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Ben Hedquist

Ben Hedquist is the clinical assistant professor of jazz bass at Arizona State University. He holds a doctorate in double bass performance from ASU where he studied under double bass virtuoso Catalin Rotaru. Hedquist is the education program coordinator at The Nash, Phoenix’s jazz performance and education center.

As a double bassist, Hedquist is known for his versatility and feels at home playing classical or jazz music. As a classical musician, he has performed with the West Valley Symphony, Phoenix Opera, and as Principal Bassist for the Musica Nova Orchestra. Hedquist has also performed in chamber concerts with the ASU String Faculty as part of the Stradivarius Concert Series at the Musical Instrument Museum, with violinist Mark Fewer (McGill University) as part of the Lotus Land Project and performs solo recitals throughout the Phoenix Metropolitan area. In 2016, he was placed as runner-up for the Arizona State University’s Concert of the Soloists Competition.

As a jazz bassist, Hedquist was a finalist in the 2016 European Double Bass Congress jazz bass competition held in Prague, Czech Republic. He performs regularly with Phoenix-based musicians such as Michael Kocour, Jeff Libman, Eric Rasmussen, and Dom Moio, and also with the adventurous jazz sextet Running from Bears. He has performed with a growing number of jazz notables, including Joe Locke, Peter Bernstein, George Garzone, Miguel Zenon, Glenn Zaleski, John Hollenbeck, Chris Cheek, Harold Maybern, John Clayton, and Lewis Nash.