Ben Adkins

With a musical career starting early in a family blues band, Ben’s study of jazz began in high school at The St. Johns County Center for the Arts. Having earned a music scholarship from the St. Augustine Jazz Society, Ben completed his Bachelor of Music from the University of North Florida (during which he was selected to be a member of the Disneyland All-American College band), and Master of Music from Florida State University, under the tutelage of Danny Gottlieb and Leon Anderson, respectively.

          More recently Ben has ventured into the realm of composition, releasing his first album with original material, entitled Salmagundi, to critical acclaim in 2016. Ben has shared the stage with artists such as Linda Cole, Marcus Printup, Seamus Blake, Jiggs Whigham, Gary Starling, Marcus Roberts, Ron McCurdy, Wynton Marsalis, John Ricci, Dave Douglas, Alphonso Horne, Gary Burton, and the Jazz Conceptions Orchestra, and was recently featured in JAZZIZ® and DRUM!® magazines. Ben’s music is rooted in a passion for minimalism and subtlety, while maintaining the integrity of the tradition and culture of America’s greatest art form.

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