Ben Ferris is a busy cat. An educator by day, he teaches music at Winnequah Elementary School in Monona, runs the jazz program at Madison Memorial High School and gives private lessons. By night, he’s one of the hardest-working bassists in town. In addition to leading his own quintet and octet, Ferris holds down the bottom end for Edi Rey y Su Salsera, Nuggernaut, the Big Payback, the Gabe Burdulis Band, the Neophonic Jazz Orchestra and an ever-expanding list of other local ensembles that grows too fast to keep track of.
Somehow Ferris has managed to squeeze some recording time into that ridiculous mix. On Dec. 16 at Crescendo Espresso Bar and Music Cafe, Ferris and company will celebrate the release of the Ben Ferris Quintet’s debut album, Home. The quintet features Paul Dietrich on trumpet; Nicholas Bartell on tenor sax; Miguel McQuade, who recently abandoned Madison for the Big Apple, on drums; and local piano mainstay Paul Hastil.
Home is more than a showcase for Ferris’s considerable bass chops, honed at UW-Madison under the tutelage of bass master Richard Davis. The compositions — five of which are by Ferris, two by Bartell and two by Dietrich — are well-crafted, harmonically rich and rhythmically diverse, finding space to explore while remaining anchored firmly within the bounds of mainstream contemporary jazz. Each member gets plenty of opportunities to shine, but you can kind of tell it’s Ferris’ baby. You need only hear his tasty bow work on “Good for Bees” and his plucked lead on the title track to recognize that this is not one of those bands where the bassist gets to stand in back and Snapchat while his mates carry the load.
