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Ben Markley
Markley is active as a composer and arranger with many big band and vocal jazz charts published through UNC Jazz Press. Recent arranging commissions include the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia and Wyoming Jazz Educators All-State Jazz Band. Compositions from Markleyʼs first two albums have earned him ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Awards. Markley was selected to participate in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program held at the Kennedy Center.
Markley’s book A Practical Approach to Improvisation - The David Hazeltine Method was published by Jamey Aebersold Jazz in December of 2014. It documents David Hazeltine’s process of creating etudes from transcriptions.
Markley is an active performer in the Denver-metropolitan area and along the front range. He can be seen regularly at in Ft. Collins as part of the Subterranean jazz trio at Ace Gillett's Lounge.
Markley currently serves as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Wyoming where he directs and coaches the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble, Western Blue (vocal jazz), and combos. He also teaches applied jazz piano, improvisation and is the director of the UW Jazz Festival.
Awards
2009 Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Residency Program
2009 Ascap Young Jazz Composers Award
2008 Ascap Young Jazz Composers Award
Tags
Ben Markley: Live at Nocturne
by Pierre Giroux
Ben Markley's Live At Nocturne encapsulates a rare alchemy that emerges from nightly performances in an intimate collaborative setting. Over two uninterrupted months, Markley and his cohorts guitarist Steve Kovalcheck, alto saxophonist Will Swindler, bassists Domi Edson (tracks 1-5), Matt Smiley (tracks 6-7) and drummer Andy Wheeler, transformed Denver's Nocturne into a crucible for creativity that celebrates the improvisational spirit of jazz and the rewards of sustained musical interaction. Markley's seven original compositions serve as the ...
Continue ReadingBen Markley: Ari's Funhouse
by Angelo Leonardi
Accade spesso nel jazz che dagli incontri estemporanei nascano le cose migliori. Il bandleader e arrangiatore Ben Markley e il batterista Ari Hoenig si sono conosciuti nel 2019 in un jazz festival del Texas. Da quell'incontro è nato questo progetto discografico, che ha visto Markley orchestrare le composizioni di Hoenig per la big band che guida a Denver. Il batterista è ospite dell'ensemble e dà il suo contributo con un vivace e articolato sostegno ritmico. L'album è stato registrato nel ...
Continue ReadingWil Swindler: Space Bugs
by Jack Bowers
Space Bugs is essentially multi-layered yet readily accessible chamber jazz admirably performed by saxophonist/composer Wil Swindler's Colorado-based Eleventet—a finely woven banquet for the ears that was handsomely recorded in May 2022 before an appreciative audience at Denver's Mighty Fine Productions. Gil Evans springs to mind when listening, as do Pete Rugolo and late- career Bob Brookmeyer. As a composer, Swindler writes that he has “always been between worlds," loving “the pristine intervals and warm timbres of orchestral ...
Continue ReadingBen Markley Big Band: Ari's Funhouse
by Jack Bowers
Ari's Funhouse, recorded in July 2021, sprang from a chance encounter at a Texas jazz festival in 2019 between New York-based drummer & composer Ari Hoenig and Denver-based pianist & arranger Ben Markley. After performing with Hoenig in a small group, Markley asked if he might score some of Hoenig's songs for a big band. Hoenig readily agreed, and after a lengthy Covid-induced pause, he and Markley's band finally met face-to-face in Denver to record the album. Two things are ...
Continue ReadingAndy Wheelock: View from Here
by Jack Bowers
When high-caliber musicians invest time and effort to produce music they believe in, one is loath to dismiss it as anything less than persuasive. On the other hand, any assessment of Colorado-based drummer Andy Wheelock's album, View from Here, must be tempered by an awareness that this is his special view, and that of his group, and that the overall result may not be embraced with equal fervor by every ear. That is one way of saying ...
Continue ReadingDan Jonas: The Spirituality Suite
by Jack Bowers
Utah-based trumpeter Dan Jonas says The Spirituality Suite was written as a response to his own struggles with spirituality in the twenty-first century. The music is thus largely conceptual, or as Jonas explains it, “Much of the inspiration . . . lies in the musical interval of a perfect fourth. The interval can be either consonant or dissonant, where the context in which it appears is the determining factor. Additionally, on one side lies a major third, one of the ...
Continue ReadingBen Markley Quartet: Slow Play
by Jack Bowers
The jacket cover on this splendid new studio recording from OA2 Records reads “Ben Markley Quartet Featuring Joel Frahm," and for good reason: the New York City-based saxophonist lends considerable improvisational weight to Slow Play, which would be a far different animal without him. That's not to say that pianist Markley, bassist Marty Kenney and drummer Jim White couldn't succeed or even prosper without him, only that Frahm's strong and persuasive voice is so inseparable a part of the package ...
Continue ReadingBen Markley Quartet Featuring Joel Frahm - Hot New Release September 16th - Slow Play!
Source:
Scott Thompson Public Relations
Ben Markley Quartet featuring Joel Frahm Slow Play: Release Date September 16th Label: OA2 Records Slow Play is a compilation of music I wrote with the band of Joel Frahm, Jim White, and Marty Kenney in mind. I've had a chance to work with Jim and Marty over the last 10 years in various settings and it's always been a blast. I met Joel a little over two years ago and asked him to do a ...
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Ben Markley Big Band--Downbeat Editors' Pick & 4.5 Star Review All About Jazz--at Dazzle Jazz in Denver on March 25
Source:
Scott Thompson Public Relations
Ben Markley Big Band Clockwise: The Music of Cedar Walton featuring Terell Stafford Radio Interviews, National Airplay Confirm Your Interview Today! “Ben has found a way to embrace the music of Cedar Walton and transform it into stellar big band arrangements that express his voice, sound and musical genius."—Terell Stafford Upcoming Performances March 24: University of Wyoming Jazz Festival March 25: Dazzle Jazz Club, Denver Read Jack Bowers' review in All About Jazz WPKN interview with jazz host ...
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Ben Markley Big Band - "Clockwise: The Music Of Cedar Walton" Featuring Terell Stafford - Release Date: February 17
Source:
Scott Thompson Public Relations
Pianist Ben Markley, along with special guest trumpeter Terell Stafford, celebrates one of the more influential and beloved figures in jazz through this unique project, showcasing many of the late pianist and composer Cedar Walton's most revered tunes through new arrangements for big band. Performing iconic compositions such as “Hindsight," “Bolivia," and “Holy Land," Markley brings together fellow faculty members from the University of Wyoming and top-flight jny: Denver-area musicians to produce an honest and swinging recording that honors Cedar ...
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