Adam Benjamin is a Grammy-nominated and critically acclaimed pianist, keyboardist, composer and writer based out of Los Angeles; recognized as a Rising Star in Jazz in Downbeat magazine’s critic’s and reader’s polls for two years running. While his unmistakable sound crosses stylistic boundaries and challenges traditional notions of jazz, he maintains a humble and humorous approach that connects him with his audiences worldwide.
He is a founding member of Kneebody, an electric quintet widely recognized as one of the most unique ensembles in jazz. Their 2009 Grammy-nominated release is a radical reinvention of the songs of Charles Ives in collaboration with singer Theo Bleckmann (Winter and Winter, 2009). Their upcoming release You Can Have Your Moment (Winter and Winter, 2010) is the fourth full-length album from the “spontaneous and exciting” (Downbeat) “freakishly talented quintet” (All About Jazz).
His latest solo piano album, Alphabets and Consequences (f.Boo Music, 2010) is a unique series of improvised miniatures that transform familiar jazz and folk melodies into quirky impressionist etudes bursting with both humor and gravity. This follows Long Gone (Kind of Blue, 2008) and his notorious 2007 self-release It's a Standard, Standard, Standard, Standard World, which captures 37 jazz standards through the lens of Garageband 1.0 technology. This hilarious yet strangely expressive release quickly became a underground favorite, and was hailed as “a majestic tour de force” by Dave Douglas.
He has also toured and recorded extensively with Dave Douglas' electric band, Keystone, including 2010 world tours debuting Spark of Being, a collaborative work with filmmaker Bill Morrison. Adam’s contribution is central to the Keystone albums Live in Sweden (Greenleaf, 2006) and Moonshine (Greenleaf, 2008).
Adam has also performed, collaborated and toured with artists as varied as Jimmy Chamberlin Complex, So Percussion, Joshua Redman, and Beck, and has contributed to many film scores, including co-writing the score to John Krasinski’s 2009 adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews With Hideous Men. He has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, and North Sea Jazz Festival, and has been a guest lecturer and faculty at Stanford University, the Banff International Jazz Workshop, CalArts, University of Southern California, and the School for Improvisational Music.
f.Boo's Adam Benjamin is recognized in the 2011 Downbeat Readers Poll for Electric Keyboard! By the way, that's following a three years running recognition in Downbeat as a Rising Star in Jazz!
Adam Benjamin Kneebody YouTube - f.Boo Music's Channel
Alphabets & Consequences captures Benjamin at his most intimate and expressive. Twenty improvised piano miniatures transform familiar jazz and folk melodies into quirky impressionist etudes bursting with both humor and gravity.
The album ranges from standards (Don't Get Around Much Anymore) to spirituals (It's Me, O Lord); but the bulk of material is original improvisations full of spontaneity and life, from atonal romps like Karlheinz and Paul to the meditative simplicity of Meaningless.
Grammy-nominated pianist Adam Benjamin’s unmistakable sound is engaging, high-flying, and distinctly his own. It crosses stylistic boundaries, borrowing from artists as diverse as Bill Frisell and Karlheinz Stockhausen, and unifies his disparate influences in a voice of Americana both plaintive and complex, as in his rich, polytonal presentation of The Star-Spangled Banner that concludes the album.
Benjamin challenges traditional notions of jazz, yet he maintains a humble and humorous approach that connects him with his audiences worldwide.
“Every Alphabet Has Its Consequences”: In Conversation With Adam Benjamin
(Part I) (by Vikram & Matt, Twenty Dollars - Purveyors of the Pointless)
“He [Adam] says: When we choose to make art, we choose to build, and
we choose to dig. There is no unmarked plot. In music, as in meteorology,
a synopsis obscures what initial conditions illuminate.”
– Adam Benjamin
"It’s November of 2008. f. Boo Studios, which is connected
to Robin and Keven Brennan’s home in Burbank, CA, is filled to capacity.
Most of us sit on the floor surrounding a grand piano, the closest but
an arms length from it. When all are settled, the artist enters to warm
applause. He smiles gratefully—he knows everyone here personally—but
he looks nervous, too, embarrassed. He still looks a bit sheepish as
he sits down and gathers himself. Only when his fingers push down the
keys, and a sound totally unlike that of a piano jumps from the strings,
do the listeners realize that they’ve been had... [Read
more...]