Benny Green

Benny Green was born in New York City in 1963 and grew up in Berkeley, California. His father, who played the tenor saxophone, introduced him to Jazz at an early age through his record collection that included Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles and many founding voices of the music. He began piano lessons at the age of 7, and his first paid performance was at the age of 12. His major concert stage debut was in 1978, when he was 15, at the Monterey Jazz Festival as a member of the MJF High School All-Stars (now known as the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra). Benny began performing on a regular basis with the vocalist Faye Carol at the age of 16, and began gigging frequently in the San Francisco Bay Area with NEA Jazz Master trumpeter Dr. Eddie Henderson at 17.

Benny returned to NYC in 1982 when he was 19, was mentored during his first year in town by Walter Bishop Jr. and Walter Davis Jr. and played his first gigs in the city with Barry Altschul, Bobby Watson and Jo Jones Jr. Betty Carter hired Benny in 1983, and he toured internationally with her for four years, and played on her Grammy Award winning Verve album "Look What I Got" before joining Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers for 2 1/2 years from 1987-'89, recording a few albums under Art Blakey's leadership. He joined the Freddie Hubbard Quintet in 1989 and recorded the album "Live At Fat Tuesday's" with Mr. Hubbard in 1992. That same year, Benny joined the Ray Brown Trio, which became his longest tenure as a sideman, remaining with Mr. Brown for 4 1/2 years.

As a leader, Benny recorded two albums for the Dutch Criss Cross label in the late 1980s before being signed to Blue Note Records in 1990 and remained with the label for 10 years, recording seven albums as a leader for the label, as well as two albums for its Japanese subsidiary, Toshiba-EMI. Oscar Peterson named Benny as his protégé in 1992, and chose Benny as the recipient of the Glenn Gould Award for excellence in Music and Communication. He recorded many albums as a sideman throughout the 1980s and '90s, including a duet with Diana Krall on her Grammy Award winning album "All For You." He recorded two albums as a leader for the Telarc label in the early 1990s, as well as two duo albums for the label with Russell Malone. In 1998 Oscar Peterson invited Benny to record a two-piano album with him, entitled "Oscar and Benny." Benny continued leading his trio and began recording for the Sunnyside label in 2014. He has released five albums for the label to date, and plans to release his sixth in fall 2026.

Please be aware of the following age-related restrictions for this event: Ages 10+.