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Ben Markley

Jazz Pianist/Composer/Arranger - Ben Markley

About Me

Ben Markley Bio

Ben Markley is a pianist, composer, arranger, author, educator, and leader of the Ben Markley Big Band, a daring ensemble known for its inventive and personal reimaginings of modern and contemporary jazz repertoire. Markley’s large-ensemble recordings Clockwise: The Music of Cedar Walton and Ari’s Funhouse— a big band project featuring the music of drummer Ari Hoenig with Hoenig himself on drums—have received widespread critical acclaim. Ari’s Funhouse was named one of DownBeat magazine’s four-star “Best Albums of 2022,” establishing Markley as a distinctive voice in contemporary big band writing. Markley is active internationally as a composer and arranger, with big band and vocal jazz works published through UNC Jazz Press as well as his own website. His music has been performed by ensembles across the United States, and recent commissions include projects for the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Wyoming Jazz Educators All-State Jazz Band. In 2023, Markley published Cedar: The Life and Music of Cedar Walton (University of North Texas Press), the definitive biography of the legendary pianist and composer. The book is based on more than seventy-five interviews with musicians, friends, family members, and industry figures, including Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, and Ron Carter. Walton’s wife, Martha Walton, granted Markley access to her extensive personal archives, providing rare photographs, correspondence, and historical documents that deeply informed the research. Markley is also the author of A Practical Approach to Improvisation: The David Hazeltine Method (Jamey Aebersold Jazz, 2014), which documents Hazeltine’s improvisational process through etudes derived from transcriptions. An active performer throughout the Denver metropolitan area and the Front Range, Markley currently teaches jazz piano and serves as Department Chair of Music at the University of Wyoming.

In the fall of 2005 Markley moved to the jazz capital of the world to pursue a masters degree in jazz studies at New York University. While in New York, he studied with Brian Lynch, David Hazeltine, George Garzone, John Scofield, and Joe Lovano. In the summer of 2005 Markley was part of a trio that won the Promising Artists of the Twenty-First Century competition at NYU. This group toured and gave master classes in Costa Rica. Additionally, Markley has worked as an educator in several roles. He was as an adjunct piano instructor at New York University and is currently an instructor for the Virtual College at Fort Hays State University. Markley has as taught at various music camps and been a guest soloist and clinician for schools and universities in the Midwest.