Benny Benack III
Vocalist Benny Benack has quickly gained an international reputation for being an incredibly versatile, fiery improviser who lends superb technique and musicality to any setting. No stranger to competitions, he was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Thelonius Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition (2014) and has won the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Soloist Competition (2011), the National Trumpet Competition (2012) and the National Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition (2011). Vocally, he was a finalist in the 2013 Gentlemen Sing Competition and the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival Vocalist Competition.
After receiving a number of youth accolades, he’s parlayed that promising start into a blossoming career. In the August 1, 2011 issue of Jet magazine, Benack was featured on Wynton Marsalis' list of the “Next Generation of Jazz Greats,” and recently his quartet completed a Masterclass with Marsalis in Miami filmed for the National Young Arts Foundation. He is a member of the newl yformed New Century Jazz Sextet led by Ulysses Owens Jr., rounding out a formidable front-line alongside Michael Dease and Tim Green.
In demand as a recording artist, he made his Blue Note Records debut as a sideman w/pianist Chihiro Yamanaka in 2014. These projects brought him to Japan, and in winter 2014 he had his debut in Russia and the Ukraine with bassist Ark Ovrutski. Currently living in New York City, he has had the opportunity to perform as both a leader and sought-after sideman at some of the finest jazz clubs including The Blue Note, Birdland, SMOKE, Small’s, The Bar Next Door, The Iridium, The Jazz Gallery, Minton’s Harlem and Ginny’s Supper Club, and frequently leads his band playing at Jazz @ Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. As a clinician, he leads his band giving outreach performances for Jazz @ Lincoln Center’s Jazz for Young People program, as well as on behalf of the NY Pops and the Jazz Museum of Harlem.
Benack is a recent graduate of the Manhattan School of Music for both his bachelor’s of music (2013) and his master’s of music (2015). He is endorsed by Carolbrass Flugelhorns and Torpedo Bag cases.
