Home » Member Page
Ben Dowling
At the forefront of musical exploration for the past 20 years, Ben Dowling has been committed to the expansion of the musical lexicon as pianist, improviser, producer, synthesist and composer.
About Me
Jazz pianist and composer Ben Dowling takes the long view when it comes to music and his artistic-life journey. Born in Arkansas, raised in New York, Vermont and Boston but settled in Los Angeles, Dowling smiles at his conflicting geographical history, so I'm this Southern white boy who knows how to shovel snow, design synthesizers and play jazz. Go figure...
The one thing this player does figure is how to push music to the next level. Whether from
the synthesizers he's designed (Korg M1, Wavestation, Oasys, etc.), the multimedia and
film projects he's scored (United Nations documentaries and interactive games), or in his
producing and keyboard playing, Ben knows how to push the envelope forward while
being true to the musical essentials.
It truly is not about me. It's about the music and where it needs to go, he says.
With World Rising, his new CD to be released on August 11, 2009, Ben takes his
music exactly where it needs to go - creating a refreshing Weather Report and Herbie
Hancock-inspired fusion of jazz, world and funk with top jazz talents including Mindi
Abair, the late Carl Anderson, Niki Haris, Will Kennedy,
Satnam Ramgotra, Bob Sheppard and a host of other friends from the
World Music and Funk universes. World Rising is getting a substantial lift this
summer with radio play and targeted performances in the US, in addition to Ben's
appearances at the Montreax Jazz Festival and at concert venues across Europe and
Asia.
Trained in classical piano and organ at an early age, Ben discovered the music of Miles
Davis, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett at 14, later studying improvisation from Ran
Blake at New England Conservatory, piano performance at Boston University and
composition from pianist, composer and jazz educator Calvin Jackson.
As a jazz pianist, a synthesizer programmer and in all his musical endeavors - Ben has
had quite a ride from playing funk with Earth, Wind & Fire's Al McKay to
programming sounds for Madonna and Weather Report's Joe Zawinul,
to his wide-ranging discography including recordings from Tom Coster, Freddy
Hubbard, Yellowjackets, Jon Anderson (Yes) and the late Michael Jackson -
while performing worldwide at top venues including: Lincoln Center, The Greek Theater,
Hollywood Bowl, the Montreax, Umbria, Jakarta and Mt. Fuji Jazz Festivals.
World Rising is thematic of a lifelong mission of bringing different creative
elements together in new and innovative ways. Real innovation comes from bringing
things together that don't usually keep company and taking the time for inspiration to
reveal itself, Ben says. That is how new synthesizers are designed, and that is how new
ideas grow. Entirely new forms spring forth. Another example might be Ben's 2007
multimedia project The Path of Peace with painter, Mark Wagner. An ambient art
collaboration, it casts Ben's solo piano improvisations with visual artist Mark Wagner's
video scoring of his original paintings, drawings, sketches - garnering rave reviews from
around the world.
With World Rising, I wanted to design a new kind of World-Soul music that is
really great to move to, that breaks new ground creatively and that really lends itself to live
performance. I'm so tired of music being over-planned, over-produced and over
structured. Lip-syncing and air guitar are fine for video games, but I want to see players
take some risks. World Rising is my way of returning the ensemble form to its
tradition of open arrangement so we can perform at a higher level