Doug DuBoff passed away on April 22, 2026. Thank you for all your well wishes and support during this difficult time for our family and business. We will work to honor his memory and strive to uphold his attention to detail and unsurpassed customer service. He is irreplaceable and will be missed.

This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. My brother, best friend, and business partner for 25 years passed away on April 22, 2026. I can't believe I'm writing this. Somehow If I don't commit it to print it didn't actually happen. Somehow I'll wake up from this bad dream. One of our good friends in the music industry was educator, percussionist, and publisher Ron Keezer. Doug and I were saddened by his passing in June 2020. Doug wrote a tribute to him and it turned out to be one of our most-read newsletters - something that made us especially proud. And, here I am writing a similar tribute to Doug.

Douglas George DuBoff was born in East Orange, N.J. on July 28, 1966. From an early age his intellect was noticed by everyone around him. He was always a voracious reader and an avid collector of things - baseball cards, obscure soda cans, books, albums, and later on CDs. He graduated from Livingston High School (Livingston, N.J.) and the University of Vermont with a degree in history. History always held a special place for the both of us. As kids our parents took us to visit historic homes, cemeteries, battlefields, museums - anything that allowed us to learn about the past. Two of his favorite places to visit were Charleston, S.C. and San Juan, P.R. - places where history is on display. He was also a huge fan of fine dining and entertainment and spent a lot of time in Las Vegas experiencing the incredible restaurant and concert scene there along with his close friends Pat and Zoe Thrall.

While a student at University of Vermont, he joined a band as a bass guitarist and was briefly roommates with Phish bassist Mike Gordon before that band made it big. In fact, he joked over the years that Mike still owed him money for a utility bill. After he graduated from U.V.M., he moved with his band to San Francisco, CA...just before the earthquake of 1989 hit. The building they were living in was damaged and rather than quickly try to find new accommodations, they packed up and drove to Seattle, WA. He settled in Seattle and started performing on bass guitar around the city. A short time later he joined a band named Bone Cellar. He was witness to the new sound coming from Seattle, that of grunge. Doug was at Nirvana's famous September 16, 1991 free gig at Beehive Music & Video, occurring one week after the Nevermind album was released. He knew or was friends with members of many of the now-famous bands that came out of the Seattle music scene.

In 2001, he moved to Saratoga Springs N.Y. (where my wife Heather and I were living) and he and I formed ejazzlines.com. The company operated out of two spare bedrooms we had. Those bedrooms eventually became occupied by our three girls so the company had to move to the second floor of a converted barn on our property. A few years later we renovated the lower level so the business could expand into that space. In 2014 we rented office space in Saratoga Springs and we stayed there until we bought a building in 2024. Throughout the years, Doug's number one goal with our company was to provide the best possible service. I can't count the number of times we would be at dinner, on an airplane, sitting at the beach where he would be emailing or on the phone with a customer who needed help. He always put our business - and our customers - before himself.

A fluke thing happened in 2007: late singer Helen O'Connell's daughter called us and said she wanted her mother's music out of her house. She shipped us the library and we decided that it made sense to try and publish some of the music. Well, this led to acquiring music and signing publishing agreements with many estates over the next two decades. He and I would travel all over the country accessing music. We were so fast at photographing scores and parts that he often joked that if photographing music was an Olympic sport we would be gold medalists. He's probably correct. Throughout all our work travel over the years we always found time to visit museums, art galleries, parks, and local restaurants. He and I made such a good team I don't know how I can continue without him. Most recently we visited Peggy Lee's archive in Los Angeles and spent two days photographing over 100 scores and parts. We had a laugh that the storage facility housing Lee's archives was next to the set for The Price Is Right television show, which we grew up watching.

Doug had a photographic memory for our customers' names and where they lived or taught. He wanted to know our customers. He felt that we're running a family business and all our customers should feel like part of the family. I think he was incredibly successful in accomplishing that.

He remained an avid reader throughout his life and loved to travel, eat fine meals, see great shows, and spend time with friends and family. He was on the board of directors of the Jazz Education Network for many years. His number one goal in life was to promote jazz and help preserve its history. On that topic, our business will continue on despite the obvious challenges we are faced with in losing him.

Doug is survived by his parents, Arlene and Andy DuBoff, his sister Wendy DuBoff and her husband Cherry Thomas, his brother Rob DuBoff and his wife Heather Crocker and their three daughters Lilah DuBoff and her husband Alexei Rusu, Ava DuBoff, and Ellery DuBoff.

Our family and ejazzlines suggests that in lieu of flowers donations in Doug's name may be made to the Doug DuBoff Young Composer Fund, established by the Jazz Education Network.

Below: Doug, in 2022, holding Ella Fitzgerald's Grammy Award and standing next to Ella's piano.