Updated: December 24, 2024
Born: March 31
Diane Roblin’s dynamic career has earned her a place among Canada’s most respected women in jazz. Known for her powerful compositions and expressive keyboard style, Diane’s performances blend technical agility with a deep commitment to the connective power of music. As a composer, pianist, electric keyboardist, improviser, and bandleader, Diane’s spirited, genre-crossing work has led to collaborations with artists ranging from avant-garde improviser Charles Gayle to the iconic rock band Rough Trade. Her new album, Breath of Fresh Air, released on Zsan Records in late 2024, continues this legacy. It showcases Roblin’s expansive musical voice, weaving jazz, funk, and impressionist harmony into compositions that are both adventurous and deeply moving. Leading her six-piece ensemble, Life Force, Diane explores high-energy soundscapes punctuated by intricate, emotionally resonant improvisations. Critics have praised her work:JAZZFM91 calls her compositions “fascinating,” while WholeNote writes, Roblin reminds us of her skill, not only as a pianist but as a new music composer." A classical pianist by training, Diane pursued a diverse music education at York University in Toronto, immersing herself in jazz improvisation, world music, and electronic composition with David Rosenboom. She has also studied with mridangam master Trichy Sankaran and participated in the Ornette Coleman/Karl Berger workshop in NYC, where she worked with luminaries like Lee Konitz, and in the Dutch Improv Academy with drummer Hans Bennink.
Diane’s collaborations span an impressive range of Canadian jazz and experimental musicians, and she regularly performs in both traditional and experimental contexts, including telematic music with Sarah Weaver’s NowNet Inc. Lab Ensemble. Her performances have reached audiences at major venues and festivals in North America and Europe, from Toronto’s Kensington Market Jazz Festival to Amsterdam’s Bimhuis and New York’s Smalls. Diane is also an active member of the Association of Canadian Women Composers, committed to advancing Canada’s jazz and compositional community.
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New releases and a special focus on albums from Diane Roblin and Chelsea McBride
by Bob Osborne
Another show packed with new music with a focus on new releases from Diane Roblin and Chelsea McBride. Diane Roblin's spirited debut release Reconnect made the jazz charts and received airplay around the globe. Now she offers a second album of high energy music from the heart entitled Life Force featuring an explosive six piece band. In 2017, Toronto composer and saxophonist Chelsea McBride wowed critics and listeners alike with The Twilight Fall, the first full length album from her ...
Continue Reading“A deeply emotional keyboardist who establishes her musical territory with muscular performance and technical skill.” —The Whole Note
"Diane Roblin is respected as one of Canada’s important women in jazz. Not only is she an expressive and master keyboardist, she’s a powerful composer. Her performances, along with this recording, exemplify her technical agility and spirited genre-crossing arrangements that sparkle under the umbrella of jazz. This newly released album Breath of Fresh Air continues her legacy." —Dee Dee McNeil Making the Scene
