Ben Wolfe

Bassist-composer, Ben Wolfe, has recently released his new CD, “No Strangers Here” on MAXJAZZ. As Wynton Marsalis said, “Ben Wolfe swings with authority.” And as can be heard from Ben’s original compositions on this, his fifth and newest CD, Ben also innovates and “scores” with authority. Downbeat Magazine says, “ He hews to the esthetic of group interplay and the rhythm’s of bebop, and displays a well-honed sense of sonic narrative.”

In January 2008, The New York Sun reviewed Ben’s new composition, “From Here I See,” created for the Harlem in the Himalayas series at the Rubin Museum, as a piece “Bernstein would doubtlessly have approved of.” Like many of Ben’s compositions, this 25-minute Suite fell into line with the jazz concept of a double quartet “ a format that combines the standard jazz quartet with the standard string quartet.

Ben Wolfe’s work is a true ensemble “ expressed in the group sound, rather than dominated by extended solo compositions. Chamber Music America awarded Ben the 2004 New Works: Creation and Presentation Program Grant, funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. As a result of this award, Ben was able to compose his extended composition Contradiction: Music for Sextet.

Ben also recently made his mark as a film composer, working with Matthew Modine on the film short, I Think I Thought. At the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, The New York Sun reviewed Ben’s work on this film as, “a standout music score.”