Ben Graves

Ben was born and raised in Tennessee, close to the musical cities of Nashville and Memphis, where he discovered his love of blues, rock, and jazz. Influenced by Wes Montgomery, Grant Green and John Coltrane at an early age; Ben has developed a style blended with not only jazz elements, but Latin, classical and world music as well.

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Ben has studied, shared the stage, and toured with national and internationally known artists including Rick Zunigar (Stevie Wonder), Tony Dumas, Leon Russell, Dick Berk and Charles McPherson. While living in Los Angeles, he studied classical guitar with Scott Tennant (of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet), Evan Hirschelman, and Robert Mayeur. Ben has performed in music festivals all over the U.S., including the Reno Jazz Festival and Portland Jazz Festival. He has performed with local jazz greats including Ron Steen, Andre St. James, Bobby Torres, Dave Captein and Darrell Grant. Ben holds his Bachelors of Music in Jazz Studies degree from Portland State University where he focused on orchestration, composition, jazz arranging and jazz piano. Ben currently resides in Portland, OR where he performs regularly in jazz, chamber music and Latin ensembles.

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