Gallery • 10 Photos

Jazz Band

Five time Grammy nominated artist, Contemporary Jazz Pianist and Composer, Dave Benoit, visited Lincoln High School’s music department to perform and talk about his music career with the students.

Currently in his Charlie Brown Christmas tour, he stopped by and talked about his early discovery with music: “There is an old saying that people say, that the instrument chooses you… in my room [as a child], there was a piano, and my mother would come by and play for a little while,” said Benoit.

Benoit told students about his early gigging and clubbing days in Los Angeles.  The particular venue he played at, he recalls that he was the only “white guy” in the building, and that he learned and molded his craft in Jazz while playing with black Jazz Musicians, exposing him to new ideas and inspiration from 9 o’clock at night until 1 in the morning.

It was a time when Jazz has not yet been institutionalized in universities and colleges across the United States. A majority of Jazz musicians from the past had only learned by listening and participating in jam sessions and clubs that were in their  vicinity. There were no schools that taught how to play jazz; most of the music schools rejected jazz at the time and only focused on classical studies.

He largely grew up listening to Henry Mancini, who was a famous arranger, composer, and conductor known for his famous “Pink Panther” and “Peter Gunn” theme song, and other television and movie themes. Dave Benoit was also influenced by great Jazz Pianist Bill Evans. Benoit recalls meeting him in New York, saying, “He was a very generous and nice guy…it was a great pleasure of meeting him before he passed away.”

A great highlight was Dave Benoit performing popular tunes like “Skating” from the Charlie Brown Chirstmas, “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven, and “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck, but in a combo setting, with the accompaniment of the Jazz Bands’s Rhythm Section and 1st Tenor sax player, sophomore Jason Chung. Benoit also performed “Autumn Leaves” and “Whisper Not” with the Lincoln Jazz Band, showing his amazing musicianship in improvising and comping and his great repertoire in different musical styles.

Dave Benoit is a very well rounded and humble musician who lives to play music, whether it be jazz or classical, or even both. He plays because he loves to do it.

In a Q&A segment, one Lincoln student asked him, “What kept you motivated to play music and not give up, knowing that you have people against what you believe in?”

His response was, “Well, music was the only thing that I knew, I didn’t really know how to do anything else, and if I gave up, I don’t know what else to do. Music for me was something that I knew I wanted to do, and I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”

For more Information and Discography, go to: www.Benoit.com