($25-$35 Tickets + DICE fees | 6:30pm & 8:30pm Shows) Join us for a special night with bassist Ben Wolfe and his trio, featuring vibraphone phenomenon Joel Ross! Joel Ross last performed at the Century Room in September of 2022, so we are very excited to welcome him back!
Joel Ross (vibes) Ben Wolfe (bass) Aaron Kimmel (drums)
BEN WOLFE
New York bassist/composer and bandleader Ben Wolfe’s music has been described as “Mingus and Miles Davis meet Bartok and Bernard Herrmann” (Ben Ratliff – The New York Times). With acclaim by some of the jazz world’s most respected critics, Wolfe continues to produce works that draw top-flight reviews from fans and jazz journalists alike. There is no doubt that after decades as one of the most sought-after bassists in jazz, performing with top names such as Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall and many others, award-winning composer and bandleader Ben Wolfe is clear about his creative direction…
An award-winning composer, Ben is a two-time recipient of Chamber Music America’s New Works: Creation and Presentation Program Grant through the Doris Duke Foundation. First received in 2004, Ben was able to use this funding to compose his extended work “Contradiction: Music for Sextet.” He received the grant in 2020 and composed “Nonet”. Both of these extended works have been recorded for future release.
Wolfe has distinguished himself through a significant catalogue of original music, including over one hundred songs across eleven albums, several extended works, and the film score for Matthew Modine’s 2008 short I Think I Thought. The New York Sun hailed his work on this film as, “a standout music score.”
Wolfe’s early career included Grammy award-winning, platinum-selling collaborations with both Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall, including Harry’s 1988 soundtrack album When Harry Met Sally, and Diana’s 1999 release When I Look in Your Eyes. He appeared alongside both artists on numerous world tours.
Wolfe’s ongoing and close association with Wynton Marsalis; during which Marsalis recorded as a guest on two of his albums, has seen Ben appear on a number of Wynton’s releases, and included a stint in the Wynton Marsalis Septet and membership in the Jazz at Lincoln CenteOrchestra (JLCO), where he performed with jazz luminaries such as Joe Henderson, Doc Cheatham, Jon Hendricks, Harry “Sweets” Edison, and Billy Higgins, among many others. Contemporary jazz greats with whom he has also worked and recorded include Branford Marsalis, Orrin Evans, Eric Reed and Benny Green.
JOEL ROSS
“Ross’ playing erupts through the layers of lush arrangements like consistent currents of electricity, high-powered and full of luminous energy” — DownBeat
For the past several years, Joel Ross has been refining an expression that’s true to his sound and his generation. In 2019, the vibraphonist-composer released his anticipated Blue Note debut KingMaker to eruptive critical acclaim. He’s topped the DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star category for vibraphone and in 2017, he became one of the youngest artists to receive a coveted Residency Commission from The Jazz Gallery. With the release of Who Are You? (Blue Note, 2020), Ross shares the culmination of a year-long exercise in experimenting and risk-taking on and off the bandstand.