Editor’s Note: Since 1996, more than 320 teenage musicians have been transformed by the Vail Jazz Workshop. Many have become professional musicians, including six returning to Vail this Labor Day weekend to perform as the Alumni Sextet during the Vail Jazz Party. Vail Jazz shares their stories here.
When Benny Benack III takes the stage as part of the Vail Jazz Alumni Sextet at the Vail Jazz Party over Labor Day weekend, it won’t be his first time reuniting with friends he made during the Vail Jazz Workshop. “We’re all so connected from the Vail days. You can’t do a gig in a club in NYC or a major festival around the world without finding some VJW alums together on stage. I’m just trying to keep up with everyone else,” Benack said.
Benack comes from a long line of musicians. His grandfather – a trumpeter known locally as the King of Dixieland – was at the forefront of the Pittsburgh, Pa. jazz scene in the sixties and seventies. Benack’s father is still a working musician, performing primarily on saxophone and clarinet. Father and son have always enjoyed working together. Benack recalls that playing with his father “…was very much how I learned to play different styles. He had a big band. That’s how I got out of having a summer job as a kid. I didn’t have to work at the YMCA or mow lawns because I had just enough gigs with my dad that I could keep my mom off my back,” he said. Assumedly his mother didn’t protest much. Musically gifted herself, Claudia Benack is a vocalist and music theater professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
Another Pittsburgh role model was Sean Jones, who Benack describes as one of the finest trumpet players in the world. It was Jones who encouraged Benack to apply to the Vail Jazz Workshop, where the high school student first met the jazzman who continues to be his mentor to this day: the renowned trumpeter Terell Stafford. “It was really wonderful to be able to work with the best guys in the world like Terell when we were young,” Benack said. “That’s part of what makes the Vail program special. The one-on-one time that we had with the faculty was so instrumental. Musical pun intended!”
To this day, Benack frequently works with his fellow 2008 Workshop classmates. “So many of the people I did the program with that summer are musicians and classmates I collaborate with. They’re some of my best friends in the world,” he said. Whether it’s Gabe Medd (the other 2008 trumpet student), drummer Jimmy Macbride, saxophonist Grace Kelly (who headlined one of the Thursday night Vail Square shows during this summer’s Vail Jazz Festival), or bassist Raviv Markovitz, the deep bonds formed during Benack’s Vail summer remain personally and professionally strong. Alumni from other Workshop classes are part of Benack’s professional sphere as well. His newly released third album, “Third Time’s the Charm,” features Chad Lefkowitz-Brown (’07, sax) and Russell Hall (’10, bass).
Now based in New York, Benack’s star in the jazz world has ascended high and bright. Just 32 years old, he has proven to be a musical triple threat. Not only a sizzling post-bop trumpeter ala Freddy Hubbard, he has also earned kudos for his expressive singing and his show-stopping command of the stage. Last year, Benack was recognized by the 2022 Downbeat Critics Poll as the #2 Rising Star Male Vocalist as well as the top Rising Star Trumpeter. And oh, by the way, he also plays a mean piano.
In addition to touring globally as a bandleader and performer, Benack has performed as a trumpet soloist alongside Josh Groban, Ben Folds, Ann Hampton Callaway and more. A performer at major jazz venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Bemelmans Bar, Birdland, and the Carlyle, he has also been a featured guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops Orchestra, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, and the Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra.
No stranger to the world of television, the Emmy-nominated performer’s recent TV credits include “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” where he frequently performs in the House Band. Benack has bolstered his global fan base through live-streaming concerts at Smalls Jazz Club as well as frequent appearances on Vail Jazz favorite Emmet Cohen’s “Emmet’s Place” weekly show.
As Benack prepares to take the stage along with five other Vail Jazz Workshop alumni, he has some older-brother-style advice for the 2023 Workshop students. “Don’t be shy with the master teachers. This is a special opportunity to be up close and personal and have so much individual attention from these guys,” he said. They have so much knowledge and there’s so much to be gleaned from them. Don’t be afraid to ask their advice. Ask them questions about their instruments, about their lives, their experience. The most valuable thing is to be able to work with these masters.”
The 29th Annual Vail Jazz Party takes place Thursday, Aug. 31 through Labor Day Monday at venues in Lionshead. For tickets go to VailJazz.org.