education program here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
https://dougrobinson.com/album/3934314/a-thousand-words-a-novella
And I am also proud to announce the release of my new solo piano project, entitled CLAROSCURO. It actually feels like my best work as a composer so far. There are 17 ‘songs’ and then a classical/jazz suite called Peace in Five Movements.
It is available in my music store--just look for the excellent cover portrait painted by Debra Deutsch Oliver.
The concept is similar to my first piano CD back in 2012--just me playing my new favorite original compositions on a Kawai grand piano. A bit of improvisation but this is really meant to showcase the melodies. I hope you love it.
At the end of January 2026, The DRV Power Jazz Trio, my intrepid group with Ruben Olvera and Victor Monterrubio, was invited to perform in the prestigious Festival Internacional Jazz Plaza in Havana, Cuba. It was a profound experience to say the least. We got a good reception and connected with some wonderful musicians and civilians as well, and learned as much as we could about the amazing culture and people of Cuba. We've continued to raise awareness of their struggles, mostly by performing while featuring a 320-photo slideshow, shot during our trip by Photography Adventure Pros, an outstanding San group of photographers from San Miguel de Allende.
Thanks to the generosity of my old friend and bandmate Keith Milne, at the end of 2023 my group MO RITMO spent a couple of days in the gorgeous Estudio 13 in Mexico City where we blew through some of our material in front of 25 music loving guests. This resulted in 7 excellent videos and a live album--the videos can been seen on youtube or at dougrobinson.com/videos, and the audio tracks are available to download here in the Music Store. The band was on fire and it was an absolute blast.
I'm sure you're aware that streaming via platforms like Spotify, while convenient for the listener, is not exactly fair when it comes to compensating your favorite indie musicians. Selling CDs at gigs has become a thing of the past as well.
So how do you get the music you want at a reasonable price while sending a message of support to the musicians who create it? Until we develop a better delivery system, buying it directly from our websites is the best possible method.
My 2020 album is START WITH WATER, a full hour of hip and relaxing New Age/Ambient/Eclectic instrumental music, composed and recorded during lockdown. I created START WITH WATER to support the innovative efforts of H2OpenDoors.org, a project of Rotary Clubs Worldwide. Please check out their website--you will be amazed at what they are doing right now to bring safe drinking water to impoverished communities around the world.
Just click on the cover art below to hear the album and then click "purchase" if you want to download your own high-quality WAV files and cover art!
Also available for download is 2020's HYMN FOR HER, an atmospheric piano trio album recorded in Mexico City and featuring drummer Hernán Hecht, bassist Benjamin Garcia with guest vocalist Iraida Noriega. It's a wonderful ride. You can hear and download it on my "Music Store" page. (Cover art by Eva Sicilia.)
"Modern jazz at its finest." Blue Coast Music
And finally, back in June of 2016 I lost one of my best friends and Mexico lost it's finest jazz guitarist: Ken Basman. Ken and I had been working on a duo CD featuring our telepathic improvised duets and even though it wasn't finished, we had several great tracks done. I scoured the archives of our live gigs and found some wonderful, sonically unpolished, examples of us at our best. The CD is called DUOTUNES and it's for sale in my Music Store here and it's splendid. Many thanks to JAZZIZ Magazine for recognizing how special it is and featuring it on their 'summer jazz discoveries' sampler CD.
And in fact I'm very happy to announce that the San Diego Troubadour, gave DUOTUNES a rave review. Check it out--I couldn't be prouder. https://sandiegotroubadour.com/doug-robinson-ken-basman-duotunes/
More coming!
Thanks,
Doug