Ben Lamar Gay
Chicago cornetist Ben Lamar Gay is one of the city's most adventurous and boundary-pushing performers with sound that touches upon avant-garde jazz, hip-hop, indie rock, Brazilian traditions, and experimental electronic composition. A member of the AACM, Gay (who also spent time traveling and living in Brazil) emerged in the 2000s singing and playing a variety of instruments. Most often, he works in the studio, layering his songs with overdubbed parts, as he did on his own Juba Dance album Orange. Over the years, he has proven himself to be an unpredictable artist with a wide-ranging stylistic ear, as evidenced by 2021's wildly inventive Open Arms to Open Us.
Raised on Chicago's South Side, Gay developed his cornet skills as a member of the respected AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). As a solo artist, he released the album Orange under the Juba Dance moniker. From there, he appeared on albums by a diverse range of artists from hip-hop performer Polyphonic the Verbose and jazz drummer Makaya McCraven to alternative R&B artist Coultrain. He has also collaborated with Jaimie Branch, Theo Parrish, Celso Fonseca, and others. In 2018, Gay collected a handful of his own unreleased tracks for his debut album, Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun, on International Anthem. A second full-length, Open Arms to Open Us, arrived in November 2021 and featured appearances from Angel Bat Dawid, Ohmme, Tomeka Reid, Tommaso Moretti, and others.
© Matt Collar /TiVo
Discography
14 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Open Arms to Open Us
Jazz - Released by International Anthem on 19 Nov 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun
R&B - Released by International Anthem on 4 May 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
500 Chains
Jazz - Released by International Anthem on 28 Sep 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Benjamim e Edinho
R&B - Released by International Anthem on 7 Dec 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Sometimes I Forget How Summer Looks On You.
Jazz - Released by International Anthem on 22 Sep 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Confetti in the Sky Like Fireworks (This Is Bate Bola OST)
World - Released by International Anthem on 15 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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East of the Ryan
Jazz - Released by International Anthem on 30 Dec 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Oh Great Be the Lake
Jazz - Released by International Anthem on 6 Oct 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mestre Candeia’s Denim Hat
Jazz - Released by International Anthem on 21 Oct 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Aunt Lola and the Quail
Jazz - Released by International Anthem on 9 Nov 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo