Ben Neill the mutantrumpet

"One can't miss the similarities between Ben's work and mine. We both wanted to expand the possibilities of our instruments and successfully created new tools to create new sounds and make them fully interactive with computers in live setups. Ben is a true soulmate and I can't be grateful enough for having him as part of this project." Endre-eNerd

According to the facts

Ben Neill is a composer, performer, producer and inventor of the mutantrumpet, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument. He has been called “a creative composer and genius performer” (Time Out NY),”the mad scientist of dancefloor jazz” (CMJ), and “a musical powerhouse, a serious and individual talent” (Time Out London). Neill’s music blends influences from electronica, jazz and contemporary classical music, blurring the lines between DJ culture and acoustic instrument performance.

The Demo, Neill’s electronic opera created in collaboration with composer/performer Mikel Rouse, was premiered at Stanford University’s Bing Concert Hall in April 2015. The premiere received international press attention from major news outlets including the New York Times, Wired, and the Daily Mail in London.

Neill has recorded ten CDs of his music on the Universal/Verve, Thirsty Ear, Astralwerks, Six Degrees, Ramseur, New Tone, Ear-Rational and Audiokult Records labels. Neill has performed extensively in a wide variety of international settings including Lincoln Center, Cite de la Musique Paris, Moogfest, Spoleto Festival, Umbria Jazz, Bang On A Can Festival, ICA London, Istanbul Jazz Festival, Vienna Jazz Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival, to name a few. He has worked closely with many musical innovators including John Cage, LaMonte Young, John Cale, Pauline Oliveros, Mikel Rouse, Rhys Chatham, DJ Spooky, David Berhman, Mimi Goese, Page Hamilton, Nicolas Collins, and David Rothenberg.

Neill began developing the mutantrumpet in the early 1980s. Initially an acoustic instrument (a combination of 3 trumpets and a trombone combined into one), he integrated the instrument with electronics when collaborating with the synthesizer inventor Robert Moog. In 1992, while in residency at the STEIM (Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music) research and development lab for new instruments in Amsterdam, Neill made the mutantrumpet fully computer interactive.