Gregg Bendian (born July 13, 1963) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

drummer, percussionist, pianist, and composer.

Early life

Born in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of Engle ...

, Bendian was raised in Fairview and

Teaneck Teaneck () is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. The town is know for their pancake throwing contest held every September. As of the 2020 United States cen ...

. Bendian began playing drums at the age of nine and studied under Gary Van Dyke of the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble. In high school, he began composing chamber music and studied with Noel DaCosta,

Andrew Cyrille Andrew Charles Cyrille (born November 10, 1939) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career, he has performed both as a leader and a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, among others. AllMusic biographer ...

and

Steve McCall Stephen Harold McCall (born 15 October 1960) is an English retired footballer who now works as a scout for Carlisle United. A defensive midfielder during his playing days, McCall built a reputation as a cultured midfield player, with immacul ...

Career

Bendian has played and recorded with

Nels Cline Nels Courtney Cline (born January 4, 1956) is an American guitarist and composer. He has been a guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004. In the 1980s he played jazz, often in collaboration with his twin brother Alex, a percussionist. He has wor ...

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

, Derek Bailey,

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (6 March 1941 – 22 June 2023) was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his m ...

Steve Hunt Steven Hunt (born 1958) is an American jazz pianist and composer. He has released two studio albums, recorded extensively, and toured the world. Music career In 1977, Hunt graduated from Brazoswood High School in Clute, Texas. He then attend ...

Gary Lucas Gary Lucas (born June 20, 1952) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and composer who was a member of Captain Beefheart's band. He formed the band Gods and Monsters in 1989. Lucas has released more than 50 albums to date as a solo artist or ...

and

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in comple ...

amongst others. Albums recorded under his own name and that of his group Interzone, incorporate elements of fusion and

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

. Bendian is fond of recording tributes. With Interzone, he recorded ''Requiem for

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

'', a tribute to the comic book artist. He has also recorded tributes to

Octavia Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer who won several awards for her works, including Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to recei ...

and others. In 1999, he and Nels Cline released ''Interstellar Space Revisited'', a critically acclaimed cover album of

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

's '' Interstellar Space'', which Bendian described as "my love letter to Free Jazz drumming". ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

on CD'' said, "Hard to listen to this contemporary pairing without returning to the source material. Hard to revisit that without wanting to hear Bendian and Cline again." In 2000, he collaborated with violinist Jeff Gauthier, bassist

Steuart Liebig Steuart Liebig, born July 25, 1956, is an American bassist and composer of modern creative jazz and the free improvisational music. He plays 6-string bass guitars. Life and work Liebig grew up in Los Angeles and was influenced as a child by rock ...

, and guitarist G. E. Stinson on an album of collective improvisational pieces recorded live in the studio, entitled ''Bone Structure''. Released in 2003, it was given four stars by Jon Andrews in ''

DownBeat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

'' magazine. 2024: Teaches Drum Tech and Drum Lessons at William Paterson University

References

External links

*https://www.bendianmusic.com/ Gregg Bendian's website] *Performance of Interstellar Space Revisited - Leo with Nels Cline 9/02 at SASSAS @ YouTube
Part One
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bendian, Gregg Jazz-rock percussionists American jazz vibraphonists American jazz pianists 1963 births Living people CIMP artists Avant-garde jazz percussionists Atavistic Records artists American jazz composers American jazz drummers American male drummers Drummers from New Jersey Musicians from Englewood, New Jersey