Origin Records Artist Benjamin Boone

Boone's quartet of poetry albums acts like a four-movement suite .... he's created a movie-like sequence of excellent jazz music alongside literary, poetic genius not found in modern spoken word forms. It presents poetry for what it is—high art, side by side with the height of artistry in Black American music.
Paul Rauch, All About Jazz

Saxophonist and composer Benjamin Boone, a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Ireland (2022-23), Ghana (2017-18), and the Republic of Moldova (2005), is a Professor of Music at California State University Fresno.

His Origin Records album with US Poet Laureate Philip Levine, The Poetry of Jazz, was called "an album of unmistakable... historic importance" (UK Vibe), "a master class in the combining of different art forms...an essay in complementarity" (All About Jazz), and voted #3 "Best Album of 2018" in DownBeat Magazine's 83rd annual Readers Poll. DownBeat noted, "despite the star turns [guests Branford Marsalis, Chris Potter, Greg Osby and Tom Harrell], Boone not only distinguishes himself with uncluttered, affecting orchestrations, but by passionately balancing intellect and emotion." All About Jazz echoed, "these guest artists might be the attraction for the jazz listener, and Levine for the poetry fan, but that would miss the extraordinary music both written and performed by Boone." The album was featured on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," a Staff Pick in The Paris Review, and on Amazon's "Hot New Releases" list for months.

2020's The Poets are Gathering features Kenny Werner, Ari Hoenig, Corcoran Holt, and Ben Monder alongside U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, Pulitzer Prize recipient Tyehimba Jess, and nine other poets. It has been described as "one of the more compelling poetry/jazz outings I've ever come across" (DownBeat), "an absolute must - a vector for the reflection of injustice" (Belgium's Jazz Halo), "worthy of praise" (Black Grooves), and "intense and hard-hitting...socially and politically conscious...Boone's vision surpasses all expectations...Best so far in 2020" (JazzWise). His 2020 album Joy, with The Ghana Jazz Collective, was a #1 "Hot New Release" on Amazon, and named #5 "Best Album of 2020" and #5 "Best Instrumental Group of 2020," in the 42nd Annual JazzStation Awards.

Boone's 2023 release Caught in the Rhythm, featuring Ambrose Akinmusire, Greg Osby, Kenny Werner, Ben Monder, Ari Hoenig, and seven leading poets, has been called "riveting" (Jazz Weekly), "a powerful social narrative post-pandemic... an astonishing collection of modern jazz talent... Boone's brooding, mind-bending playing acts as an amplifier of thought and literary expressionism" (All About Jazz), and "a stunning new album... one of the most interesting albums of the year" (London's JazzFM).

Boone's contemporary classical compositions have been performed in 35 countries, appear on 28 recordings, and have been the subject of several National Public Radio and Bayerischer Rundfunk (German Radio) stories. The past several years Boone has focused on writing music that addresses relevant cultural and environmental issues. His ethnohistorical opera Ascencion, about Native American cultural genocide, co-written with Helene Joesph Weill, was featured on NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday," and his orchestral work Waterless Music: A Drought Symphony, premiered at Los Angeles' Disney Hall, was featured on NPR's "Here and Now."

Boone has received awards and honors from the International Society of Contemporary Music, the Olympia International Prize for Composition, Billboard Magazine, the National Association of Composers, ASCAP Morton Gould Award, Meet the Composer/Southeastern Arts Federation, the National Flute Association, the Southeastern Composers' League, the Delius Foundation, the Central California Valley Music Hall of Fame, and Boston University, among others. He has received fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, The U.S. Department of State, the United States Information Service, the Marianne McPartland Bursary (Ireland), Fundación Valpara'so (Spain), a U.S. Department of State Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Travel Grant (Ethiopia), A*deVantgarde Festival für Nueue Musik, Munich/Office of the American Consulate, The American Music Center, New Music USA, the American Composer's Forum, the North Carolina Arts Council Composition Fellowship, and the Tennessee Arts Commission Composition Fellowship.