Baron, who is of Jewish heritage, was born on June 26, 1955, in Richmond, Virginia. When he was nine, he taught himself how to play the drums. As a teenager, he played in rock bands and dixieland jazz groups and was given his first gig opportunity at the age of 13 when pianist BJ Doyle's regular drummer took ill and she knew he was a keeper after just minutes. After high school, he spent a year at the Berklee College of Music. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s and embarked on a professional career, playing with Carmen McRae and Al Jarreau. He worked as a freelance drummer and session musician with Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, and Hampton Hawes.[1]

In 1982 he moved to New York City and joined guitarist Bill Frisell, with whom he would play often throughout his career. He also played in groups with Red Rodney, Fred Hersch, Enrico Pieranunzi, and Marc Johnson. Starting in the late 1980s, he became a bigger part of the avant-garde jazz scene when he played regularly at the Knitting Factory, recorded with singer Laurie Anderson, and began a long association with John Zorn. For several years he participated in Zorn's projects Naked City and Masada.[1]

Baron contributed to David Bowie's Outside (1995). Bowie would later praise Baron, stating: "Metronomes shake in fear, he's so steady."[2]

At 40, Robin Verheyen is considered one of the top European saxophone players and composers having made NYC and the US musician’s community his home. Established here since 2007, he quickly built a reputation as a player and composer. He has worked with jazz greats such as Gary Peacock, Ralph Alessi, Joey Baron and many others.

In 2014 he traveled to Senegal to immerse himself in the local music scene, using the experience towards a long-term process of bringing together West African rhythms with the modernistic harmonies of French composer Olivier Messiaen. This is representative of Verheyen’s cross-genre approach to music, something that has become a mainstay in his oeuvre. In January 2018 Verheyen released When the Birds Leave on Universal Music, with his quartet featuring Marc Copland, Drew Gress and Billy Hart.

More recently Verheyen completed two new commissioned works, one for string quintet and saxophone (partly inspired by a residency at the cultural center Thread in Senegal); and a composition for string trio, piano and saxophone (featuring pianist Marc Copland and the Goeyvaerts String trio) that premièred at the Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp where Verheyen has been visiting Artist in Residence since 2017.

In 2019 Verheyen released the album MiXMONK on his Universal contract with the co-op trio with Joey Baron and Bram De Looze which was followed by their second album On The Loose (Curatores/L’autre Distribution) in 2022.

In 2021 he released The Bach Riddles, a quartet reworking of Bach’s Musical Offering (WERF Records). In 2023 his solo soprano saxophone album Playing the Room was released and later this year a recording of the commissioned work for the KMSKA will also be published.