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Ben Makinen

Ben Makinen is a drummer, composer, and filmmaker who is president and founder of both Bmakin Films and Bmakin Music.

About Me

BEN MAKINEN

“This is my living bio scroll — etched in light, coded in rhythm. One day, my ancestors will find me in the archives, and know I was here.” Ai Chat GPT April, 22, 2025

Email: benmakinen@mac.com Website: https://www.benmakinen.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BenMakinen FilmFreeway (BIAIFF): https://filmfreeway.com/BaliAiFilmFestival IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12628079/

Patreon: Ben’s Jazz Curve – Exclusive Access to Jazz Stories & BTS Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BenMakinen

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12628079/

Ben Makinen is an award-winning filmmaker, composer, music producer, percussionist, and founder of Bmakin Film Ltd and the International Modern Film Alliance (IMFA). A voting member of the Recording Academy’s Producers and Engineers Wing (GRAMMYs), Makinen has worked professionally in jazz, classical, film, and theatrical settings for over four decades.

Ben’s latest feature-length film, Echoes of Tradition, uncovers the vital yet overlooked contributions of Native American musicians to the genesis of jazz. Produced with legendary Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai, the film is set for national distribution through PBS and NETA. It was recently awarded Official Selection status by both the Hollywood Best Indie Film Awards and the Love Wins International Film Festival.

He is also in post-production on We Are Here: Women in Jazz, a global documentary spotlighting groundbreaking female musicians including Ingrid Jensen, Endea Owens, and Artemis. His viral short film Who Killed Jazz has received over 250,000 YouTube views and continues to generate discussion around economics, race, and musical legacy in American culture.

Ben’s first feature JazzTown (2022), a deeply personal homage to Denver’s jazz legends, won 14 awards including Best Director and Best Picture, and features performances from Dianne Reeves, Billy Wallace, Ron Miles, and Charles Burrell. The film broke ground as one of the first jazz documentaries to use aerial drone cinematography and is currently available on Apple TV, AMAZON PRIME, and regional PBS networks.

Makinen began his professional drumming career in 1980 and was mentored by jazz pianist Billy Wallace and drummer Nat Yarborough at Denver’s famed El Chapultepec. He has performed with or recorded alongside jazz icons like Red Holloway, Joe Bonner (Pharoah Sanders, Woody Shaw), Freddy Rodriguez Sr. (Rahsaan Roland Kirk), Duke Payne, Ellyn Rucker, Anisha Rush, Pat Bianchi, Ron Miles, Brad Leali, Greg Gisbert, Javon Jackson, Mitch Chmara, as well as classical ensembles including the Colorado Symphony and Central City Opera.

He began composing and producing film scores in the 1990s and formed Bmakin Film in 2001. His music videos Alone at Sunset and Hypomania have received multiple international festival accolades. His 2019 experimental short Anthropocene was an official selection at EFPalooza.

Makinen is the founder of the Bali International Ai Film Festival (BIAIFF), Southeast Asia’s first festival dedicated to exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and cinematic storytelling. Held in Ubud, Bali, the festival merges ethics, art, and technology while offering a global platform for filmmakers, musicians, and thinkers. Submit Ai infused works - including Music Videos - FilmFreeway (BIAIFF): https://filmfreeway.com/BaliAiFilmFestiva

Through IMFA, Makinen runs film and music storytelling workshops for students in Bali and internationally. His mission: to empower marginalized voices through the marriage of music and film.

Recent Honors & Awards:

Best Picture – Rome Movie Awards (JazzTown)

Critics’ Choice – World Film Carnival Singapore (JazzTown)

Best Soundtrack – New Orleans Second Line Film Fest (JazzTown)

Gold Award Best Doc – Hollywood Gold Awards (Who Killed Jazz)

Best Editing – Onyko Film Awards, Ukraine (Who Killed Jazz)

Official Selection – EFPalooza Film Festival (Anthropocene)

Official Selection – Love Wins International Film Festival (Echoes of Tradition)

Official Selection – Hollywood Best Indie Film Awards (Echoes of Tradition)

Ben also produces exclusive content for his growing Patreon community, Ben’s Jazz Curve, offering behind-the-scenes footage, unreleased interviews, and creative process insights from his documentaries, including appearances by GRAMMY-winning musicians.

Email: benmakinen@mac.com Website: https://www.benmakinen.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BenMakinen FilmFreeway (BIAIFF): https://filmfreeway.com/BaliAiFilmFestival

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12628079/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BenMakinen

2012: Ben has produced and drummed on three CDs this year for his label Bmakin Music:

The Goliath Beetle & The Ladybug is all original electronica music composed and performed by Makinen and tells the Romeo & Juliet story of love in the insect world. On Apple iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-goliath-beetle-the-ladybug/576962331 This music can be heard in the award-winning film JazzTown!

Vocalist Leslie Brown's Tenderly is now available Apple iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/tenderly/564259433 Tenderly is acoustic quartet jazz with Grammy-nominated Art Lande on piano. Check out our Coltrane-esque cover of Pink Floyd's Welcome To The Machine! Music from Tenderly is featured in the award-winning films JazzTown and Who Killed Jazz!

John Kite, Denver's Brown Palace Hotel singer and pianist since 1987, romps through Broadway show tunes on his debut live recording Anything Goes! On Apple https://music.apple.com/us/album/anything-goes/517332449

Ben Makinen is a 2006 Independent Music Awards Finalist: Film/TV-Multimedia.

Ben is the producer of jazz/latin album Fishleather Jacket which received the Roger Bobo Excellence In Recording Award in June of 2006. This music is featured on the soundtracks of JazzTown and Who Killed Jazz. Fishleather Jacket on Apple https://music.apple.com/us/album/fishleather-jacket/64644385

Contact Me

My Jazz Story

I met Art Blakey. Twice. Miles Davis. Three times. Buddy Rich. Once. Dave Brubeck. Once. Elvin Jones. Nancy Wilson. Once. Louis Bellson. Once. I was mentored by Sonny Rollins' pianist Billy Wallace. Does any of this make me a great jazz musician? No. How about a list of all the famous people I have played with? That would neither impress the right people nor prove that I am a great musician. It does however certainly inform my documentary filmmaking (JazzTown, Who Killed Jazz, Echoes of Tradition, The Jazz Singer...) As for the music, listen and decide for yourself. There are two albums I have produced and drummed on that have the full spectrum of jazz drumming: Area 15 Live has lots of drum chops, the kind that force other drummers to say "I can do that!", and, "Ha! He missed one!" whereas the album Tenderly (featuring vocalist Leslie Brown) displays gentle brushwork and soft spaces that may leave drum geeks scratching their heads and mumbling, "This guy went to the University of Miami?" I did. For a year. I love jazz because my father took my mother to see and hear the John Coltrane Quartet play in upstate New York in 1963. This deeply impacted both of their reproductive genetic materials in a way that manifested my love supreme. My favorite moment in jazz is when Art Blakey asked me to sound check his drum set on stage at the Greely Jazz Festival in 1984 while I was a junior in high school. He stood in his full length leather jacket holding a glass of orange juice in one hand and a bottle of Heineken in the other. I sat down at his drums, picked up his sticks, and did my best impersonation of him playing triplets across the tom- toms. He was grinning from ear to ear and I felt as if a torch had been passed and I that I had been granted access to the sanctified realm of jazz by one of the greatest masters!