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About Benjamin Shorstein

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Musician

Benjamin Shorstein is a drummer, composer, and producer whose work bridges the gap between structured composition and improvisation. As the leader of Madre Vaca, Shorstein has established himself as a distinct voice in the contemporary jazz and avant-garde landscape, curating a catalog that emphasizes artistic risk and sonic fidelity.

Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Shorstein’s approach to the drum set is textural and conversational, favoring dialogue and dynamics over traditional timekeeping. His work is defined by a deep, often subversive engagement with history—reimagining classical forms and masterworks, Arthurian legend, and ancient mythology through a modern, improvisational lens.

Album

A World That Bears a Question

By Madre Vaca

Label: Madre Vaca Records
Released: 2026
Track listing: Janacek's Sinfonietta; Aomame; 1Q84; Fuka-Eri; Tengo; Komatsu; Irretrievably Lost; The Professor; Buzzcut & Ponytail; Refreshing Iced Barley Tea; Sakigake; If you can't understand it without an explanation, you can't understand it with an explanation; Town of Cats; The Little People; Chekhov's Gun; Strong Green Tea; On Top of the Slide; There Are Two Moons in the Sky; The Dead Goat; The Keeper of the Beat; Air Chrysalis; Leader; We Can No Longer Hear the Voice; Calming Roasted Hojicha Tea; Tamaru; Ushikawa; The Bottom of the Sea; Willow House

Album

Knights of the Round Table

By Madre Vaca

Label: Self Produced
Released: 2023
Track listing: The Lady of the Lake; Galahad; Excalibur; The Knights of the Round Table; Camelot; The Holy Grail; Merlin; King Arthur; Guinevere; Lancelot.

Article: Album Review

Madre Vaca: Knights of the Round Table

Read "Knights of the Round Table" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 26, 2023

The legend of King Arthur and Camelot is depicted musically on Knights of the Round Table, the sixth album by the Florida-based eleven-member ensemble, Madre Vaca, whose themes are composed by drummer Benjamin Shorstein. While Knights is presented as a ten-part suite, there seems to be no connecting tissue aside from the names ...

Album

The Elements

By Madre Vaca

Label: Self Produced
Released: 2021
Track listing: Fire; Water; Earth; Wind.

Album

Winterreise

By Juan Rollan

Label: Self Produced
Released: 2020
Track listing: Good Night; The Weathervane; Frozen; Loneliness; The Gray Head; The Crow; Last Hope; The Stormy Morning; The Sun Dogs; The Hurdy-Gurdy Man.

Article: Album Review

Madre Vaca: Winterreise

Read "Winterreise" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 24, 2020

For its third recording, the Florida-based jazz octet Madre Vaca has chosen to perform music by Franz Schubert—hold it; stop right there! Music by who? Yes, that's what it says—music by none other than Franz Schubert (1797-1828), an Austrian composer of what we know as classical music who in his brief lifetime wrote more than 600 ...

Album

Nexus

By Benjamin Shorstein

Label: Madre Vaca Records
Released: 2018
Track listing: 1. Ghankess (Jarrett Carter) 2. Nexus (Benjamin Shorstein) 3. Cold and Sunny (Jonah Pierre) 4. Castle Town (Benjamin Shorstein) 5. Village Song (Jonah Pierre) 6. Asylum (Benjamin Shorstein) 7. Starlight (Jonah Pierre) 8. Stephen Hawking (Benjamin Shorstein)