Dave Douglas was born March 24, 1963, in Montclair, New Jersey, and started on piano at five, trombone at seven, before discovering trumpet at nine. A prolific trumpeter, composer, educator, and entrepreneur based in New York City, he became known for the stylistic breadth of his work and for keeping a diverse set of ensembles and projects active simultaneously, drawing on classical music, European folk traditions, and klezmer alongside jazz.

During the 1990s, Douglas played in John Zorn's Masada project, whose own career is covered in full in his JazzProfiles.com profile, and led his own Tiny Bell Trio, recording dozens of albums as a leader across several labels, including 1997's Stargazer, 2001's Witness, and 2003's Strange Liberation. His broader collaborations include work with saxophonist Chris Potter, whose own career is covered in full in his JazzProfiles.com profile.

In 2005 he founded Greenleaf Music, a record label distributing his own recordings and sheet music alongside the work of other modern jazz musicians, which has produced more than 70 albums and marked its twentieth anniversary in 2025. His career spans more than fifty recordings as a leader and more than 500 published compositions, and he has received a Doris Duke Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland Award, and two Grammy Award nominations. His current ensembles include the Dave Douglas Quintet, Sound Prints (co-led with saxophonist Joe Lovano), Gifts Trio, Gifts Quintet, OVERCOME, and If There Are Mountains.

Douglas's willingness to run multiple stylistically distinct ensembles simultaneously, drawing on klezmer, European folk music, and classical composition alongside straight-ahead and avant-garde jazz, made him one of the most versatile bandleader-composers of his generation, and his founding of Greenleaf Music gave him and a broader community of musicians direct control over their own recorded output.