Ben Monder

A progressive stylist with an ethereal, edgy approach, guitarist Ben Monder has been active since the mid-'80s, working with artists such as Jack McDuff, David Binney, and Maria Schneider, among others. His own albums, including 1997's Flux, 2000's Excavation, and 2013's Hydra, are inventive productions combining a vanguard improvisational aesthetic with ECM-styled atmospherics -- a vibrant amalgam he championed on 2015's Amorphae with Paul Motian and Andrew Cyrille. Monder was among the cast of jazz musicians chosen by David Bowie to record Blackstar. In 2019, the guitarist issued the double-length Day After Day. In 2021, he issued Live at the 55 Bar, performing in a bass-less trio with saxophonist Tony Malaby and drummer Tom Rainey. In 2022, he worked in trio with Sunny Kim and Vardan Ovsepian on Liminal Silence, and in 2024, he released the triple-length Planetarium featuring a lineup that included bassist Chris Tordini and three alternating vocalists and drummers.