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Ben Rubin

Whether he’s melding hip-hop and jazz with legends like Masta Ace and Donny McCaslin, playing upright bass at the Newport Jazz Festival with Dred Scott Trio, remixing Karsh Kale or WuTang’s Killah Priest, rockin’ on electric bass with Marshall Crenshaw, or producing Peter Bernstein solo jazz guitar, Grammy-nominated producer/(re)mixer/bassist/composer Ben Rubin (aka Benny Cha Cha) is renowned for making records that are pure or genre-bending or both.

Picked seven times as a “Rising Star Producer” in DownBeat Magazine’s International Critics’ Poll, Rubin has well over 100 album credits to his name. Lately, he has been working with a diversity of artists including Queen Esther, Erik Deutsch & Theo Bleckmann, Steve Conte (New York Dolls), Stripmall Ballads, Rachel Eckroth (Rufus Wainwright), Lower Power, Caleb Wheeler Curtis, Drifter feat. Lucy Woodward, Buzzed Armstrong, and Jon Irabagon, as well as labels like Ropeadope, Sunnyside and Imani.

Most recently, Rubin’s attention has focused on Analog Players Society. In 2019 at the Bridge Studio in Brooklyn, Ben and APS founder/producer/engineer Amon Drum convened New York jazz greats tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin (David Bowie Blackstar), pianist Orrin Evans (The Bad Plus), bassist Dezron Douglas (Ravi Coltrane / Black Lion), and drummer Eric McPherson (Fred Hersch Trio). This single three-hour recording session, where few words were spoken and ancient spirits flowed, yielded both the cut-up hip-hop instrumental record Soundtrack for a Nonexistent Film and the jazz album TILTED, both released in 2020 on Ropeadope. In June 2021, APS released yet another recording from that session, the hip-hop single “Home in America,” featuring Juice Crew rapper Masta Ace.

In 2018, Rubin produced the album Freebird, by jazz quartet Walking Distance feat. Jason Moran. This Charlie Parker-inspired jazz epic, highlighting expansive production choices, garnered critical acclaim and landed on The New York Times list of the Top Jazz Records of 2018. Four years earlier, Rubin co-produced, with composer/pianist Emilio Solla, the Grammy-nominated Second Half, a large-ensemble tango-jazz masterpiece. His producing and mixing work for SmallsLive Records has been lauded by The New York Times as “beyond reproach.” During his time at the label, he released more than 30 records with jazz greats including Larry Goldings, Louis Hayes, Tom Harrell, Johnny O’Neal, Chris Potter, Tim Ries, Nicholas Payton, Harold Mabern, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Roy Hargrove, Eddie Henderson, Mulgrew Miller, Seamus Blake, and Cyrille Aimeé.

JazzTimes applauded Rubin’s upright bass playing for its “deep, exploratory tone.” He has played and recorded both upright and electric bass with a diversity of artists, including Dred Scott Trio, Patti Smith, James Maddock, Marshall Crenshaw, Queen Esther, Chris Brown & Kate Fenner, Courtney Love, Mary J. Blige, Moby, Alan Cumming, Bill Frisell, and his own acclaimed, genre-bending band Mudville (winner of an Independent Music Award for Electronica Song of the Year).

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Album Review

Juliet Varnedoe: Cajun Bleu

Read "Cajun Bleu" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


New York City vocalist Juliet Varnedoe has developed a keen feel for the collective music of New Orleans. Her first single from her self produced 2022 release Cajun Blue, “Mon Chéri" revealed an international approach to the regional music that freely mixed Dixieland with zydeco, the blues, and sleek Caribbean sounds, creating a languid, humid and organic breeze. On her follow-up single, “Sing High Sing Low," Varnedoe swerves hard into the direction of zydeco, taking full advantage of ...

7
Album Review

Juliet Varnedoe: Cajun Blue

Read "Cajun Blue" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


New York based singer songwriter Juliet Varnedoe has a plan. She has developed a New Orleans themed recording, Cajun Blue, which is to be released later this year, a collection of eight original blues and jazz songs combining the disparate influences of King Oliver Creole Band, the classical French chanson as realized by Blossom Dearie and Juliette Greco, with an alchemic shot of the cool scintillating vibe of Serge Gainsborough. In preparation for the delivery of Cajun Blue, Varnedoe is ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Cajun Blue

Self Produced
2022

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Cajun Bleu

Self Produced
2022

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Gild The Black Lily

Self Produced
2021

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Mon Chéri

From: Cajun Bleu
By Ben Rubin

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