Benjamín Brea (18 September 1946 – 23 April 2014) was a Spanish-born Venezuelan musician, arranger and teacher, mostly associated with

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 ...

, even though he had the advantage to play several music genres in various bands as a soloist as well as

sideman A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo ...

and conductor.

Career

Born Benjamín Arsenio Brea Constenla in

Galicia, Spain Galicia (; gl, Galicia or ; es, Galicia}; pt, Galiza) is an autonomous community of Spain and historic nationality under Spanish law. Located in the northwest Iberian Peninsula, it includes the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense, and P ...

, he moved with his parents to Venezuela in the early 1960s. He received formal music training in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

and graduated under

Vicente Emilio Sojo Vicente Emilio Sojo (December 8, 1887 – August 11, 1974) was a Venezuelan musicologist, educator and composer, born in Guatire, Miranda. Biography Vicente Emilio Sojo was born to a musical family. Most notable was the fact that both his gre ...

in the

José Ángel Lamas José Ángel Lamas (August 2, 1775 – December 10, 1814) was a Venezuelan classical musician and composer born in Caracas. He was the main representative of the classical period in colonial Venezuela. Author of the immortal sacred piece, ''Popu ...

school of music. Brea started his professional career in 1962, playing saxophone, flute, oboe, clarinet, and bass clarinet. After playing with local dance bands, he remained and performed on

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

s and

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...

s. In addition, he became a member of the

Radio Caracas Television Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) was a Venezuelan free-to-air television Television network, network headquartered in the Caracas neighborhood of Quinta Crespo. It was sometimes referred to as the Canal de Bárcenas. Owned by Empresas 1BC, Radi ...

orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Caracas conducted by

Aldemaro Romero Aldemaro Romero (March 12, 1928 – September 15, 2007) was a Venezuelan pianist, composer, arranger and orchestral conductor. He was born in Valencia, Carabobo State. Biography Romero was a prolific composer, creating a wide range of music, suc ...

. He worked with

Jeff Berlin Jeffrey Arthur Berlin (born January 17, 1953) is an American jazz fusion bassist. He first came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the band Bruford led by drummer Bill Bruford. Musical career Berlin was born on January 17, 1953, in Queen ...

, Paquito D'Rivera,

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...

Armando Manzanero Armando Manzanero Canché (7 December 1935 – 28 December 2020) was a Mexican Maya peoples, Mayan musician, singer, composer, actor and music producer, widely considered the premier Mexican romantic composer of the postwar era and one of the ...

Danilo Pérez Danilo Pérez (born December 29, 1965) is a Panamanian pianist, composer, educator, and a social activist. His music is a blend of Panamanian roots with elements of Latin American folk music, jazz, European impressionism, African, and other music ...

Arturo Sandoval Arturo Sandoval is a Cuban-American jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer. While living in his native Cuba, Sandoval was influenced by jazz musicians Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1977 he met Gillespie, who became his ...

The Jackson Five The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

and

The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...

, while playing in jazz big band formats led by Porfi Jiménez,

Alberto Naranjo Alberto Naranjo ah-rahn'-ho(September 14, 1941 – January 27, 2020) was a Venezuelan musician. His mother, the singer Graciela Naranjo, was a radio, film and television pioneer in her homeland. Largely self-taught, Naranjo embarked on a simila ...

and

Gerry Weil Gerhard Weilheim, better known as Gerry Weil (born 11 August 1939 in Vienna), is an Austrian-born Venezuelan jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and e ...

. In between, he performed with

Soledad Bravo Soledad Bravo (born January 1, 1943) is a Venezuelan singer. Born in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain, her father was a Spanish republican, moving to Venezuela with his family when his daughter was still at an early age. At 24, Soledad began studying ...

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, Maria Teresa Chacin,

Ilan Chester Ilan Chester (born Ilan Czenstochowski) is a celebrated Venezuelan musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Born in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel in 1952, to Ashkenazi parents, Ilan emigrated to Venezuela in 1953. Biography 2010 award winnin ...

Franco de Vita Franco Atilio De Vita De Vito (born January 23, 1954, in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan Latin Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter. His first album as a solo artist garnered three Spanish-language hits in Venezuela. He signed with the C ...

Simón Díaz Simón Narciso Díaz Márquez (August 8, 1928 – February 19, 2014) was a Venezuelan singer and Grammy Award-winning composer of Venezuelan music. Career Díaz endeavored to recover the folklore and musical traditions of the '' llanos'', the Ve ...

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, Los Cañoneros,

Ricardo Montaner Héctor Eduardo Reglero Montaner (born September 8, 1957), better known as Ricardo Montaner (), is an Argentine-born Venezuelan singer and songwriter. Since starting his career in the late 1970s, he has released more than 24 albums, and many su ...

Alí Primera Alí Rafael Primera Rosell (31 October 1941 – 16 February 1985) was a Venezuelan musician, composer, poet, and political activist. He was born in Santa Ana de Coro, Coro, Falcón State, Venezuela and died in Caracas. He was one of the best know ...

, María Rivas,

Serenata Guayanesa Serenata Guayanesa is a vocal and instrumental quartet that plays typical Venezuelan folk music. It is one of the two best known groups that play this style of music (the other being Un Solo Pueblo).Mark Dinneen, ''Culture and customs of Venezuel ...

and Cecilia Todd. Despite working as a sideman in recording sessions, Brea released only three albums. His first solo album, ''Another Point of View'', was released in 1995 and consists of

jazz standards Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

and

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Arm ...

. It includes ''

Moonlight Serenade "Moonlight Serenade" is an American swing ballad composed by Glenn Miller with subsequent lyrics by Mitchell Parish. It was an immediate phenomenon when released in May 1939 as an instrumental arrangement, though it had been adopted and perfo ...

'' and '' Summertime'' as well as a version of the Andean classic '' El Cóndor Pasa''. His second album, ''Un Viejo Amor'', is a more romantic offering and less jazzy, while ''Christmas Saxes'' was a production made by him alone, recording the soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone tracks in

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

with the aid of engineer Javier Alquati. This last album is a compilation of traditional Christmas songs from Venezuela and beyond. He organized a jazz band and was a staff member at the ''El Hatillo Jazz Festival'', which is an annual event celebrated in the small town of El Hatillo Town, Venezuela. In January 2014, Brea fainted while attending a rehearsal and was moved to a hospital in Caracas, where he was diagnosed with

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...

. He died on 23 April 2014, at the age of 67.Notice of death of Brea
eluniversal.com, 24 April 2014; accessed 25 April 2014.

Discography

*1995 ''Another Point of View'' *1997 ''Un Viejo Amor'' *1999 ''Christmas Saxes'' *2000 ''Siempre Seremos Niños''

References

External links

Reflexiones del Jazz en Venezuela por Benjamin Brea
(Spanish)

(Spanish)

(Spanish)

(Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brea, Benjamin 1946 births 2014 deaths Deaths from cancer in Venezuela Deaths from stomach cancer Spanish emigrants to Venezuela Jazz clarinetists Jazz oboists Jazz saxophonists Venezuelan jazz flautists Venezuelan multi-instrumentalists 20th-century saxophonists 20th-century flautists