Adam Benjamin is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He is a founding member of

Kneebody Kneebody is an American band formed in 2001, consisting of Adam Benjamin on keyboards, Shane Endsley on trumpet, Ben Wendel on tenor saxophone, and Nate Wood on bass guitar and drums. History Ben Wendel, Shane Endsley, Adam Benjamin, and Kaveh ...

, and leads an active career as a performer and writer. He has been recognized as a Rising Star in Jazz by ''

Downbeat Magazine ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

''.

Background

Benjamin attended the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M ...

and California Institute for the Arts, where he received a bachelor's and master's degree in jazz studies. Since then, he has performed at numerous festivals and clinics with groups such as

, Dave Douglas's Keystone,

So Percussion Sō Percussion is an American percussion quartet formed in 1999 and based in New York City. Composed of Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Eric Cha-Beach, the group is well known for recording and touring internationally and for th ...

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

, and

Joshua Redman Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman (1931–2006). Life and career Joshua Redman was born in Berkeley, California, to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman ...

. He has served as adjunct faculty at

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, the School for Improvisational Music, and the Banff Jazz Workshop. He is currently an Associate Professor of jazz piano at the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

, where he resides.

Discography

As leader

* 2007: ''It's A Standard, Standard, Standard, Standard World'' * 2008: ''Long Gone'' * 2010: ''Alphabets & Consequences'' With

* ''Wendel'' (2002) * ''Kneebody'' (2005) * ''Low Electrical Worker'' (2007) * ''Kneebody Live: Volume One'' (2007) * ''Twelve Songs By Charles Ives'' (2009) * ''Kneebody Live: Volume Two: Live in Italy'' (2009) * ''You Can Have Your Moment'' (2010) * ''Kneebody Live: Volume Three: Live in Paris'' (2011) * ''The Line'' (2013) * ''Kneedelus'' (2015) * ''Anti-Hero'' (2017) * ''By Fire'' (2019) * ''Chapters'' (2019)

As sideman

With Dave Douglas & Keystone * ''Live in Sweden'' (Greenleaf, 2005) * ''

Moonshine Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...

'' (Greenleaf, 2007) * ''Live at Jazz Standard'' (2008) * ''Spark of Being: Expand'' (2010) With

Donny McCaslin Donald Paul McCaslin (born August 11, 1966) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has recorded over a dozen albums as a bandleader in addition to many sideman appearances, including on David Bowie's final studio album, ''Blackstar'' (2016). Early ...

* Perpetual Motion'' (2010) With Jimmy Chamberlin * ''Life Begins Again'' (2005) With Darek Oleskiewicz * ''Like A Dream'' (2004)

References

External links

Official websiteBlog posts by Adam Benjamin on the Greenleaf Music blogJazz Times Review of Alphabets and Consequences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Adam American jazz keyboardists Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) California Institute of the Arts alumni Eastman School of Music alumni Musicians from Los Angeles Living people Jazz musicians from California 21st-century American keyboardists Kneebody members