Ben Geyer is a New York City-based pianist, composer, and bandleader who has performed throughout the United States and internationally.  He began to play the piano at age eight in Nashua, NH, when his parents found him at a friend’s piano and immediately enrolled him in lessons.  Since then, music has shaped Ben’s life and informed his self-identity.

Ben has distinguished himself as a bandleader through the development of two different acts.  The Ben Geyer Sextet is an ensemble of New York improvisers which has played his original music for packed audiences at The Cutting Room in Manhattan and the Lily Pad in Cambridge, MA.  While its influence is primarily jazz, Ben takes an active interest in extended forms found in classical music.  He is also inspired by extra-musical sources: his East of Eden Suite is based on John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name.

A February 2009 article in the Hippo profiled Ben at length.

While the Sextet expresses Ben’s artistic voice, Ben also leads a cover band which is an outlet for his popular tastes.  He formed The Gate in the summer of 2007 with long-time friends and soon began to pack local bars beyond capacity.  The band’s repertoire is made up entirely of crowd-pleasing pop tunes, and a party atmosphere is inevitable at any Gate show.

Ben has studied with jazz legends Hal Galper and Jon Faddis, as well as classical pianist Ivan Davis, one of Vladimir Horowitz’s few students.  He holds a Bachelor of Music in Studio Music and Jazz, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Miami, and a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from Purchase College, SUNY.