Jack Benson

Jack Benson is a jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger from the Boston area, currently based in Los Angeles and studying at the USC Thornton School of Music. His work bridges deep respect for the jazz tradition with a contemporary sensibility shaped by cross-genre influences and modern storytelling. He studies trumpet with Michael Stever and composition with Grammy-winning composer Vince Mendoza, whose mentorship has further refined Benson’s approach to orchestration and large ensemble writing. Benson is the recipient of a DownBeat Student Music Award for Best Arrangement and was named a National YoungArts Winner in both Jazz Composition and Jazz Trumpet. His compositions and arrangements have been performed across the country, including by the Thornton Jazz Orchestra, the USC Concert Jazz Orchestra, the USC Afro Latin-American Jazz Ensemble, the NEC Youth Jazz Orchestra, and the Beantown Swing Orchestra, for whom he has written six commissioned works. His music has been heard at renowned halls including Boston’s Hatch Shell and Symphony Hall, Brown Hall at the New England Conservatory, and the Carson Television Soundstage in Los Angeles, and has been recorded at Burbank, California’s Evergreen Studio. Central to Benson’s artistic identity is a fascination with the big band as a living, collaborative organism. He explores through his writing large ensembles as spaces where composition and improvisation harmonize. Since writing his first big band chart at 14 years old, he has continued to explore the dramatic and emotional possibilities of orchestration, drawing inspiration from figures such as Billy Strayhorn and Maria Schneider while remaining grounded in the language of big bands throughout the decades. As a performer, Benson has appeared as lead trumpet with ensembles including the Music for All Jazz Band of America, the NAfME All-Eastern Jazz Band, and the NEC Youth Jazz Orchestra. Whether composing, arranging, or improvising, his work is driven by a desire to communicate emotional vulnerability, honesty, and connection through sound. His big band, called Jack Benson’s Virtue Alliance, performs around greater Boston and will be expanding this year to the Los Angeles area.

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