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Benjamin Lackner

Born in Berlin to an american father and a german mother, Benny Lackner, moved to California at the age of 13. He received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts under the direction of Charlie Haden and David Roitstein. From 1997-1998 he studied privately with his mentor, pianist Brad Mehldau. He has performed at numerous jazz festivals including the North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreux and Monterey. He has worked with artists such as the late Billy Higgins, Marc Ribot, Brad Shepik, Pheeroan akLaff and is now residing in NYC and Berlin where he is working with his internationally touring trio as well as a sideman and composer.

The Benny Lackner Trio just finished its fifth huge world tour playing 19 concerts in 19 cities starting with Auckland, NZ and ending in Lausanne, CH.  The trio featuring Benny Lackner (piano,  electronics),  Jerôme Regard (bass) and Matthieu Chazarenc (drums) was founded in New York City in 2002. Past concerts include five extensive Asia – Australia – New Zealand  tours taking them to places such as  Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Jakarta. Other tours included Brazil,  South Africa, Canada, Portugal, Spain, United States, Germany, France, Croatia, South Africa, Austria, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The trio has headlined at jazz clubs such as the Blue Note in NYC, Joe’s Pub in NYC, Smalls in NYC, Birdland in Vienna and the A-Trane in Berlin, sharing the stage with John Scofield at the Traumzeit Jazz Festival,  the American Jazz Festival in Paris, as well as concerts at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival, Viersen Jazz Festival, Leverkusener Jazztage, the Augsburger Jazzsommer and the Düsseldorfer Jazz Rallye.

Born in Berlin to an american father and a german mother, Benny Lackner, moved to California at the age of 13. He received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts under the direction of Charlie Haden and David Roitstein. From 1997 - 1998 he studied privately with his mentor, pianist Brad Mehldau. He has performed at numerous jazz festivals including the North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreux and Monterey. He has worked with artists such as the late Billy Higgins, Marc Ribot, BradShepik, Pheeroan akLaff and is now residing in NYC and Berlin where he is working with his internationally touring trio as well as a sideman and composer.

The Benny Lackner Trio just finished its fifth huge world tour playing 19 concerts in 19 cities starting with Auckland, NZ and ending in Lausanne, CH.  The trio featuring Benny Lackner (piano,  electronics),  Jerôme Regard (bass) and Matthieu Chazarenc (drums) was founded in New York City in 2002.

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9
Multiple Reviews

ECM Records: Austerity as Aesthetic

Read "ECM Records: Austerity as Aesthetic" reviewed by Doug Collette


ECM Records may boast the most readily-recognizable style of any record label extant, jazz-wise or otherwise. And the austere aesthetic of the label, as originated by founder Manfred Eicher in 1969, remains consistent (predictable?) to this day, not just in terms of the music but in the packaging too: slipcases enclosing jewel boxes belie inserts including photos of the artists and the attendant credits in designs as unadorned as the settings for the recordings (and the technical aspects thereof). All ...

Live Review

Benjamin Lackner Quintet al Doubletime Jazz & Kultur Club di Hameln

Read "Benjamin Lackner Quintet al Doubletime Jazz & Kultur Club di Hameln" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Benjamin Lackner Quintet Doubletime Jazz & Kultur Club Hameln, Germania 26 gennaio 2025 In occasione della pubblicazione del nuovo lavoro su etichetta ECM, Spindrift, il quintetto del pianista berlinese Benjamin Lackner ha intrapreso un tour promozionale europeo in Gennaio, toccando otto città in Germania e le capitali di Spagna, Inghilterra, Svezia e Norvegia. Rispetto alla formazione dell'album erano assenti due nomi di rilievo come il sassofonista Mark Turner e la contrabbassista Linda May ...

1
Album Review

Benjamin Lackner: Spindrift

Read "Spindrift" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Il nuovo lavoro del pianista berlinese Benjamin Lackner, Spindrift, non si distacca molto dal precedente Last Decade, anch'esso pubblicato da ECM un paio di anni fa. La differenza principale è la presenza di una seconda voce strumentale, quella del sax tenore di Mark Turner, che si affianca alla tromba di Mathias Eick nell'esposizione e elaborazione dei temi lirici composti dal pianista (tutti ad eccezione di “Chambary" firmata dal batterista). Il sassofonista non è l'unico nome illustre che ha ...

25
Album Review

Benjamin Lackner: Spindrift

Read "Spindrift" reviewed by Jack Kenny


Benjamin Lackner has a vision and his album is a coherent statement of his ideas: a radical statement of lyricism, gentleness, restraint and understatement. It was a long-time dream. For some time, Benjamin Lackner has had a wish to record with ECM. In an interview, he outlined his attempts to produce music that would impress ECM's Manfred Eicher. Benny Lackner became Benjamin. He experimented with different formats, eventually achieving his ambition with Last Decade (2022), his first album ...

12
Year in Review

Dan McClenaghan's Top Jazz Recordings of 2022

Read "Dan McClenaghan's Top Jazz Recordings of 2022" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


The top jazz recordings of 2022, in no particular order. Justin MorellExit Music For Intelligent Life On Earth Sonic Frenzy Records A provocative and beautiful guitar and drums album. Guitarist Justin Morell has teamed with drummer Mark Ferber (see postscript concerning Ferber at the end of this article) to construct an important set of sounds addressing climate change and global warming with a science fiction-like exit of the Earth to escape these problems. This ...

21
Album Review

Benjamin Lackner: Last Decade

Read "Last Decade" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


In a 2006 interview for All About Jazz written by Joao Moriera dos Santos, pianist/keyboardist Benjamin Lackner was asked: “What label would you like to be on in the near future?" He said, simply, “ECM." That seemed ambitious for Lackner at that stage of his career. He was 29 years old at the time and boasted only two albums under his own name—one of them was Sign Of The Times (Nagel Heyer, 2006), released a bit before the interview—along with ...

7
Album Review

Benny Lackner Trio: Drake

Read "Drake" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Pianist Benny Lackner was born in Germany, but moved to the United States at thirteen years of age. He spent his formative years in California, and received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts. Studies with pianist Brad Mehldau followed. Then, at thirty years of age, Lackner returned to Berlin from his adopted New York base. From Germany, the albums—with a superb trio—started coming. Drake is the Benny Lackner Trio's sixth offering. Stylistically, Lackner doesn't sound ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Spindrift

ECM Records
2025

buy

Last Decade

ECM Records
2022

buy

Drake

Ozella Music
2019

buy

Siskiyou

Unit Records
2015

buy

Cachuma

BHM Productions
2012

buy

Pilgrim

Stray Dog Music
2008

buy

See You Again My Friend

From: Spindrift
By Benjamin Lackner

Dresden Blues

From: Sign of the Times
By Benjamin Lackner

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