Home » Member Page

Ben Makinen

Ben Makinen is a drummer, composer, and filmmaker who is president and founder of both Bmakin Films and Bmakin Music.

About Me

Ben Makinen - Award-winning filmmaker, music producer, composer and percussionist. Founder of Bmakin Film ltd and the International Modern Film Alliance (IMFA), Makinen is also a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys) Producers and Engineers Wing. Ben has been recording and performing as a (mostly jazz) drummer since the mid 80s: nightclubs, cruise ships, broadway shows, street corners, with symphonies and even the opera!

His first feature length documentary film, JazzTown, is on the 2021/22 film festival circuit and has won 14 awards as of July, 2021 including Best Director and Best Picture. TRIVIA: This 92 minute film is the first feature length documentary of its kind to be made entirely by one person and the first jazz documentary to feature aerial drone photography.

Makinen completed the action packed short jazz doc Who Killed Jazz in the spring of 2022. It will be made available to the public by the fall of 2022 after its run on the film festival circuit is completed. Who Killed Jazz has already won numerous awards from international festivals: Gold Award Best Doc - Hollywood Gold Awards; Best Director World Film Carnival; First Place New York City IO Film Fest; Best Editing Onyko Film Awards (Ukraine) and Finalist in the Hungarian Papa International Historical Film Fest ...

With over 40 years professional experience in film, television, theatre and music production Makinen enjoys a collaborative reputation throughout an international community of multi-media clientele.

Ben began working professionally as a drummer in 1981, as a freshman in high school, when he was hired to drum for the theatrical production of The Tinsel Forest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the spring of 1982 he was hired as an extra in Francis Coppola's movie The Outsiders. His family's move to Aurora, Colorado the next year brought him to Overland High School where in addition to playing for the school's jazz band, he was hired out to other high schools to drum in the pit for their school musicals.

Makinen played in the Overland bands under the direction of John Icabone and fellow classmates included trumpeter Scott Wendholdt (Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Maria Schneider...), saxophonist Frank Vacin (John Scofield), and euphoniumist/composer Tom Ball (Fishleather Jacket, JazzTown, Who Killed Jazz). Ben gigged with a few of his classmates in a jazz combo that played used car lots and bar mitzvahs. A few years after high school Ben began doing gigs and jam sessions along side saxophonists Brad Leali (Harry Connick Jr.) and Javon Jackson (Blue Note Records). All of the young up and coming players at the time would hang out at the famous El Chapultepec jazz bar and cantina on 20th and Market St in downtown Denver. The Pec is now gone yet immortalized in Makinen's film JazzTown. It is where all the big internationally known jazz musicians would come to jam with the house band led by pianist Billy Wallace (who had recorded with Sonny Rollins and Max Roach) and drummer Nat Yarborough. A few years later Ben had his first house gig at the Pec drumming for happy hours with his mentor Billy Wallace and using Nat Yarborough's famous set of Slingerland drums. Years later Ben had many memorable nights holding down the drum chair there including a weekend backing Red Holloway on sax, many nights with Freddy Rodriguez Sr (who recorded with Rahsaan Roland Kirk) as well as reuniting with Javon Jackson for a set after he had become a big shot with Blue Note Records.

Throughout this fertile period of jazz in Denver in the 90s Ben began gigging and recording with legendary pianist Joe Bonner. Bonner had recorded with Pharoah Sanders and Woody Shaw and Billy Higgins among many others. Bonner was a mentor to many in the local scene and was a mighty force of nature who left behind an amazing legacy. He too is honored in JazzTown. Ben did a number of studio recordings with Bonner and bassist Artie Moore. These recordings were lost after the tragic and untimely death of studio owner and trumpeter Steve Weist.

Ben's father Evert Makinen recorded an impromptu duet between Bonner and Ben at the Blue Coyote bar in Denver using a Walkman cassette recorder. When the bassist failed to find his way back to the stage, Bonner and Ben launched into Softly As A Morning Sunrise. This track is featured in the movie JazzTown as underscore beneath US Senator John Hickenlooper's recollections of Bonner. Hickenlooper, who was a jazz night club owner at the time, often hired Bonner for his happy hours at the Wynkoop Brewery. In the basement was The Jazz Works which featured many nationally touring musicians. Makinen had been working as a doorman and soundman here while shifting towards becoming a full-time musician. Ben took advantage of all the greats that came through and had some private drum lessons after-hours with Jake Hanna, Jeff Hamilton and Bruno Carr (Charlie Parker, Herbie Mann) who was the house drummer. Ben also had the opportunity to talk with these legends about the business. One night he was asked to walk legendary bassist Ray Brown back to his hotel from the club. Mr Brown talked to Ben about the importance of staying relevant to the younger audiences by continuing to tour in older age.

Ben had the pleasure of drumming for the Chicago jazz bag piper Duke Payne at the Jazzworks. The Jazzworks ended up playing a significant role in Ben's musical career as it was the place he began as a doorman, transitioned to full-time working professional drummer, and then went on a North American tour with New Orleans blues man Jumpin' Johnny Sansone that concluded three months later with a performance on the stage at Jazzworks!

As Ben stepped down off the stage at Jazzworks from his final gig with Sansone he was approached by Colorado Blues Hall of Fame guitarist David Booker who offered an outstretched hand and his business card, and thus began a musical collaboration between the two that lasted for over 30 years. The Jazzworks folded shortly after this historic meeting.

Makinen began composing and producing music in the early 90s and wore many hats playing and touring with jazz, rock, latin bands and Broadway shows. At the turn of the century Ben was hired for a season as a percussionist in both the Colorado Symphony and the Central City Opera. Makinen began making short films with his company Bmakin Film (music video, experimental, narrative, investigative journalism and documentary) since its formation in 2001.

Ben produced, directed and composed music for his first feature length music documentary JazzTown (2022), an award-winning film made to honor his early music mentors.

JazzTown features interviews with, and performances by, Grammy winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, pianist Billy Wallace (recorded with Max Roach and Sonny Rollins), trumpeter Ron Miles (recorded with Bill Frisell), guitarist Charlie Hunter, vocalist Ayo Awosika (Miley Cyrus, Santana), and legendary classical/jazz bassist Charles Burrell (has performed with Billy Holiday, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington & Count Basie ...) and includes and interview with US Senator John Hickenlooper who was a former jazz nightclub owner that booked musicians like McCoy Tyner, Ray Brown, and Joe Bonner. JazzTown examines the wide range of opinions defining jazz music while celebrating its tradition of passing the torch to up and coming young lions. Makinen interviewed both his elders and his young drum students to capture the spirit of jazz as found both throughout the Rocky Mountains and around the globe.

JazzTown was awarded Best Soundtrack at the 2021 New Orleans Second Line Film Festival; other awards include Best Director (San Diego Movie Awards 2021) and Best Picture (Rome movie Awards 2021) and Critics' Choice Award for Best Documentary at the 2021 World Film Carnival in Singapore.

JazzTown is currently available on Vimeo https://www.vimeo.com/ondemand/jazztown and from Makinen's website https://www.benmakinen.com

Ben's short - Anthropocene - is an Official Selection at the EFPalooza 2019 Film Festival. His music video Alone At Sunset, featuring vocalist Robert Johnson won Best Sound Design in the 2019 Nederland International Film Festival and is a 2021 Official Selection of the Anotolia International Film Festival. His music video Hypomania, featuring indie rocker Clay Cabe is also an Official Selection at the 2021 Anatolia International Film Festival and is a Finalist in the 2021 4th Dimension International Film Festival. Singer songwriter Clay Cabe also served as an Executive Producer of JazzTown.

Ben founded the International Modern Film Alliance (IMFA) in 2020 during the first covid wave of deconstruction as a way to develop and nurture filmmakers who lack access to resources and instruction. The IMFA's mission statement is, “to teach and promote the art of storytelling through the marriage of music and film.”

Ben Makinen leads IMFA workshops for children and young adults in Bali, Indonesia while collaborating with local film production companies and is looking to raise funds and awareness to continue building creative collaborations between the US and Indonesia.

More at benmakinen.com

[more updates to bio coming June 2022]

2012: Ben has produced and drummed on three CDs this year for his label Bmakin Music:

The Goliath Beetle & The Ladybug is all original electronica music composed and performed by Makinen and tells the Romeo & Juliet story of love in the insect world.

Vocalist Leslie Brown's Tenderly is now available at CDBaby.com/lesliebrown Tenderly is acoustic quartet jazz with Grammy-nominated Art Lande on piano. Check out our Coltrane-esque cover of Pink Floyd's Welcome To The Machine!

John Kite, Denver's Brown Palace Hotel singer and pianist since 1987, romps through Broadway show tunes on his debut live recording Anything Goes!

Ben Makinen is a 2006 Independent Music Awards Finalist: Film/TV-Multimedia.

Ben is the producer of jazz/latin album Fishleather Jacket which received the Roger Bobo Excellence In Recording Award in June of 2006.

My Jazz Story

I met Art Blakey. Twice. My favorite moment in jazz is when Art Blakey asked me to sound check his drum set on stage at the Greely Jazz Festival in 1984 while I was a junior in high school. He stood in his full length leather jacket holding a glass of orange juice in one hand and a bottle of Heineken in the other. I sat down at his drums, picked up his sticks, and did my best impersonation of him playing triplets across the tom- toms. He was grinning from ear to ear and I felt as if a torch had been passed and I that I had been granted access to the sanctified realm of jazz by one of the greatest masters!

My House Concert Story

Beneath a full moon in the tropical mists of the Indian Ocean on the island of Bali - known as the island of the gods - I hosted a jazz house party for the release of my award-winning documentary film JazzTown. Indonesian musicians played their Gamelan while young and adventurous jazz musicians, embracing instruments and style not familiar to the old ones, joined in and found the sacred space between the hand hammered pitches so common in South East Asia. Blended like local spicy sambal matah (diced onions, peppers and lime mixed with fresh coconut oil) these gloriously swirling and pulsating sounds faded out across the undulating waters of the Lombok Straight . We then fired up the movie projector to watch JazzTown unfold upon a large white-painted cinderblock wall drapped with passion flowers from the climbing vine Love-in-a-Mist. JazzTown is the story of master musicians who make Colorado, USA their home. They were my mentors when I began playing professionally in the 1980s. I made this film as a way of saying Thank You to them and to immortalize just a wondrous fraction of their delightful journey upon this planet. These are people who performed with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billy Holiday, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Pharoah Sanders... Their patience and generous guidance helped shape many contemporary performing artists: Dianne Reeves, George Duke, Bill Frisell, Ron Miles, Javon Jackson, Ayo Awosika, Tia Fuller, Rudy Royston, Pat Bianchi, Brad Leali, Tom Ball and many more. There was much excitement and murmuring among the Indonesians who had never been to the US during the colorful scenes which showcase Denver's downtown grandeur and nightlife while showing off the beauty found in Colorado's mountains, lakes, and great sand dunes. "What's a buffalo?" "That's a buffalo!" Yes, there really are buffalo in JazzTown. The stars of JazzTown have now all entered the lives of these passionate people I live with in Indonesia - people who were mostly unfamiliar with jazz music. Some of these stars have already passed on: Ron Miles, Teresa Carroll, Billy Wallace, Freddy Rodriguez Sr., Ed Battle, Ron Bucknam, Creighton Holley... Yet their music now reaches further across the globe than it ever has! Most amazingly is legendary bassist Charles Burrell who just turned 102 years old as of this writing (October, 4 2022). His journey is most extraordinary and I hope you will discover this kind-hearted American hero in JazzTown and also in his own words: his book titled The Life of Charlie Burrell: Breaking the Color Barrier... is a must-read for anyone interested in American music and race relations during the 20th Century. Clapping and cheering as the lights came up - Banana leaf platters, now empty of tasty hand made treats, were gathered and tossed back into the surrounding jungle from whence they came. A delighted group of musicians and fans clambered upon their motor scooters - 2, 3, and 4 to the scooter - and rumbled off into the distance. A jazz house party that played like a dream. JazzTown is currently available on Vimeo at https://www.vimeo.com/ondemand/jazztown