Quick Facts
Biography
Ben Monder is an American modern jazz guitarist and composer. In addition to having released solo albums he has played as a sideman on more than a hundred albums. Critics have found the style of Monder's solo albums difficult to describe, though they praise his creative genius.
Biography
Monder attended the University of Miami. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians including Lee Konitz, Toots Thielmans, Paul Motian, Maria Schneider and David Bowie.
In 1995 he recorded his debut album, Flux, featuring drummer Jim Black and bassist Drew Gress. A 2001 recording (an improvisation recorded in a single day) with saxophone player Bill McHenry, Bloom, wasn't released until 2010. In between, he released a genre-bending solo album, Oceana (2005), and an album with pianist Chris Gistrin and drummer Dylan van der Schyff, The Distance (2006). In 2007, he recorded At Night with singer and electronic musician Theo Bleckmann and drummer Satoshi Takeishi. Ben Monder played guitar on Bowie's final studio album, Blackstar, released two days before Bowie's death in 2016.
Discography
- Right Brain Patrol with Marc Johnson's Right Brain Patrol (JMT, 1991)
- Flux (Songlines, 1995)
- Dust (Arabesque, 1997)
- No Boat with Theo Bleckmann (Songlines, 1997)
- Excavation (Arabesque, 2000)
- Oceana (Sunnyside, 2005)
- At Night with Theo Bleckmann (Songlines, 2007)
- Bloom with Bill McHenry (Sunnyside, 2009)
- Hydra (Sunnyside, 2013)
- Amorphae (ECM, 2015)