Benny Reid
Encyclopedia
Benny Reid is a jazz
musician and saxophonist who records for the independent record label
Concord Music Group
on their Concord Records
label. He has released two albums.
in a musical household where he was exposed to a variety of styles. He often traveled to New York to hear musicians like Sonny Rollins
and Phil Woods
and occasionally participated in jams at the clubs Blue Note
and Smalls.
An early mentor was Buddy Rich
’s alto saxophonist Andy Fusco, and Reid began writing music when he was 14. His musical interests ran the gamut from the brass-infused pop band Chicago
to Michael Jackson
. However, guitarist Pat Metheny
became his biggest influence during his college years.
Reid is a graduate of the music program at Indiana University
where he studied under Tom Walsh and David Baker. During these years Reid went home to NJ during college breaks and networked and performed in NYC. He also studied with Eric Alexander, Chris Potter, Steve Wilson, Dick Oatts, Michael Weiss and Ron Blake. Upon graduation from IU, Reid moved to NYC and resumed the musical nightlife and activities of the jazz world. He started his own band in 2002 but it really took form with music from his first album "Findings" in 2003.
Reid has performed with such luminaries as Winard Harper
, Eric Reed
, Toshiko Akiyoshi
Band, Chico O' Farill Band, Buddy Rich
Band, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Tommy Dorsey
Big Band, Jimmy Dorsey
Big Band, Harry James
Big Band, Rosemary Clooney
, Frankie Valli
, The Temptations
and others.
entitled, Escaping Shadows. The album contains nine noteworthy originals and a cover of Pat Metheny
's “Always and Forever”. Reid recorded Escaping Shadows with his own group to build upon the rapport they developed while working on the road together for the past two years. Members of the group include guitarist Richard Padrón, wordless vocalist Jeff Taylor and percussionist Ryan Fitch, all of whom also played on Reid’s debut album Findings. In addition, Reid recruited pianist Pablo Vergara, bassist Daniel Loomis and drummer Kenny Grohowski to record the new album.
Benny's debut album Findings was released February 27, 2007 on Concord Records
and includes six suite-like compositions inspired by his late sister who had died when he was 13. He has noted that he always wanted her to live through his music and dedicated his debut to the memory of his sister. The event helps explain the cathartic, contemplative nature of Findings. But there is also a touch of light to balance the darkness in provocative, atmospheric pieces like the opener “Destiny?” and complex offerings like “Findings: A Quest For Peace” or “Waves of Red.” Wordless vocals play a significant part in buoyant, uplifting numbers like “Transient Melody” and the poignant “Dancing With My Father,” Reid’s homage to his first important musical influence.
V16 6S Mouthpiece and Java 3 Reeds, Applied Microphone Technology LS Microphone and a New York Meyer 5 Mouthpiece.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician and saxophonist who records for the independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
Concord Music Group
Concord Music Group
Concord Music Group is a record company owned by Village Roadshow formed in 2004 by the merger of Concord Records and Fantasy Records. In 2005, the company acquired the classics and jazz label Telarc International. On December 18, 2006, Concord announced the re-launch of the soul label Stax;...
on their Concord Records
Concord Records
Concord Records is a U.S. record label now based in Beverly Hills, California. Originally known as Concord Jazz, it was established in 1972 as an off-shoot of the Concord Jazz Festival in Concord, California by festival founder Carl Jefferson, a local automobile dealer and jazz fan who sold his...
label. He has released two albums.
Early life
Reid grew up in Westfield, New JerseyWestfield, New Jersey
Westfield is a town in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 30,316. The old village area, now the downtown district, was settled in 1720 as part of the Elizabethtown Tract....
in a musical household where he was exposed to a variety of styles. He often traveled to New York to hear musicians like Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
and Phil Woods
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
and occasionally participated in jams at the clubs Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
and Smalls.
An early mentor was Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
’s alto saxophonist Andy Fusco, and Reid began writing music when he was 14. His musical interests ran the gamut from the brass-infused pop band Chicago
Chicago (band)
Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...
to Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
. However, guitarist Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
became his biggest influence during his college years.
Reid is a graduate of the music program at Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
where he studied under Tom Walsh and David Baker. During these years Reid went home to NJ during college breaks and networked and performed in NYC. He also studied with Eric Alexander, Chris Potter, Steve Wilson, Dick Oatts, Michael Weiss and Ron Blake. Upon graduation from IU, Reid moved to NYC and resumed the musical nightlife and activities of the jazz world. He started his own band in 2002 but it really took form with music from his first album "Findings" in 2003.
Reid has performed with such luminaries as Winard Harper
Winard Harper
Hiram Winard Harper is an American jazz drummer.Harper played in the 1980s with Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, and Betty Carter, the last for four years. While working with Carter he met Wycliffe Gordon, with whom he would collaborate repeatedly...
, Eric Reed
Eric Reed (musician)
Eric Scott Reed, , in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an American jazz pianist and composer.His group Black Note released several albums in the 1990s.-Biography:...
, Toshiko Akiyoshi
Toshiko Akiyoshi
is a Japanese American jazz pianist, composer/arranger and bandleader. Among a very few successful female instrumentalists of her generation in jazz, she is also recognized as a major figure in jazz composition. She has received 14 Grammy nominations, and she was the first woman to win the Best...
Band, Chico O' Farill Band, Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
Band, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...
Big Band, Jimmy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey
James "Jimmy" Dorsey was a prominent American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and big band leader. He was known as "JD"...
Big Band, Harry James
Harry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
Big Band, Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
, Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli is an American musician, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice...
, The Temptations
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
and others.
Albums
On September 15, 2009, Benny released his second album through Concord RecordsConcord Records
Concord Records is a U.S. record label now based in Beverly Hills, California. Originally known as Concord Jazz, it was established in 1972 as an off-shoot of the Concord Jazz Festival in Concord, California by festival founder Carl Jefferson, a local automobile dealer and jazz fan who sold his...
entitled, Escaping Shadows. The album contains nine noteworthy originals and a cover of Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
's “Always and Forever”. Reid recorded Escaping Shadows with his own group to build upon the rapport they developed while working on the road together for the past two years. Members of the group include guitarist Richard Padrón, wordless vocalist Jeff Taylor and percussionist Ryan Fitch, all of whom also played on Reid’s debut album Findings. In addition, Reid recruited pianist Pablo Vergara, bassist Daniel Loomis and drummer Kenny Grohowski to record the new album.
Benny's debut album Findings was released February 27, 2007 on Concord Records
Concord Records
Concord Records is a U.S. record label now based in Beverly Hills, California. Originally known as Concord Jazz, it was established in 1972 as an off-shoot of the Concord Jazz Festival in Concord, California by festival founder Carl Jefferson, a local automobile dealer and jazz fan who sold his...
and includes six suite-like compositions inspired by his late sister who had died when he was 13. He has noted that he always wanted her to live through his music and dedicated his debut to the memory of his sister. The event helps explain the cathartic, contemplative nature of Findings. But there is also a touch of light to balance the darkness in provocative, atmospheric pieces like the opener “Destiny?” and complex offerings like “Findings: A Quest For Peace” or “Waves of Red.” Wordless vocals play a significant part in buoyant, uplifting numbers like “Transient Melody” and the poignant “Dancing With My Father,” Reid’s homage to his first important musical influence.
Gear
Benny's gear includes Selmer Super Action 80 Series II Alto Saxophone, VandorenVandoren
Vandoren is a well known manufacturer of mouthpieces and reeds for clarinet and saxophone. Vandoren's products are used by professionals and amateurs around the world.-History:...
V16 6S Mouthpiece and Java 3 Reeds, Applied Microphone Technology LS Microphone and a New York Meyer 5 Mouthpiece.
External links
- http://www.bennyreid.com/
- http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=14043
- http://www.jazz.com/music/2009/9/8/benny-reid-sleeping-beauty