Ben Monder

A progressive stylist with an ethereal, edgy approach, guitarist Ben Monder has been active since the mid-'80s, working with artists such as Jack McDuff, David Binney, and Maria Schneider, among others. His own albums, including 1997's Flux, 2000's Excavation, and 2013's Hydra, are all inventive productions combining a vanguard improvisational aesthetic with ECM-styled atmospherics -- a vibrant amalgam he championed on 2015's Amorphae with drummers Paul Motian and Andrew Cyrille. Monder was among the cast of jazz musicians chosen by David Bowie to record his final album, Blackstar. In 2019 the guitarist released the double-length Day After Day. In 2021, Monder issued Live at the 55 Bar, performing in a bass-less trio with saxophonist Tony Malaby and drummer Tom Rainey (and reprised their performance on 2022's Live in Lisbon); worked in trio with Sunny Kim and Vardan Ovsepian on Liminal Silence. In 2024 Monder released the triple-length Planetarium, with a lineup that included bassist Chris Tordini and three alternating vocalists and drummers. Born in 1962 in New York City, Monder started out on the violin before switching to guitar around age 11. After high school, he studied first at the Westchester Conservatory of Music, and later at Queens College and the University of Miami. By the mid-'80s, he had embarked on his professional career, playing early on with organist Jack McDuff, and then with artists like Lee Konitz, Maria Schneider, and Paul Motian. As a leader, Monder released his trio's debut, Flux, featuring bassist Drew Gress and drummer Jim Black, in 1995. A collaboration with vocalist Theo Bleckmann, No Boat, appeared a year later. Dust, Monder's second trio album, came out in 1997 and found bassist Ben Street replacing Gress. The following year, he joined Gress' Jagged Sky ensemble for Heyday. In 2000, Monder issued Excavation, which again featured singer Bleckmann, drummer Black, and electric bassist Skuli Sverrisson. Another album with Bleckmann, Oceana, arrived in 2005, and also featured Sverrisson, bassist Kermit Driscoll, and drummer Ted Poor. In 2009, the guitarist paired with saxophonist Bill McHenry for the duo album Bloom, and in 2012, he recorded another duo album, Equilibrium, this time with Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu for Fresh Sound New Talent. In 2013, he put together a larger group for Hydra, featuring Bleckmann, Sverrisson, Poor, bassist John Patitucci, and vocalists Gian Slater and Martha Cluver. In 2015, Monder made his ECM debut with Amorphae, which featured some of the final performances of drummer Paul Motian, who died during the recording process. The guitarist finished the album with keyboardist Andrew Cyrille and drummer Paul Rende. The following year, he paired with vocalist Sunny Kim for the atmospheric duo album The Dream of the Earth. He then joined pianist Randalu and Finnish drummer Markku Ounaskari on ECM for Absence. In 2019, Monder issued the trio album Day After Day, working with longtime associates bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Ted Poor. While playing a weekly residency at 55 Bar in New York City in early 2020, Monder presented a recurring project with saxophonist Tony Malaby, a bass-less trio with drums. Tom Rainey helmed the revolving drum chair on March 3, 2020, a week before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down. They played two completely improvised sets that evening which were recorded and released as Live at The 55 Bar in February 2021. Monder joined Bad Plus for their eponymous 2022 effort, and released Live in Lisbon alongside Tony Malaby and Tom Rainey. The following year the guitarist appeared with vocalist Sunny Kim and pianist Vardan Ovsepian on Liminal Silence, played a sideman role with Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma on Aria, and played with saxophonist Jeremy Udden on Wishing Flower. In 2024, Monder remained exceptionally busy. He played on recordings by Taylor Deupree (Sti.ll), Jon Irabagon (Recharge the Blade), and Disciplinary Architecture with bassist Matt Pavolka, keyboardist Santiago Leibson, and drummer Allan Mednard. Monder also released his ambitious triple-album Planetarium for Sunnyside that September. Its lineup included bassist Chris Tordini, three alternating vocalists (Charlotte Mundy, Emily Hurst, and Theo Sable), and rotating drummers Ted Poor, Joseph Branciforte, and Satoshi Takeishi. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi