Shows
About
In a career that spans over 30 years, bassist, composer, producer and educator Ben Allison has developed his own instantly identifiable sound. Known for his inspired arrangements, inventive grooves and hummable melodies, Ben draws from the jazz tradition and a range of influences from rock and folk to 20th century and a broad range of music from around the world, seamlessly blending them into a cinematic, cohesive whole.
With his small groups, Ben has toured extensively throughout the world building new audiences with an adventurous yet accessible sound and a flair for the unexpected.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Ben has performed and collaborated with a stylistically diverse range of artists including oudist Ara Dinkjian, kora player Mamadou Diabate, saxophonists Lee Konitz and Joe Lovano, Cambodian chapei master Kong Nay, legendary performance artist Joey Arias, tap dancers Jimmy Slide and Gregory Hines and US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, to name a few. He has appeared on over 100 albums by various artists and has written music for film, television and radio, including the theme for the National Public Radio (NPR) show On the Media (which boasts a weekly listenership of over 2,000,000 people), the score for Two Days, a play written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Donald Margulies and the theme for The Conversation, a webcast talk show hosted by Pharrell Williams.
In 2005, 2008 and 2013, Ben was a featured composer, arranger and performer with Jazz Sinfonica, an 80-piece orchestra based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The orchestra performed arrangements of compositions from his various albums. Ben performed his Carnegie Hall debut as a leader in February 2012.
RECORDINGS
Called “one of today’s best young jazz musicians” by the Boston Globe and a “visionary composer, adventurous improviser, and strong organizational force on the New York City jazz scene” by JazzTimes, Ben has released 19 albums — Moments Inside (2021, Sonic Camera Records) Quiet Revolution (2018, Sonic Camera Records), Layers of the City (2017, Sonic Camera Records), The Stars Look Very Different Today (2013, Sonic Camera Records) and Action-Refraction (2011), Think Free (2009), Little Things Run the World (2008), Cowboy Justice (2006), Buzz (2004), Peace Pipe (2002), Riding the Nuclear Tiger (2001), Third Eye (1999), Medicine Wheel (1998) and Seven Arrows (1996) on Palmetto Records, along with Healing Power - the Music of Carla Bley (2022, Sunnyside/Sonic Camera), Somewhere Else - West Side Story Songs (2020, Plastic Sax), and three albums featuring the music of Herbie Nichols: Strange City (2000, Palmetto), Dr Cyclop’s Dream (1997 Soul Note), and Love is Proximity (1996, Soul Note), with a fourth scheduled for release in 2024. Ben remixed and remastered 5 albums from his catalog in 2022, re-releasing them on Sonic Camera Records. All of these albums showcase Ben’s forward-thinking vision as a bassist, composer, arranger, producer, and mixing engineer, as well as his hands-on approach to his craft.
A full improvised 24-minute single produced by Ben called Moments Outside was released in 2021 on Sonic Camera Records.
7 of Ben’s albums have reached #1 on the CMJ national jazz radio charts, often remaining in the top 10 for many weeks, garnering him 8 SESAC National Performance Awards. His album Action-Refraction was named one of the Best Albums of 2011 (of any genre) by NPR and Time Out New York. His albums have consistently been named as among the best of the year by publications such as Billboard, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Village Voice, Jazz Times, Jazz Journalists Association, Downbeat Critics Poll, All About Jazz, Coda (Canada), Jazzit (Italy) and Jazz Review (UK), among many others.
ADVOCATE / AUTHOR / NON-PROFIT ARTS LEADERSHIP
Over the past two decades, Ben has solidified his reputation as a strong voice for artist empowerment and musician’s rights. In 2001 he served as an advisor to the Doris Duke Foundation, helping to establish Chamber Music America’s New Works – Creation and Presentation program. He has served as a panelist and featured speaker at conferences led by the International Association of Jazz Educators, Chamber Music America, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, JazzTimes, the Doris Duke Foundation, the NY State Arts Presenters, the JazzConnect conference, and the Jazz Composers Collective (see below).
Ben served two terms as President of the Board of the New York chapter of the Recording Academy and chaired the Advocacy Committee from 2012 until 2019. He also served two terms as Vice President and acted as an alternate National Trustee. He has met with state and federal Senators and Representatives on subjects ranging from intellectual property rights, to technology and arts funding. In June 2012, Ben testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in support of performing rights. His testimony was reported on by the BBC (here), Billboard (here, and here), Bloomberg and the New York Times (here) among many other national and international news outlets. In 2015, Ben organized and moderated the first ever Grammy Town Hall in NYC, which featured an expert panel and keynote address by legendary producer Tony Visconti. He has appeared on radio programs produced by WBGO and WNYC where he has discussed issues relating to music piracy and intellectual property rights and is an active member of the NY state coalition NY is Music. Ben was an active member of the coalition that led to the passage of the Music Modernization Act in 2018, the first major update to copyright law in a generation.
At the age of twenty-five, Ben formed the Jazz Composers Collective — a musician-run, non-profit organization based in New York City that was dedicated to constructing an environment where artists could exercise their ideals of creating and risking through the development and exploration of new music. As the Artistic Director and a Composer-in-Residence of the Collective, Ben produced or co-produced over 100 concerts and special events, including the Collective’s annual concert series (which ran for eleven seasons), national and international tours by Collective artists, an on-going Collective residency at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, NYC), and, in partnership with the United States Embassy, a series of concerts and educational activities in Sao Paulo and Campinas, Brazil. From 2001-2005 Ben organized an annual “Jazz Composers Collective Festival” at the Jazz Standard — which drew international attention as “..a mainstay of New York City’s cultural life” (New Yorker Magazine).
As an author, Ben has contributed music-related articles to magazines such as Downbeat, JazzTimes, Bass Player, Premiere Guitar, Bass World, Double Bassist and thetalkhouse.com. He co-wrote (with pianist Frank Kimbrough) the liner notes for the CD Herbie Nichols: The Complete Blue Note Recordings.
AWARDS / CITATIONS
In 2005, Ben received the Bird Award, Holland’s highest honor for jazz musicians. Previous recipients have included Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Pat Metheny, Stefano Bollani, Ray Brown, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Misha Mengelberg, and Han Bennick.
Ben has been cited in the Downbeat Critics Poll “Bassist” category (2010-2021), “Composer” category (2010-2020) and won the “Rising Star Bassist” category in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He’s also been cited in the “Rising Star Album,” “Rising Star Acoustic Group,” “Rising Star Arranger,” and “Rising Star Jazz Artist,” categories 2003-2015 as well as the “Bassist” category of the 2005-2014 Downbeat Readers Poll.
He has received commissioning, performing, and recording grants from Chamber Music America, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Foundation, The Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Meet the Composer, and the American Composers Forum, among others.
EDUCATOR
Ben is an Associate Teaching Professor at the college of Contemporary & Performing Arts at The New School, where he leads classes in music business & entrepreneurship, music production & technology, and the capstone class for graduating seniors called Senior Seminar. He has taught classes and led ensembles on subjects ranging from the music of Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Herbie Nichols and R&B to advanced concepts of improvisation and composition, as well as individual instruction bass performance and composition. He helped develop the CoPA-core curriculum and teaches Socially Engaged Artistry in the Fall semester. He currently serves as co-chair of the University Faculty Senate and serves on the University Budget Committee (UBC+), the CoPA Executive Committee and the UFS Governance Committee. From 2011-2015, Ben was a visiting artist and ensemble instructor at New York University’s Summer Jazz Workshop and has conducted clinics and residencies at over 100 universities and conservatories throughout the United States, Italy, Brazil, Belgium, the UK, Portugal, Denmark and Mexico. From 2009-2010 Ben was a Teaching Artist at the Weill Music Center at Carnegie Hall.
Allison, cardenas & Nash
Ben Allison - bass
Steve Cardenas - guitar
Ted Nash - tenor saxophone, clarinet
Against the backdrop of over 25 years of creative collaboration Ben, Steve, and Ted weave musical conversations that are full of subtlety and surprise. They take turns arranging for the trio, which has released four albums: Quiet Revolution (2018 Sonic Camera), Somewhere Else - West Side Story Songs (2019 Plastic Sax), Healing Power: The Music of Carla Bley (2022 Sunnyside/Sonic Camera), and Tell the Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols (2024, Sonic Camera).
The group is modeled after reedist/composer Jimmy Giuffre’s drummerless trios of the 1950s and 60s. As jazz was becoming more expressionistic and at times bombastic, musicians like Giuffre were going in the opposite direction. They were envisioning quieter music that maintained elements of blues and folk, while also embracing the emerging qualities of free playing.
RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 2, 2024
CD, 24-BIT FLAC, ALL MAJOR STREAMING PLATFORMS
On their stunning new release Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas, and Ted Nash turn their attention to the unique and ever-surprising music of the under-appreciated pianist-composer Herbie Nichols (1919-1963). The album features six previously unheard compositions, along with re-workings of two tunes first recorded by The Herbie Nichols Project in 2000 (Strange City, Palmetto).
“Healing Power is intimate and highly conversational in tone — a ‘musical trialogue,’ where group interplay is the focus.”
Somewhere Else - West Side Story Songs
QUIET REVOLUTION
BEN ALLISON REMASTERED SERIES 2004-2011
The Ben Allison Remastered Series 2004-2011 is comprised of five albums from Ben’s catalog that were originally released on Palmetto Records between 2004 and 2011. Each album has been meticulously remixed and remastered in to create more spacious soundstages and wider dynamic and tonal ranges. Fans of these albums will hear previously unheard details, while new listeners will hear the albums at their best. Some include bonus tracks, additional parts or sections of music that weren’t included on the original releases. The albums of the Ben Allison Remastered Series 2004-2011 are streaming on all major platforms worldwide and are available in 320k MP3 and 24-bit FLAC formats, exclusively at benallison.com
BUZZ (REMASTERED) - September 13, 2022
Originally released in 2004, Buzz was the last album to feature Ben’s colleagues from the Jazz Composers Collective: Michael Blake (tenor & soprano saxophones), Ted Nash (tenor saxophone & flute), Clark Gayton (trombone & bass trombone), Frank Kimbrough (piano, Wurlitzer & prepared piano), Ben (bass), and Michael Sarin (drums). Buzz features 4 original compositions by Ben, along with one each by Michael Blake, Andrew Hill, and John Lennon.
cowboy justice (remastered) - October 11, 2022
Originally released in 2007, Cowboy Justice (Remastered) is the first album to feature the instrumentation of guitar, trumpet, bass and drums, a configuration that would form the basis of Ben’s groups for the next 15+ years. This also marks the first album to feature long-time collaborator Steve Cardenas. Cowboy Justice includes 10 original compositions by Ben, along with a cover of the John Barry theme from the film Midnight Cowboy. Two previously unreleased tracks, Mournful Mood Part I, and Mournful Mood Part 2 are included here for the first time. Both of these bonus tracks were completely improvised.
Think Free (REMASTERED) - november 8, 2022
Originally released in 2009, Think Free (Remastered) features Shane Endsley (trumpet), Jenny Scheinman (violin), Steve Cardenas (guitar), Rudy Royston (drums), along with Ben on bass. The album features 9 original tunes by Ben, including two previously unreleased tracks, Steve Austin, and The City at Night, both of which were completely improvised.
little things run the world (REMASTERED) - december 13, 2022
Originally released in 2008, Little Things Run the World features: Ron Horton (trumpet, flugelhorn), Steve Cardenas (guitar), Ben (bass), Michael Sarin (drums) and special guest Michael Blake (tenor & soprano saxophones). Recorded by Matt Balitsaris and released on Palmetto Records, Little Things Run the World features
Action refraction (REMASTERED) - february 7, 2023
Originally released in 2011, Action Refraction is Ben’s “covers album” and the final album he did for Palmetto Records. Featuring Jason Lindner (Prophet 8 synth, piano), Steve Cardenas (guitar), Brandon Seabrook (guitar, cassette tape, banjo), Michael Blake (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet), Ben Allison (bass), and Rudy Royston (drums), Action Refraction is a mixtape that re-imagins classic songs by PJ Harvey, Donny Hathaway, Samuel Barber, The Carpenters, Neil Young, and Thelonious Monk. Rounding out the set are a reworking of the Ben Allison composition Broke (retitled “Broken” ) and a previously unreleased, fully-improvised track entitled Free Someday.
The Ben Allison QUARTET
Ben Allison - acoustic & electric bass
Chico Pinheiro - acoustic & electric guitar
Steve Cardenas - acoustic & electric guitar
Allan Mednard - drums
Ben Allison continues his outward expansion as a bassist, composer and producer with his latest lineup, which includes two masters of modern guitar: Chico Pinheiro & Steve Cardenas. With himself and rising star Allan Mednard providing rhythmic and textural propulsion, the group crafts a lyrical and cinematic sound that artfully balances the adventurous with the accessible. Their debut album Moments Inside was released in November 2021 to much acclaim.
“Within 10 seconds of dropping the needle on [Moments Inside], the well-being center of my brain starting telling
me, “You need to listen to this music as often as
possible.” It was an “ahh” moment, like a Gatorade
after a 10K — a replenishing source of something
essential that had been depleted, or gone missing, in
me.” DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE, EDITORIAL REVIEW