About Ben

Short Bio (Ben rosenblum):

Pianist, accordionist and composer Ben Rosenblum has traversed a truly unique musical path, one that has seen him perform alongside world-class musicians across more than twenty music genres and twenty-five countries, lead bands at prestigious venues across the world, all while maintaining a signature, melodic musical voice. Rosenblum’s journey has taken him on tours with Grammy-winning pop artist Rickie Lee Jones, Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Catherine Russell and Juno-winning contemporary Indian singer Kiran Ahluwalia. He’s played Brazilian choro with Ephrat Asherie Dance and Brazilian forró with The Late Night Show’s Nêgah Santos and famed forró band Forró in the Dark. His roots in jazz have led to an over ten-year relationship with Grammy-winning bassist Curtis Lundy, performing at festivals alongside jazz luminaries Bobby Watson, Sean Jones and Warren Wolf. He has appeared with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on accordion, and as a guest soloist on piano at Carnegie Hall’s Stern-Perelman Auditorium with Maestro Reona Ito’s New York Harmonic Band. Throughout it all, Rosenblum has always maintained the same priority - to tell a compelling story with his music, reaching the hearts of his audience and connecting on an emotional, intellectual and spiritual level.

Rosenblum brings this wealth and diversity of experiences to his projects as a leader, overseeing a full tour schedule as a solo artist, with his trio and most recently, with his six-piece ensemble, the Nebula Project. Since his first album as a leader, Instead (4 stars, Downbeat Magazine), he has since released three follow-up records to critical acclaim, including favorable reviews in almost every major jazz publication (Downbeat, All About Jazz, Jazziz, JazzTimes, JazzEd, NYC Jazz Record, JazzLife Japan and many more). Across multiple tours in Japan, Europe, Canada and the United States, Rosenblum has brought his bands to perform at some of the world’s most respected music venues, including Ravinia, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, the Library of Congress, AngraJazz (Terceira Island), Bird’s Eye (Basel) and Yokohama’s Himawari-No-Sato Concert Hall. At any given show, Rosenblum might draw on influences from ten or more countries, with interests going beyond jazz to include various music traditions from South America, Eastern Europe, Ireland, India, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

Short Bio (Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project):

Ben Rosenblum brings his award-winning, genre-bending compositional style to the Nebula Project, a six-piece ensemble featuring a diverse cast of New York City’s most in-demand jazz musicians. Rosenblum boasts an extensive resume, having led bands at prestigious venues around the world (AngraJazz, Ravinia, Library of Congress, Kuumbwa Jazz Center; multiple tours in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan) and touring with several Grammy and Juno recognized artists across various musical genres, including Rickie Lee Jones, Kiran Ahluwalia, Curtis Lundy, Nêgah Santos and Laura Anglade. With the Nebula Project, the pianist/accordionist digs deeply into his cosmopolitan roots in NYC to create a truly global music, drawing from influences as diverse as Brazilian forró, Irish reels and jigs, Bulgarian folkloric songs, Dominican merengue and Middle Eastern traditional rhythms, and combining them with an extensive rooting in American jazz and traditional music. Rosenblum leans on personal experiences working with master musicians from these and other areas of the world in order to write explorative, emotional, narrative-driven compositions that have garnered awards from ASCAP, Downbeat and beyond.

Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project is celebrating their February 2023 release, A Thousand Pebbles. Since the Nebula Project's first album release in 2020, Kites and Strings, The Nebula Project was voted runner-up for Best New Artist in JazzTimes' 2020 Readers' Poll, and the album received positive reviews from over twenty publications, including All About Jazz, NYC Jazz Record, JazzTimes, JazzLife (Japan) and more. Since the 2023 release, the group was featured in an article in Downbeat Magazine’s May 2023 issue, “Worldly Jazz Adventuring” which highlights the adventurous spirit of this ensemble.

Maelstrom, Quebec City (Photo by Daniel Tremblay, 2018)

Partial List of Accomplishments:

As a leader:

• Four albums released: two trio albums, Instead (2017) and River City (2018), and two albums with the six-piece ensemble, the Nebula Project, Kites and Strings (2020) and A Thousand Pebbles (2023). Click the links for more information and press quotes, which include favorable reviews from Downbeat Magazine, Jazziz, JazzTimes, NYC Jazz Record and many other publications.
• Multiple tours in the United States across the Northeast, West Coast, South and Midwest. Highlights include shows at:
  • United States: Ravinia (Chicago, IL), Kuumbwa Jazz Center (Santa Cruz, CA), the Allentown Symphony's Miller Hall (Allentown, PA), Smalls, Mezzrow and The Kitano (New York, NY), Mayo Performing Arts Center (Morristown, NJ), Savannah Jazz (Savannah, GA), the Arts Garage (Delray Beach, FL), The 1905 (Portland, OR), Jazz at Five Festival (Madison, WI), The Sound Room (Oakland, CA), Rudy's Jazz Room (Nashville, TN).
  • Canada: Sid Williams Theatre (Vancouver Island), Upstairs (Montreal), Jazz Room (Kitchener)
  • Europe: AngraJazz Festival 2024 (Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal), Bird's Eye (Basel, Switzerland), King Georg (Cologne, Germany), Auberge des Vergers (Geneva, Switzerland), Heptone (Ittre, Belgium)
  • Japan: Himawari-No-Sato Concert Hall (Yokohama), Akasaka B-flat (Tokyo), Zushi Bunka Plaza (Zushi)
• ​Commissioned compositions from multiple organizations, including a piece for ten person chamber ensemble at the Lake George Music Festival (2024) and a solo violin work for MUSAICS of the Bay (2023).
• ​Composition awards from ASCAP and Downbeat. Finalist at multiple piano competitions, including the American Jazz Piano Competition and Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition.
• Graduate of the Columbia University-Juilliard School of Music joint program. Studied with Frank Kimbrough and Bruce Barth.

Smalls, NYC (Photo by Carlos Bustillo, 2017)

​As a sideman:

• Extensive touring and/or recording relationship with the following artists:
  • ​Rickie Lee Jones (pop, rock, jazz) - Europe, Australia and US Tours, including Prospect Park Bandshell (NYC), Kongsberg Jazz Festival (Norway), the National Concert Hall Dublin (Ireland), Australia Bluesfest (Byron Bay), Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (San Francisco), the Copenhagen Jazz Festival (Denmark), Tavastia (Helsinki), Harpa Concert Hall (Iceland), Stoller Hall (Manchester), Tønder Festival (Denmark)
  • Catherine Russell (jazz, blues) - Japan Tour at the Blue Note Tokyo
  • Kiran Ahluwalia (Indian contemporary music) - US Tours, including Flushing Town Hall (NYC), Globalquerque (Albuquerque, NM), Freight and Salvage (Berkeley, CA), Next Stage Arts (Putney, VT)
  • Laura Anglade (jazz, French chanson) - US and Canada Tours, including Rochester Jazz Festival (Rochester, NY), Jazz Bistro (Toronto, CA), Mezzrow (New York, NY), the Morris Museum (Morristown, NJ). Guest artist on Anglade's Juno-nominated album, Venez Donc Chez Moi (2022)
  • Curtis Lundy (jazz) - US Tours, including multiple performances at the Masten Jazz Festival (Buffalo), the Appel Room at Lincoln Center and other performances with guest artists Warren Wolf, Bobby Watson, Sean Jones and others.
  • Nêgah Santos (Brazilian forró) - US Tours, recorded on 2022 EPK, Forró da Nêgah
  • Ephrat Asherie Dance (Brazilian choro) - US and Mexico Tours, including performances at the Broad Stage (Santa Monica, CA), Cervantino Festival (Guanajuato, Mexico), Vail Dance Festival (Vail, CO), Wortham Center (Asheville, NC) and many others.
  • Deborah Davis (jazz) - US and China Tours, including Blue Note New York and Blue Note Beijing
  • Astrid Kuljanic (Croatian traditional music, jazz) - US and Europe Tours, including the Ljeto na Bundeka Festival (Zagreb, Croatia), the Soboško Poletje Festival (Murska Sobota, Slovenia), and the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.)
  • Gabriela Martina (Swiss yodel, modern jazz) - US and Europe Tours. Recorded on two albums, Homage to Gramlis (2023) and States (2024)
  • Cynthia Sayer (trad jazz, traditional American) - US Tours, including the Atrium at Lincoln Center, Gotham Jazz Fest and the Suncoast Jazz Fest (Sarasota, FL)
• Extensive work in the bands of Patrick Bartley, Jasper Dutz, Ben Zweig Big Beet, Ben Sutin Klazz-Ma-Tazz, Wayne Tucker and the Bad Mothas, the Choro Saints, Sedi Donka Balkan Band, Eduardo Belo, Tatiana Eve-Marie, and many others. This includes recording on multiple albums and video projects with several of these bands across multiple genres, including video game music, Afro-Caribbean music, klezmer, R&B, gypsy jazz, Balkan music, samba and contemporary Brazilian music.
• Other notable appearances
  • ​Baltimore Symphony Orchestra - three performances of The Godfather score at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore) and the Strathmore (Bethesda, MD)
  • Guest soloist with Maestro Reona Ito's NY Harmonic Band at Carnegie Hall's Stern-Perelman (NYC).
  • Featured artist at the Library of Congress for the ASCAP Foundation's We Write The Songs event.

Photo by Hiromitsu Ogata (2017)

As an educator:

• While on tour, Rosenblum has committed himself to educational work, leading and co-leading workshops at Teacher's College at Columbia University, the College of Charleston, University of Tampa, Mount St. Joseph University, University of Minnesota, University of South Carolina, Capilano University, University of Central Florida and many other colleges and high-schools.
• While at Columbia University, Ben founded the Columbia Jazz House, a student-run jazz advocacy group that promotes jazz on campus through concerts, educational workshops and jam sessions. On December 28th, 2015, the Columbia Jazz House was featured in a New York Times article titled "Melodies Night and Day in this Columbia Dorm."  

Click here to listen to some of Ben's recent work.
​Click here for press quotes from tours and albums.