Bio
Ben Fox has been making a name for himself in his adopted home of New Orleans for nearly ten years. He's played with local luminaries such as Aurora Nealand, Tuba Skinny, Meschiya Lake, Wendell Brunious, Herlin Reily, Shannon Powell, Jamil Sharif, James Evans, Dr. Sick, as well as members of the Preservation Hall Jazz band and members of the Louisiana Philharmonic.
He plays regularly at Fritzels on Bourbon Street, and for the jazz brunches at Commander's Palace and Antoine's.
the longer version
I play the upright bass, and timbre and tone are important to me. To that end, depending on the situation, I also play tuba, trombone, trumpet, french horn, euphoniums, cello, violin, guitar, mandolin, banjo, piano, viola da gamba, cornetto, and various folk percussion instruments.
I love history and historical performance. I made a special effort to study medieval and renaissance music on the viola da gamba, and I've spend a lot of time with various periods of historical american folk music, on strings and brass, as well as shape note music, which originated in boston in the 1700s. I'm now moving through performing ragtime, blues, and traditional jazz, and I'm in the middle of digging more into bebop, straight ahead, and free improvisation. I've played (and learned!) music in over half of the states in the United States, as well as Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Finland, Estoina, the Canary Islands, and China. A Word About Bands
About half of my business here in New Orleans comes from being a side man or substitute. The other half comes from bands which I lead or am an official member of. At the moment, my projects are: The Ben Fox-Trot Orchestra - a small big-band style, early swing, dance band (upright bass) The Ben Fox Blues Edition - bluesy and soulful jazz for dancing (upright bass) Ben Fox Chordless Quartet - has existed in a few permutations Rogue Baroque - medieval and baroque music (viola da gamba) Terza - a community based choir that sings music from Corsica and Georgia (voice) ZFE - jazz standards Trepidations - is an ambient/noise project As of 2021, I play Saturday and Monday nights in the house band at Fritzels, and every other Saturday at Commanders Palace for brunch. While the list of people I play with on a "sub"stitute basis is necessarily changing, these are some of them: Fritzel's All-Stars The Jazz Vipers The Dukes of Dixieland Shotgun Jazz Band Tuba Skinny Smoking Time Jazz Club Dr. Sick and the Late Greats Richard "Piano" Scott Anna Quinn Steve DeTroy James Evans Duke Heitger Aurora Nealand Russel Welch Eric Merchant Marty Peters and the Party Meters Dinosaurchestra Chris Christy Gina Leslie Ashley Beach Egg Yolk Jubilee Albanie Falletta Harry Mayronne The Dapper Dandies G-String Orchestra River City Hit Squad 8 Dice Cloth Catie Rogers' Gentilly Stompers Steve Yokum's Catahoula Music Company Hot Toddy and his Fully Dressed Po' Boys Charlie Kohlmeier Joe Cabral Jeremy Joyce Carl Keith's Tangiers Combo Luke Brechtelsbauer Bremner Duthie Harry Mayronne Anaïs St. John |
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Where
I've been living in New Orleans since 2013. That was a while ago. It's been quite a ride.