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Marco Benevento

For more than a decade pianist Marco Benevento has been amassing an extensive body of work. His studio albums and live performances set forth a vision that connects the dots in the vast space between LCD Soundsystem and Leon Russell, pulsating with dance rock energy, but with smart, earthy songwriting to match. It has led to numerous high profile appearances, ranging from Carnegie Hall to Pickathon, Mountain Jam to Treefort Festival, while headlining shows coast to coast.

Marco Benevento’s latest studio LP, 'The Story of Fred Short,' and its companion live release, 'The Woodstock Sessions,' is some of his finest and most adventurous work to date—a maestro making "bold indie rock" says Brooklyn Vegan, while the LA Times raves, “Benevento continues to straighten his twisted sound into the guise of an indie-rock singer-songwriter, harnessing his inventive sonic palette into rewardingly bite-size pop songs that touch on disco and soul." Honing his psych rock and late night dance party sensibilities, the recordings find the pianist citing everything from Harry Nilsson, Manu Chau and Gorillaz as inspiration.

Anybody who's seen Marco Benevento perform will attest, with eyes closed, smile wide across his face and fingers free-flowing across the keys, he's a satellite to the muse. With a devout and growing fan-base, Benevento is an artist whose story is only beginning to unfold.

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5
Album Review

Marco Benevento: TigerFace

Read "TigerFace" reviewed by Chris May


When a renegade instrumentalist such as keyboardist/sonic adventurer Marco Benevento records an album with a relatively big budget, and with the shock-horror addition of a vocalist, it can be bad news for the core audience. Bye bye bohemia, hello mainstream. TigerFace was tracked, not at Benevento's usual Brooklyn location, but at Los Angeles' EastWest studio, where the Beach Boys recorded its 1966 sonic masterpiece Pet Sounds, a studio which does not come cheap; and it features, on two tracks, Kalmia ...

762
Film Review

Marco Benevento & Friends: Live in NYC: The Sullivan Hall Residency

Read "Marco Benevento & Friends: Live in NYC: The Sullivan Hall Residency" reviewed by Doug Collette


Marco Benevento & Friends Live In NYC: The Sullivan Hall Residency The Royal Potato Family 2009

Live In NYC: The Sullivan Hall Residency makes an ideal companion piece to the other high point of Marco Benevento's solo career so far, Live At Tonic (Ropeadope, 2007) and it features a similar cast of characters, all of whom contribute to bringing out the best in the keyboardist.

It isn't to slight Marco Benevento ...

178
Album Review

Marco Benevento: Me Not Me

Read "Me Not Me" reviewed by Mark Corroto


It comes as no surprise that pop and jazz performers would attempt to reconcile their relationship. After the honeymoon period that was Tin Pan Alley, marriage wrecker hard bop, followed by the extra-marital affair with free jazz, ended things quite poorly. The children survived and played fusion, but the marriage was over. Certainly the reunion, perhaps reconciliation of the two, has been a long time coming. Not that Brad Mehldau, The Bad Plus and Sexmob haven't mined a bit of ...

493
Album Review

Marco Benevento: Me Not Me

Read "Me Not Me" reviewed by Chris May


It's hard, even one year and countless spins on, to listen to keyboard player Marco Benevento's gimcrack riot of sound “The Real Morning Party" without breaking into a huge grin, if not out-loud laughter. The track, from the Benevento trio's debut album, Invisible Baby (Hyena, 2008), explodes with an irresistible love of life. The group's follow-up, Me Not Me, continues in the same abandoned and colorific vein as its predecessor. Some of the tracks are ...

223
Multiple Reviews

Marco Benevento: Invisible Baby & Live at Tonic

Read "Marco Benevento: Invisible Baby & Live at Tonic" reviewed by Graham L. Flanagan


Marco Benevento Invisble Baby Hyena 2007 Marco Benevento Live at Tonic Ropeadope 2007

Armed with an arsenal including a grand piano and a myriad of vintage synthesizers (not to mention just plain old children's toys), keyboard virtuoso Marco Benevento emerged in the last few years as one of the shining stars ...

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Interview

Marco Benevento: A New Form of Fusion

Read "Marco Benevento: A New Form of Fusion" reviewed by James Taylor


With his work has one-half of the Benevento-Russo Duo, Marco Benevento has helped fuse elements of indie rock, improv jazz and jam band aesthetic, exciting nationwide audiences in clean concert halls, smoky bars, and muddy, open-air festivals like Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits. Benevento is a student of the piano, trained at Berklee School of Music, but he seems most comfortable when surrounded on all sides by a collage of black and white keys, assorted buttons and knobs, trigger pads, ...

244
Album Review

Marco Benevento: Invisible Baby

Read "Invisible Baby" reviewed by Doug Collette


Marco Benevento's often intoxicating Invisible Baby has wide appeal for fans of the keyboardist/composer's work with Joe Russo in The Duo as well as those unfamiliar with his previous solo work. It may even beckon the hard-core jazz fan who's open to suggestion without preconception.

Based on his Live at Tonic triple set last year, it might be fair to assume Benevento would delve deeply either into a traditional jazz trio format or something on the more arcane and abstract ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Joshua Redman Trio, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Eli Keszler and Rashad Becker, Marco Benevento, and More

Jazz This Week: Joshua Redman Trio, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Eli Keszler and Rashad Becker, Marco Benevento, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

There's a jam-packed schedule of jazz and creative music over the next few days in St. Louis, with a variety of musical styles and sensibilities on offer. Let's go to the highlights... Tonight, saxophonist Joshua Redman and his long-running trio will open a four-night stand continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Redman last played the Bistro with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson back in 2010, and for a look at some of what they've been up ...

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: "Triumph of Trumpets" with Faddis, Stafford and Jones, "Seeing Sound," Marco Benevento, Hot 8 Brass Band, and More

Jazz This Week: "Triumph of Trumpets" with Faddis, Stafford and Jones, "Seeing Sound," Marco Benevento, Hot 8 Brass Band, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

If you're a fan of brass instruments, it's a good week to be a jazz listener in St. Louis, with three first-rate trumpet players performing together on one stage, plus a chance to see one of New Orleans' most spirited brass bands. And if you're not in the mood for brass, there are plenty of other options, too, from spacey keyboard jams to swinging guitars to experimental film and audio. Let's go to the highlights... Tonight, singer Erin Bode performs ...

Performance / Tour

Coming Attractions Include Larry Brown Jr's Marvin Gaye Tribute, Chris Hazelton and Cory Weeds, Marco Benevento

Coming Attractions Include Larry Brown Jr's Marvin Gaye Tribute, Chris Hazelton and Cory Weeds, Marco Benevento

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Recent days have brought details on three more upcoming shows of interest to St. Louis jazz fans: Guitarist Larry Brown Jr., a native of Venice, IL and graduate of SIUE who's now working in Chicago, will return home to perform “I Remember Marvin: A Jazz Tribute to Marvin Gaye" at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 5 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.  The performance is  part of The Sheldon's “Notes From Home" series. Brown will be joined for the concert by fellow ...

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Marco Benevento, John Scofield Trio, Matt Ulery's Loom Trio, Bett Butler, and More

Jazz This Week: Marco Benevento, John Scofield Trio, Matt Ulery's Loom Trio, Bett Butler, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

There's lots of jazz and creative music going on this weekend in and around St. Louis, including visits from a New York keyboardist, a Chicago bassist, a singer from Texas, and the return of one of the top guitarists in electric jazz. Let's go the highlights... Tonight, keyboard player Marco Benevento brings his trio to the Old Rock House, with the Mike Dillon Band opening. (Given that Dillon also is the percussionist in Garage A Trois, which also includes Benevento, ...

Video / DVD

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The Music of Marco Benevento

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The Music of Marco Benevento

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week, let's check out some videos featuring keyboardist Marco Benevento, who will be in St. Louis this coming Wednesday, September 26 to play at the Old Rock House. Benevento's music, blending jazz harmonies, rock rhythms and various other elements, is a bit hard to categorize, which has let him move between the worlds of jazz, rock and jam bands with relative ease. Some of his pieces also have something of an ambient/minimalist ...

Performance / Tour

Marco Benevento Announces Tour Dates in Support of New LP "TigerFace"

Marco Benevento Announces Tour Dates in Support of New LP "TigerFace"

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

Marco Benevento has etched out a path across the east coast and midwest this autumn in support of his new LP, TigerFace, due September 11 from The Royal Potato Family. Rolling Stone and WNYC both jumped on the bandwagon early last week to premiere two songs from the upcoming record that feature Rubblebucket's Kalmia Traver on vocals (see above). Live video footage has also just been released of Benevento performing an instrumental version of “This Is How It Goes" during ...

Performance / Tour

Marco Benevento to Perform Wednesday, September 26 at Old Rock House

Marco Benevento to Perform Wednesday, September 26 at Old Rock House

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Keyboard player Marco Benevento (pictured) is coming to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 26 at the Old Rock House. Benevento, who's originally from New Jersey and now lives in Brooklyn, has connections to both the jazz and jam band scenes. He studied music at Berklee and first began to gain wide recognition in the early 2000s for his duo project with drummer Joe Russo. Since then, he has released six CDs as a solo artist/bandleader, with ...

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Music Industry

Mardi Gras Ball: Kermit Ruffins, Bonerama, Marco Benevento

Mardi Gras Ball: Kermit Ruffins, Bonerama, Marco Benevento

Source: JamBase

6TH ANNUAL MARDI GRAS BALL EXPANDS TO TWO NIGHTS For the 6th year in a row, CEG Presents / NolaFunk.com—the New York-based event promoter that honors the musicians and spirit of New Orleans—will be bringing its annual Mardi Gras Ball to New York City, and for the first time, it will be a two-night event. On February 18 & 19, New Orleans royalty Kermit Ruffins and his band the BBQ Swingers will make a rare appearance at the Hiro Ballroom ...

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Performance / Tour

Marco Benevento: West Coast Tour Starts Today

Marco Benevento: West Coast Tour Starts Today

Source: JamBase

TOUR STARTS TONIGHT IN THE LOFT AT UCSD Marco Benevento is wrapping 2011, as has become tradition, by visiting the West Coast for a nine date tour in December that starts tonight at UCSD's The Loft in San Diego. The pianist will have a new limited pressing 7-inch single available at these shows, as well. Side A is a full on piano rock barn-burner called “Escape Horse" with none other than Mike Gordon on bass and Matt Chamberlain on drums ...

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Performance / Tour

Marco Benevento: Tour Dates

Marco Benevento: Tour Dates

Source: JamBase

TOUR DATES ON HIS OWN, WITH SURPRISE ME MR. DAVIS, GARAGE A TROIS, AND BUSTLE IN YOUR HEDGEROW Marco Benevento has announced a slew of dates on his own, with Surprise Me Mr. Davis, Garage A Trois, and Bustle In Your Hedgerow. Check them out below. Marco is also working on a brand new album expected to be released late next year. Marco Benevento Tour Dates

July 14 | Mexicali Live | Teaneck, NJ July 16 | All Good Festival ...

"Benevento swings between rude-synth fun and high-speed piano breaks as if he were both Keith Emerson and McCoy Tyner." — Rolling Stone

"Benevento is actually a pop formalist, albeit a sneaky one, and, for all his improvisational chops, a textural minimalist very much in the tradition of Brian Eno or Sigur Ros. Chaos and chance are the calling cards, but his songs are always accessible." — Village Voice

"Benevento uses everything from hip takes on '70s pop balladry (particularly the lonesome sound of Jackson Browne's piano playing and the decorative flair of Elton John's) to Radiohead's stretched-to-the-limit sense of time, The Pixies' humor, Air's electronic color palette, and They Might Be Giants' humorist experimentalism to make something uniquely his own in song form where improvisation, rhythm, sound, and space are the new thing." — All Music Guide

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Tigerface

PizzaExpress Jazz Club Soho
2013

buy

TigerFace

Royal Potato Family
2012

buy

This Is How It Goes

Modern Jazz Record
2012

buy

Escape Horse

Modern Jazz Record
2011

buy

Between The Needles...

Modern Jazz Record
2010

buy

Me Not Me

Royal Potato Family
2009

buy

Videos

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