Ben Schwendener

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Primary Instrument: Piano

Pianist Ben Schwendener sustains a unique voice in contemporary creative music and natural pedagogy, and is a leading authority on George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization.

As a critically acclaimed pianist/composer, he has created music for dance companies, film, commercials and art installations. He has also written many volumes of children’s piano music, and toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan with his ensembles and on solo piano. His music can be heard on Label Bleu, Gravity Records and Alabaster.

Ben was an Editorial Assistant to the late George Russell. Schwendener is a certified teacher (and while George was alive, of teachers) of the Lydian Chromatic Concept. He is often invited to speak at national/international seminars.

A lifelong student of jazz, Ben has learned and played with jazz legends George Russell, Ran Blake, Jimmy Guiffre, Miroslav Vitous, Andrew Hill and Joe Maneri.

Schwendener lives and creates in Boston, and teaches at the New England Conservatory, the Longy School of Music and the Rivers School Conservatory in Weston, MA. He has also taught classes in Creative and Critical Thinking through the Graduate College of Education at UMass Boston. Ben is founder and director of Gravity Arts, Inc., a nonprofit organization providing customized educational services and products for individuals, groups and corporations.

Last Updated: March 23, 2011

”No doubt about it, Schwendener is a supreme melody maker.” �”Glenn Astarita, JazzReview.com

“The emotional content of the music is rich.” �”Anthony Tommasini, Boston Globe

“Schwendener's music... veers oddly...in and out of my life as sort of an active soundtrack.” �”Nils Jacobson, AllAboutJazz

“The themes are simple and unforgettable... paints a portrait of an artist who sees music as a form without boundaries, a medium of boundless possibilities, and infinite potential.” �”John Kelman, AllAboutJazz

Witness of the Sun Gravity Records 1997 Living Geometry with Marc Rossi Gravity Records 2001 Road Trips Gravity Records 2001 Apfelschaun with Uwe Steinmetz Gravity Records 2003 Living Geometry II with Marc Rossi Gravity Records 2004

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