Ben Riley
Ben Riley (* 17th July 1933 in Savannah , Georgia ; † 18th November 2017 in West Islip , Suffolk County (New York) ) was an American jazz - drummer .
Live and act
Riley's parents moved him from Georgia to New York City when he was four years old. There he became a student of band leader Cecil Scott in his high school years . Since 1953 he served in the US Army , where he was a member of a jazz band. After serving in the Army, he worked with numerous New York musicians, including Randy Weston , Mary Lou Williams , Sonny Rollins , Woody Herman , Stan Getz , Billy Taylor and Johnny Griffin .
In the 1960s he was a partner of the pianist Thelonious Monk , with whom he completed numerous tours and recorded albums. He also performed with Earl Hines , Andrew Hill , Hank Jones , Barry Harris and Clark Terry during this period . After teaching a New York school for five years, he became a member of the New York Jazz Quartet and partner of Alice Coltrane in the mid-1970s . He was also a member of the Ron Carter Quartet , with whose members Buster Williams and Kenny Barron he later formed a trio. This became the band Sphere with the tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse .
After Rouse's death, the band broke up, Riley continued to work with Barron, as well as with Abdullah Ibrahim , Barney Kessel , Chet Baker , Johnny Griffin and others. In 1992 he was inducted into the Coastal Jazz Hall of Fame in his native Savannah. In the field of jazz, he was involved in 32 recording sessions between 1958 and 2013, according to Tom Lord . Riley spent his final years in a nursing home. He died on November 18, 2017 at the age of 84.
Web links
- Works by and about Ben Riley in the catalog of the German National Library
- Ben Riley at Discogs (English)
- Ben Riley at Drummerworld
- Ben Riley at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nate Chinen: Ben Riley, a Jazz Drummer Who Made Accompaniment His Art, Has Died at 84. WBGO, November 19, 2017, accessed on November 19, 2017 (English).
- ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed November 29, 2019)
- ↑ Musician Ben Riley: Dies @ 84 , accessed November 20, 2017.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Riley, Ben |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz drummer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 17, 1933 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Savannah , Georgia, USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | 18th November 2017 |
| Place of death | West Islip (New York) , Suffolk County (New York) |