Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
Trumpeter Ben Neill successfully bridged the gap between ambient music and the avant-garde, further blurring aesthetic boundaries with the development of his mutantrumpet, a revolutionary electro-acoustic hybrid of conventional trumpet and synthesized sound. A native of North Carolina and a product of classical training, Neill relocated to New York City during the mid-'80s, immersing himself in the downtown experimental music scene; increasingly fascinated with minimalism, he studied under the legendary La Monte Young, and with the aid of the synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog designed the first mutantrumpet, an instrument fit with three bells, six valves, a trombone slide and an analog processing system which allowed him to create any number of open, muted and electronic sounds.
In 1984, Neill completed Orbs, his first major composition for mutantrumpet, percussion, and audiovisual projections; pieces including 1985's Mainspring, 1987's Money Talk, and 1988's Abblasen House followed prior to his breakthrough work ITSOFOMO (In the Shadow of Forward Motion), a 1989 collaboration with visual artist David Wojnarowicz. A year later Neill traveled to Amsterdam's Steim Studios to develop a new, MIDI-capable mutantrumpet; the upgrade resulted in the addition of a number of switches, knobs, and pressure-sensitive pads allowing the player to trigger and modify a variety of sounds and sequences, as well as lights and projections, all in real time. After Haydn, a collaboration with electronic composer Nicolas Collins, followed in 1991.
Neill then began a six-year stint as curator of the downtown N.Y.C. performance space The Kitchen, a position which served as his gateway into the burgeoning electronic music scene. Presenting performances by everyone from John Cage to Jim O'Rourke to Future Sound of London, he began increasingly absorbing electronic influences into his work and was particularly fascinated by the local "illbient" movement; originally created as an installation/performance piece, Neill's 1995 album Green Machine instead evolved into a full-blown dance music project, complete with 12" remixes from the likes of Single Cell Orchestra and DJ Spooky. The latter resurfaced on 1996's Triptycal, and Neill also spent the better part of 1997 appearing with Spooky and on the "Sci-Fi Lounge" tour of video-sampling innovator Gardner Post. After the appearance of Goldbug in 1998, Neill was relatively silent until 2002, when a series of productions done for Volkswagen advertisements was turned into a full LP, Automotive. After that, Neill composed for television, film, and stage productions as well as installations in galleries and museums. He began a redesign of the mutantrumpet in 2004 that was completed in 2008. He also started collaborating with LEMUR (the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots) in 2008 and those two developments led to Night Science, released in September 2009.
Wikipedia:
Ben Neill (b. Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 1957) is a composer and trumpeter who has studied with La Monte Young. His music has been recorded on the Thirsty Ear, Astralwerks, Verve, Six Degrees and Ramseur labels. Neill spent seven years as the music curator for The Kitchen in New York. He has collaborated with DJ Spooky, David Wojnarowicz. Page Hamilton, Mimi Goese and Nicolas Collins, and performed on albums by David Behrman, John Cale, Rhys Chatham, and DJ Spooky.
Neill invented the mutantrumpet, which is a trumpet equipped with extra bells and valves, and electrical modifications that allow him to control computer variables with his playing. The first mutantrumpet had three bells, six valves, a trombone slide and an analog processing system. At the Steim Studios in Amsterdam he then developed a MIDI-capable mutantrumpet, which contained more switches, knobs, and pressure-sensitive pads so as to allow greater control over the sound and visuals of his sound installations. Robert Moog designed its original electronic processing system and David Behrman designed a computer program to facilitate live performance. In 2008 Neill completed a new version of his instrument during another residency at Steim.
In 2010 his music theater work Persephone, a collaboration with Mimi Goese, Warren Leight and Ridge Theater featuring Julia Stiles, was presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival. The music from the production was released under the title Songs for Persephone on Ramseur Records in 2011.
He has performed his music extensively in a wide variety of international settings including the Cite de la Musique France, Berlin Love Parade Germany, Spoleto Festival Italy, Umbria Jazz Italy, NIME Festival 2006 Paris, Bang On A Can Festival New York, ICA London, Istanbul Jazz Festival Turkey and the Edinburgh Festival UK. The Sci-Fi Lounge, his collaboration with DJ Spooky and Emergency Broadcast Network, toured America and Europe in 1997.
In 2005 Neill premiered a collaboration with visual artist Bill Jones titled Palladio, an interactive movie based on Jonathan Dee’s 1998 novel of the same name. Palladio was premiered at the New Territories Festival in Glasgow, Scotland, and at the Thalia Theater/Symphony Space in New York City.
In 1996, Neill contributed to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization.
Neill is also active as a sound and installation artist. His collaborative works with Bill Jones have been exhibited in museums and galleries including Sandra Gering Gallery New York, Exit Art New York, Wellcome Gallery London and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Neill’s installation/performance Green Machine was shown at Paula Cooper Gallery in 1994. ITSOFOMO, his major collaborative piece with the late artist David Wojnarowicz, has been exhibited in venues such as The New Museum New York and PPOW Gallery New York, and was featured in the PBS documentary Imagining America.
He began his teaching career in 2007 as a professor of Music Technology at NJIT and as of 2008 he is currently a professor of Music Industry and Production at Ramapo College of NJ.
