Ben Makinen: Home
Ben Makinen, award-winning producer, recording artist, and composer (BMI), channels music from Mozart, Duke Ellington, Led Zeppelin, Brian Eno, Metallica and Zakir Hussein into one cohesive sound.
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.
He is a 2006 Independent Music Awards Finalist: Film/TV-Multimedia.
Ben's hard to find singles for sale:
Ben at the drums:
Ben is the producer of jazz album Fishleather Jacket which received the Roger Bobo Excellence In Recording Award in June of 2006.
Producer Ben Makinen develops records, demos, & soundtracks for bands, singer/songwriters, & film directors. As a drummer he leads numerous bands and enjoys his day job as a session drummer.
Find incredible music recordings for sale from Bmakin Music,
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LOST LULLABY - Electronic & Ambient:
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AREA 15(TM), LIVE - Reverse Engineered Jazz:
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Artistlaunch.com
LOST LULLABY is Ben's first solo release on which he is both producer and performer. It is an enchanting record full of dream-like landscapes.
"Lost Lullaby took me on a trip around the globe with musical images from the Far East to Western concert halls with a stop in the Hearts of Space."
-roseywritr,Reviewer,cdbaby.com
AREA 15(TM): LIVE is a blistering, high-energy recording from producer and drummer Ben Makinen's trio AREA 15℠. This CD features guitarist Mitch Chmara, who is receiving praise from musicians worldwide:
"A Full-fledged Fretboard Fantastique !
The pure love of playing is showcased in a masterpiece performance! Fretboard fire and frenzy in a freeform jazz jam!
A fast swing arrangement for a jazz trio, this awesome improvisational format explores uncharted ground with bold bravado. Tonal and modal moments arrive like scenery along the highway at a pedal-to-the-metal pace. This trip unveils unpredictable soundscapes under fretwork flights of fancy, with flourishes flairing up, floating in the foreground, flying past, fierce and festive, furious, fast, and all fed with feel and finese. F*in' fantastic!
With this fretted fusion engine fuelling the tempo, the bassist fans the flames with his own fitting flair. From firey fluidity to full, fat, fidelity, he holds the rhythm down to earth while adding his own tasty flourishes of melodic fuel. Walking lines at a jog, a trot, a run, he enriches the sound with low end depth with confident competence. Phat!
The drummer's firing on all cylinders with bop-style taste and power, his chops up to par and on the mark! He keeps the meter with polished precision, tight to the rhythm, and launches off in orbit with improvisational intuition as smooth as a flywheel. Swingin', boppin', punchin' and choppin', man, this cat's drivin' with cool control! Top-notch!
A sound mix attuned to the atmosphere they're creating captures the entire excursion in this incredible live performance. The way these guys can read each other, the way they anticipate and respond with such dynamic feel, is absolutely mind-boggling! But here it all is, recorded in all its fret-felt fidelity! Simply off the chart, man! Excellent, excellent performance! Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!"
- Detective
Syracuse, New York
"Wow, what a mind blowing CD... I put it on my top 5 of all time. The guitar is searing, explosive... The music is close to slam jazz... a lot of room for stretching and confounding complexities. Do yourself a favor and get this CD now; you won't be disappointed."
- jsweatpea, Reviewer, Austintown,Ohio
FISHLEATHER JACKET is the most recently released CD on which Makinen performes and serves as producer.
A straight ahead jazz/latin recording, it can be found at http://www.cdbaby.com/tball
Fishleather Jacket is in heavy rotaton on Denver's KUVO 89.3 FM.
Ben Makinen made his screen acting debut in Lucky Stiff directed by Eric Bakst. Bakst submitted this zombie film to the Sundance Film Festival in October of 2005. Makinen plays the role of Steve, an office jerk and a suck-up to his boss. Steve ends up losing his job to, and fighting with, a zombie!
Ben played child and teen roles in college stage productions at Central Washington University until he was 13 years old. He was an extra in Francis Ford Copala's movie The Outsiders, based on the novel by S.E. Hinton, filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After a few more appearances as an extra in made-for TV movies, Ben gleefully abandoned acting by age 16. A life devoted to touring as a drummer followed. Working as a producer and arranger now comes naturally to Ben. His return to movies has got him thinking seriously about acting once again... Makinen laughs, "It's great fun having a chance to strangle a zombie!"