Ben Makinen is a recording artist, composer (BMI), producer and film maker. Born in Maine, Ben grew up in California, Washington, and Oklahoma before graduating high school in Colorado.
Seeing Miles Davis perform live three times and then meeting the Dalai Lama in person forever changed the way Ben would approach the art of music.
As a drummer and percussionist, he has been touring the world as a sideman since 1985 with r&b, funk, and rock bands, jazz trios and big bands, avant-garde electronica ensembles, in Broadway shows, on international cruise ships, and with opera troupes and symphonic orchestras.
Ben is producing a wide variety of recordings for release in 2011 and 2012 from latin jazz to indie rock. Ben is the producer of jazz album Fishleather Jacket which received the Roger Bobo Excellence In Recording Award in June of 2006. Ben is also a 2006 Independent Music Awards Finalist- Film/TV-Multimedia for his song 6AM.
His CDs are sold at CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/group/benmakinen His songs can be downloaded from all major digital music vendors including iTunes and Rhapsody. As a leader and sideman, Makinen has performed on over 40 CDs. He also leads the high-energy jazz trio AREA 15℠.
He has produced 5 CD's: "Area 15℠ Live" http://www.cdbaby.com/area15 "Lost Lullaby" http://www.cdbaby.com/makinen "December" http://www.cdbaby.com/claycabe "Fishleather Jacket" http://www.cdbaby.com/tball and "Rekha" - all available at www.CDBABY.COM
This year (2011) he is currently producing five more CDs:Leslie Brown's Tenderly , Ben's own The Goliath Beetle And The Ladybug" & Quizzical Glance; and Clay Cabe's The Underworld and; Tom Ball's Funky Pants
He has also produced a DVD of traditional african dance and music featuring David Gweshe's troupe Boterekwa from Zimbabwe.
His short films are seen on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/benmakinen
Makinen maintains a busy schedule producing and performing. Ben's recent acting pursuits have landed him a role in the zombie movie Lucky Stiff. He is also cast as a masked alien in Magnets, a film by Alan August. In the early 80s, as a teenager living in Tulsa, OK Ben was cast as an extra in Francis Ford Coppola's film the Outsider's. He is currently writing music for television and film. Ben has also written a children's story on the adventures of two turtles named Chim & Chum.