Born in 2002 in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Northampton, Massachusetts, BEN has been around music his entire life. Starting at a young age, he began taking piano lessons with local pianist and organist Beau Sasser, however, he had trouble connecting to the instrument. BEN also dabbled in playing drums, guitar and ukulele in his early age and found similar results. At the age of 11, he picked up the trumpet to play in the middle school concert band and found a real connection to wind instruments. Along with trumpet, he briefly took saxophone lessons at age 13 but never kept it up. His affinity for trumpet and classical music continued into high school, but he eventually transitioned to jazz and the tenor saxophone as a primary instrument at age 16.

Throughout high school, BEN participated in the concert band, jazz band, marching band, and pit bands for Grease and The Sound of Music. In junior year, he formed a jazz fusion quartet, (the) BIAS Jazz Experiment, which began his love for playing jazz music. From there he also participated in UMass Amherst’s Jazz In July program in the summer of 2020. 

After graduating from Northampton High School in 2021, BEN has gone on to attend the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford and is currently working towards a BM in Jazz Saxophone Performance. There, he studies with former Jazz Messenger, Javon Jackson, as well as other Connecticut natives Steve Davis, Matt DeChamplain, René McLean and others. Over his first couple of years, he has slowly, (but surely), been making his way onto the Connecticut jazz scene, often at jam sessions and shows in Hartford, New Haven, and Old Lyme while also gigging throughout CT and the Western MA area. In the summer of 2022, BEN started Florence Summer Jazz Nights, a series of shows and jam sessions in partnership with BOMBYX Center for Arts & Equity as a way of giving music back to the community.

BEN plays heavily within the hard bop and straight ahead styles, but looks for influence in all types of music. His playing has been heavily influenced by saxophone legends such as Dexter Gordon, Hank Mobley, Sonny Rollins, and cites John Coltrane as his biggest influence. 

EQUIPMENT

Ishimori Wood Stone Tenor Saxophone

JodyJazz SuperJet 7* Mouthpiece

Ishimori 3 Reeds / Boston Sax Shop 3 Reeds

Rovner Platinum Ligature

Just Joe’s Neck Strap

Eastman ESS642 Soprano Saxophone

Vandoren V16 7* Mouthpiece

Boston Sax Shop 2.5 Reeds

Rovner Dark Ligature