Jazz Articles about Ben Neill

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Ben Neill: Starting a Dub War

by James Taylor
November 3, 2009

To say that Ben Neill plays the trumpet--the instrument of such jazz legends as Miles Davis and Clifford Brown--is an epic understatement. “I think electronica is like a new form of jazz--it's an instrumental form of music that plays out in popular culture but has musical ideas that go beyond the expectations of pop music," says Neill, a student of the electro-acoustic innovations of Robert Moog and minimalist aesthetic of LaMonte Young. Neill specifically plays the mutantrumpet, a self-designed instrument ...

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Ben Neill: Night Science

by Lyn Horton
September 9, 2009

Composing an aural atmosphere oozing with timelessness requires a talent for making choices from an infinite array of sound propositions. That talent without doubt lies in Ben Neill, whose Night Science boasts a stunning consistency and coherence in fulfilling of the process of combining electronic and acoustic sounds.

Refining his signature of individuality as he plays the “mutantrumpet," an electro- acoustic instrument of his own design, Neill soars through the musical space. His instrument animates a central character that peeks ...

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Ben Neill: Night Science

by Mark Corroto
August 21, 2009

Miles Davis certainly smiled on musical innovations. Years ago, to keep up with the latest, all that was required was to check out what the late trumpeter was investigating. With Miles gone, the hunt maybe a bit more difficult, but then again Peter Gordon's Thirsty Ear label, under the creative direction of pianist Matthew Shipp, has been a leader in bringing innovation and ingenuity into an intersection with the jazz world.Enter trumpeter Ben Neill. Actually, reenter Ben Neill. ...

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Ben Neill: Automotive

by Mark Corroto
February 1, 2003

What’s a car commercial these days without a hip song? And although I’ve never seen Don Henley’s “Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac,” it scares me half to death to see GM appropriating Led Zeppelin’s music to sell the terminally unhip Cadillac dinosaurs. What self-respecting Jimmy Page fan would be caught dead in those Detroit rust buckets? But I digress.

It seems like (although they didn’t) Volkswagen started all this music-sells-cars business. From a wordless “Dah-Dah-Dah” came a consumer ...