![]() In 2021, Ben can also be seen performing with the acclaimed soul singer Joy Denalane. Their follow-up album “Obiaa!!” was released on Strut Records in October 2019, receiving 5 stars in London’s Guardian newspaper. The band performed at over 100 international festivals in 20, including Glastonbury, Roskilde, Hertme, Fusion, Sines, Montreal Jazz Festival and WOMADelaide. ![]() Their production “Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band” was released on Strut Records in 2015. In 2014 Ben teamed up with the Ghanaian multi-instrumentalist Kwame Yeboah to create the Kwashibu Area Band, dedicated to the preservation and innovation of Highlife music. Ben produced Ebo’s 2010 album Love and Death, which is considered a classic of its genre. He is a founding member, musical director and producer of the Afrobeat Academy, who recorded and toured with the legendary Ghanaian guitarist and composer Ebo Taylor from 2009 to 2015. He has been seen and heard in diverse musical styles, performing and recording with: Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas, Xavier Naidoo, Tony Allen, Sirone, Poets of Rhythm, Marva Whitney, Gwen McCrae, Max Herre, Ulrich Gumpert, Patrice, Megaloh, Joy Denalane and Guts, among many others. In 2001, Ben moved to Berlin, Germany, where he has been active in the city’s jazz, funk, and West African music scenes. At Bennington College, Ben studied intensively with master drummer and healer Milford Graves. ![]() Ben has studied with: Reggie Workman, Roscoe Mitchell, Charles Gayle, Donald Sinta, Matthew Shipp, Roswell Rudd, Rob Brown, Gary Louie and Charlie Persip. Ben studied saxophone at the University of Michigan, the New School for Social Research, and Bennington College, where he earned a Master’s degree. He began piano lessons at the age of five, and switched to saxophone at age ten. Tenor and baritone saxophonist Ben Abarbanel-Wolff (b.
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