Ben Wittman
Percussionist, composer, and producer Ben Wittman was raised in the creative and adventuresome atmosphere of Bennington College, Vermont in the '60s and '70s. His parents, Josef and Martha Wittman, were both artists and were senior faculty at the college when Ben was growing up. Martha is one of the seminal dancers to emerge from the Judson Project dance scene in New York City and, after a successful and highly respected four-decade teaching career at Bennington, is currently choreographing and touring with the Liz Lehrman Dance Exchange. Joe Wittman was an accomplished classical and jazz pianist, as well as a composer who wrote numerous dance scores and chamber works, and accompanied dance at Bennington for 27 years.
From an early age, Ben had a rich and supportive environment in which to explore the creative arts. Ben initially studied piano, but by age 11 was drawn to the energy and rhythm of the drumset. He pursued this passion into high school, where he studied with Milfred Graves and Freddie Waits. He moved to Boston in 1982, attending the New England Conservatory of Music and graduating in 1986 with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance. He spent his time in Boston working with some of the great artists there, including Bob Moses, Mike Methany, Bruce Bartlett, Duke Levine, Ruthie Ristich, Brad Hatfield, and African percussionist and ethnomusicologist David Locke, with whom he had a six-year association. This period also included a two-month tour to Ghana in 1984.
While in Boston, Ben played with the regionally popular rock band, "Knots and Crosses," and along with Alain Mallet, produced two records for the duo "The Story." While his work with "The Story" and "Knots and Crosses" helped develop his rock/pop/folk playing and production experience, it was a five-year association with Spanish vocalist Olga Roman and her love of classic Brazilian repertoire that inspired Ben to dig deeply into the African, Cuban, and Brazilian cultures. Another local band, "Oyie," that Ben lead with composer/ keyboardist and long-time colleague Jamshied Sharifi, proved to be an excellent outlet for fusing his traditional Ghanaian drumming studies with his love of more contemporary funk/dance-based rhythms.
Ben moved to New York in 1993, where he continues to combine his love of world rhythms, songwriting, and production. Upon his arrival in NYC he reconnected with a musician with whom he'd played in Boston during the mid '80s, clarinetist Don Byron. As luck would have it, Don was forming an ensemble to play and record some newly composed material using Cuban rhythms as a foundation. Ten years later, Ben's playing with Don remains one of his most vital performance outlets. His tenure in New York has also included recording and performing with a diverse range of artists from Paul Simon, Laurie Anderson, Jonatha Brooke and Rosanne Cash, to Don Byron and
contemporary Celtic artists Eileen Ivers, Solas and Cathie Ryan.
While in town, Ben leads a busy and diverse life in the live and studio scenes, appearing on numerous records, TV jingles and film scores, as well as producing records for artists including Jennifer Kimball, Lucy Kaplansky, Patty Larkin, Peter Eldridge, and Joel Harrison.
Ben can also often be found touring internationally in Europe, the UK, Asia and South America, with an eclectic roster including Don Byron, Laurie Anderson, Erasure, Solas, Keiko Lee, Jiro Yoshida, Yungchen Lhamo, and the New York Voices.