Raffi Garabedian was born and raised in Berkeley, California, and was a member of the award-winning Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble. As a teenager, Raffi studied with Dayna Stephens and Dann Zinn. He went on to attend the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music from 2006-2010, where he received a Bachelors of Fine Arts and studied with such musicians as Tony Malaby, Mark Turner, Chris Cheek, Bill McHenry and Andrew Cyrille.

Raffi has recorded and performed with a variety of artists, including Jorge Rossy, Ben Street, Dayna Stephens, and blues legend Johnny Talbot. He is an original member of the brass band Brass Magic, and can be found playing around the Bay Area with drummer Scott Amendola and the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra. Raffi also performs with his brother Noah Garabedian, bassist, and recorded a quartet album under his name. As an educator, Raffi teaches regularly at the California Jazz Conservatory and the Stanford Jazz Workshop, as well as working with private students.