Keyboard Magazine - March 2008 - (Page 26) DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Bailing on jazz? When Marco Benevento dives into his hybrid elecrtic/acoustic improv, you might think so. But really, he’s building on it. by Jon Regen arco Benevento was on the verge of becoming one of the great straightahead jazz pianists of his generation — when something happened. “I was working really hard,” the 30-yearold keyboardist tells me from his home in Brooklyn, New York. “I was studying with [renowned jazz pianist] Joanne Brackeen at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, practicing ten hours a day. I even won an award for ‘Most Outstanding Jazz Pianist.’ I was really trying to be that key that fits right into the lock — but it was a different key, and a different lock.” Benevento initially thought he would M follow in the footsteps of his elders, playing and recording jazz standards in a piano trio setting. But his eclectic musical tastes would lead him on a different path altogether. “I love Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and all those weird, film score kind of sounds,” he continues. “I love rock, but I also love jazz. So now I see that where I ended up really makes a lot of sense, because I’m combining all those worlds of rock and jazz, improvisation and weird sounds.” Where Benevento ended up, almost accidentally, is at the forefront of cutting-edge improvisational keyboard music. As half of the acclaimed Benevento/Russo Duo, he demonstrates both the intimacy and power that a keyboard and drum combo can impart. On albums like Best Reason To Buy The Sun and Play Pause Stop, Benevento combines organic organ and electric piano textures with mutating loops and effects. His always surprising keyboard work, set to Joe Russo’s dynamic drumming, has won him legions of fans, and keeps him on the road for some 280-plus live dates a year. Now, with the release of Invisible Baby, Benevento builds on the sonic foundation he laid in the duo with Russo, and expands it even further, using a jazz trio’s sense of interplay to anchor his sonic explorations. Songs 26 keyboard 03-2008 Photo by Greg Aiello
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