Benny Benack III Quartet

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(2021 Isthmus pick) A dynamic trumpet player and swinging vocalist, Benny Benack III is perhaps most widely known as a singer with the touring sensation that is Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox. But Benack is also making a name for himself in the jazz world as both a charismatic interpreter of standards and a songwriter/arranger; on his most recent album, A Lot of Livin’ to Do, he manages to put a jazz sheen on “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” aka the theme to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Benack finishes a brief Midwest tour at Cafe CODA accompanied by a trio led by Chicago pianist Jeremy Kahn; tickets here.

media release: Triple-threat jazz star Benny Benack III will be performing two shows (7:00 & 9:00pm) at Café CODA with his touring quartet on Monday evening, April 7. Voted the #1 Rising Star Male Vocalist in DownBeat magazine’s most recent critics poll, and #8 Rising Star Trumpet in that same poll, Benny’s Madison appearance is part of a regional tour organized by the new Midwest Jazz Collective, and includes stops in Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Cleveland.

Benny’s repertoire is a mix of jazz standards, Broadway show tunes, and original compositions. Among his many talents, he is an accomplished “vocalese” lyricist, writing engaging lyrics to improvised jazz solos, as he does here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evVDxThlc3o, on the Gigi Gryce composition “Social Call” (in a duet with the great young vocalist Veronica Swift) and on Duke Ellington’s “In a Mellow Tone” (in another duet with fellow trumpeter-vocalist Bria Skonberg), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkel3xlU20k.

A major star in his home community of New York City, 34-year-old Benny has benefitted from a long-term partnership with international jazz hero Emmet Cohen, whose trio backs Benny on his latest album, “Third Time’s The Charm.” Here are two of Benny’s originals from that album:

• “Catching Drift,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XJQ4FykFDQ

• “Roylike” (his tribute to the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove, one of his mentors), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XJQ4FykFDQ

For his CODA shows, Benny will be accompanied by pianist Tyler Henderson, bassist Caleb Tobocman, and drummer Charles Goold.