A native of Los Angeles, Dave Robaire's career began to blossom when he moved to New York City to attend the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in 2004 and to study with bass icon, John Patitucci. Over the next five years, Robaire found himself working alongside Wynton Marsalis, Gilad Hekselman, Jonathan Batiste, Andy Milne and Pat Martino among many others.

In 2009, Robaire moved back to Los Angeles where he attended California Institute of the Arts and then the extremely reputable Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at UCLA. Since that time, Robaire has been widely recognized as the first choice bassist for many artists as they tour the west coast (Helen Sung, Edward Simon, Jonathan Kreisberg, Jacky Terrasson, Yotam Silberstein, Ben Wendel, Dayna Stephens). He is also a regular member of Jane Monheit's west coast quartet.

Robaire has been co-leading the collectively formed group Holophonor, made up of the seven alum of the 2012-2014 Thelonious Monk Institute program. Holophonor released their second album Light Magnet on October 6, 2017 on World Galaxy Records. This project was produced by the group's mentors, 10-time GRAMMY winning saxophonist, composer, Wayne Shorter.

Robaire is also an avid jazz educator and in the Fall of 2015, Robaire was invited to join the jazz faculty at California State University, Northridge's prestigious music school where he is a professor of Jazz Studies.

Most recently, Robaire has taken on the role of Manager of Music at Sam First, one of Los Angeles’s most important venues for creative music.