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Ben Winkelman

Ben Winkelman is a jazz pianist and composer living in New York City. His writing explores diverse musical interests filtered through a jazz perspective: Afro-Cuban, gospel and classical music, with a focus on Latin rhythms in odd meters.

He will be touring the US and Canada in April 2019 to celebrate the release of his fifth album Balance, featuring Matt Penman and Obed Calvaire, on OA2 Records.

Ben has released five trio albums to wide acclaim: his second, The Spanish Tinge, won the AIR Award for Best Independent Jazz Release; his first was nominated for an Australian Jazz Bell Award; and his third and fourth albums were nominated for AIR Awards. His work has been supported by grants from the Australia Council and other arts organizations, and he was a finalist in the Australian National Jazz Awards. He has toured in Europe, Asia and extensively in Australia.

Ben holds a Master of Music degree from SUNY Purchase College and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Victorian College of the Arts. He studied jazz piano with Kevin Hays, Mickey Tucker and Paul Grabowsky and classical piano with Linda Kouvaras and John Bloomfield.

Ben was born in Eugene, Oregon, USA, and grew up in Melbourne, Australia. His love of music began as a toddler when he listened obsessively to the Fiddler On The Roof and Magical Mystery Tour albums. His interest in jazz began in his early teens when he discovered John Coltrane and Oscar Peterson records in his father’s collection. His first gigs were on drums at age 14 in an anarchist/animal rights punk band, but around the same time the jazz bug was starting to bite. While at music school he was asked to join a salsa band, a chance encounter that sparked an enduring in Latin music. His first jazz releases feature some of his compositions influenced by stride piano and early jazz, perhaps the effect of genetic memory: his grandmother, the daughter of Jewish Romanian immigrants, played in an all-girl dance band in 1930s Newark. In 2010 he moved to New York, hoping to be challenged by a larger music scene and not starve in the process. He found his feet playing for an African-American church and in spite of the brutal winters and failing subway system he is enjoying the stimulating musical environment in his new home.

Awards

Winner: AIR Award 2007 Best Australian Jazz Release Nominations: AIR Award 2010, 2016 - Best Australian Jazz Release Australian Jazz Bell Award 2006 - Best Classic Jazz Album Shortlisted APRA Prof. Dev. Award 2006, 2008 Finalist in Australian National Jazz Awards 2006


Tags

7
Album Review

Ben Winkelman: Heartbeat

Read "Heartbeat" reviewed by Neil Duggan


Awaiting the arrival of his first child while locked down in New York City during the pandemic were probably not the circumstances which pianist Ben Winkelman would ideally have chosen for writing new music. Nonetheless, taking inspiration from the anticipation of fatherhood and the feeling of isolation acted as the catalyst for the nine compositions which make up his sixth album, Heartbeat. His previous albums focused on a piano trio format; this one marks a slight change as ...

4
Multiple Reviews

3x3: Piano Trios, vol. V

Read "3x3: Piano Trios, vol. V" reviewed by Geno Thackara


Nick Sanders Trio Playtime 2050 Sunnyside Records 2019 Nick Sanders understandably sees some turbulence ahead at the midpoint of the century (not to mention the decades leading up to it). Disturbing as this cover may seem, though, he and a couple adventurous trio-mates make sure this speculative portrait keeps its focus on the figurative playground. Their sequence of brief musical snapshots covers a wide range of feels with liveliness and try-anything abandon above all. ...

7
Album Review

Ben Winkelman: Balance

Read "Balance" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Jazz, much like life, is an art of balance, a forever dance on the scales which keep our sanity and existence in check. Form must always reckon with freedom, scripts and spontaneity are bound by mutual understanding, and intellect blossoms truest as it holds the heart in high regard. Only in a state of relative equilibrium can the music find its real footing, its foundation, a place to grow. On his fifth album to date, pianist Ben ...

139
Album Review

Ben Winkelman Trio: Odysseys

Read "Odysseys" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Something special is needed for a piano trio to make a splash these days, so crowded are the waters with talent. With Odysseys, however, pianist Ben Winkelman's trio manages just that. For seventy absorbing minutes, the trio captures the ear, providing thrilling evidence of a stellar contemporary trio to rank among the best. Australia's press has lavished praise on Winkelman since his debut Stomps, Pieces and Variations (Jazzhead, 2005), but the outside world has been slow to catch on.

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Ben Winkelman Trio Press Quotes Odysseys (2010) 4.5 stars “For seventy absorbing minutes, the trio captures the ear, providing thrilling evidence of a stellar contemporary trio to rank among the best... Odysseys succeeds on every level... and this fine trio statement whets the appetite for what lies ahead.” - allaboutjazz.com (USA), 2011 “Winkelman opts for all originals for Odysseys, mostly impressive, quirky and a tad wild - even if carefully structured. They seem true musical adventures, even if the studio setting spotlights them as stark studies of contemplation.” - NYC Jazz Record (USA), 2011 “This music effortlessly accomplishes the difficult balance between the cerebral and the visceral

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Heartbeat

OA2 Records
2023

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Balance

OA2 Records
2019

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The Knife

OA2 Records
2015

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Odysseys

Jazzhead (Australia)
2010

buy

The Spanish Tinge

Jazzhead (Australia)
2007

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Stomps, Pieces &...

Jazzhead (Australia)
2005

buy

Praise

From: Heartbeat
By Ben Winkelman

Videos

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