“Ben Goldberg has few rivals as one of the most vibrant, flexible, and inventive clarinetists in jazz and improvised music” – Peter Margasak, Downbeat
“An artist who seems to find beautiful melodies at the end of every path." – Andrew Gilbert, NPR
“One of the greatest clarinetists I’ve ever heard.” – John Zorn
Ben Goldberg at the Maybeck
Sunday, February 28, 2016 at 7:00pm
This concert is $20 General Admission/$10 Students.
Ben Goldberg grew up in Denver, Colorado. He received his undergraduate music degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Master of Arts in Composition from Mills College. He was a pupil of the eminent clarinetist Rosario Mazzeo, and studied with Steve Lacy and Joe Lovano.
In 2012 Ben premiered Orphic Machine, a ten movement song-cycle based on the poetical writings of Allen Grossman. Commissioned by Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works and performed by an all-star nine-piece band with Carla Kihlstedt on vocals, the Los Angeles Times calls Orphic Machine “knotted and occasionally spooky composition marked by dazzling interplay.” A Shifting Foundation grant funded the recording of Orphic Machine, released in 2015 by Royal Potato Family / BAG Production Records. All Music Guide says "Orphic Machine is wildly ambitious and sophisticated, but is also graceful, emotionally honest, and accessible. It makes the profound embraceable and, as a result, is a masterpiece."
Other recordings include Unfold Ordinary Mind and Subatomic Particle Homesick Blues (BAG Production, 2013);Go Home (BAG, 2010); Tin Hat’s The Rain is a Handsome Animal (New Amsterdam, 2012); Speech Communication (Tzadik, 2009); Baal: The Book Of Angels vol. 15 (Tzadik, 2010); the door, the hat, the chair, the fact (Cryptogramophone, 2006); Plays Monk (Long Song, 2007); Nels Cline’s New Monastery: a view into the music of Andrew Hill (Cryptogramophone, 2006); Twelve Minor (Avant, 1998); Junk Genius (Knitting Factory Works, 1995); What Comes Before (Tzadik, 1998); and New Klezmer Trio’s Melt Zonk Rewire and Short for Something (Tzadik).
Ben currently composes for and leads the following groups: Unfold Ordinary Mind featuring Nels Cline and Ellery Eskelin; Go Home featuring Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles, and Scott Amendola, “A searching ensemble that welcomes lyrical improvisation while embracing the groove.” (The New Yorker); Ben Goldberg School, a sextet that recently offered the initial workshop performances of Ben’s new piece Come Back Elliott Smith, and the Ben Goldberg Trio with Greg Cohen and Kenny Wollesen. He is also a composer-member of the avant-chamber jazz ensemble Tin Hat; and performs in a duo with pianist Myra Melford called DIALOGUE. Other notable affiliations include plays monk; Myra Melford’s Be Bread; Nels Cline’s New Monastery; Todd Sickafoose’s Tiny Resistors; Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom; and Clarinet Thing. The 11- piece Ben Goldberg's Brainchild performs Ben's on-the-spot compositions.
In 2012 Ben premiered Orphic Machine, a ten movement song-cycle based on the poetical writings of Allen Grossman. Commissioned by Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works and performed by an all-star nine-piece band with Carla Kihlstedt on vocals, the Los Angeles Times calls Orphic Machine “knotted and occasionally spooky composition marked by dazzling interplay.” A Shifting Foundation grant funded the recording of Orphic Machine, released in 2015 by Royal Potato Family / BAG Production Records. All Music Guide says "Orphic Machine is wildly ambitious and sophisticated, but is also graceful, emotionally honest, and accessible. It makes the profound embraceable and, as a result, is a masterpiece."
Other recordings include Unfold Ordinary Mind and Subatomic Particle Homesick Blues (BAG Production, 2013);Go Home (BAG, 2010); Tin Hat’s The Rain is a Handsome Animal (New Amsterdam, 2012); Speech Communication (Tzadik, 2009); Baal: The Book Of Angels vol. 15 (Tzadik, 2010); the door, the hat, the chair, the fact (Cryptogramophone, 2006); Plays Monk (Long Song, 2007); Nels Cline’s New Monastery: a view into the music of Andrew Hill (Cryptogramophone, 2006); Twelve Minor (Avant, 1998); Junk Genius (Knitting Factory Works, 1995); What Comes Before (Tzadik, 1998); and New Klezmer Trio’s Melt Zonk Rewire and Short for Something (Tzadik).
Ben currently composes for and leads the following groups: Unfold Ordinary Mind featuring Nels Cline and Ellery Eskelin; Go Home featuring Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles, and Scott Amendola, “A searching ensemble that welcomes lyrical improvisation while embracing the groove.” (The New Yorker); Ben Goldberg School, a sextet that recently offered the initial workshop performances of Ben’s new piece Come Back Elliott Smith, and the Ben Goldberg Trio with Greg Cohen and Kenny Wollesen. He is also a composer-member of the avant-chamber jazz ensemble Tin Hat; and performs in a duo with pianist Myra Melford called DIALOGUE. Other notable affiliations include plays monk; Myra Melford’s Be Bread; Nels Cline’s New Monastery; Todd Sickafoose’s Tiny Resistors; Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom; and Clarinet Thing. The 11- piece Ben Goldberg's Brainchild performs Ben's on-the-spot compositions.