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Born in Vancouver and raised in Los Angeles, Ben Wendel is a Brooklyn-based performer, composer, and producer with a wide-ranging career spanning jazz, contemporary music, and film. A founding member of the Grammy-nominated group Kneebody, he has toured, performed, and recorded with artists including Tigran Hamasyan, Bill Frisell, Terence Blanchard, Antonio Sanchez, Gerald Clayton, Moonchild, Louis Cole, Snoop Dogg, and Prince. Wendel has released numerous recordings on labels such as Edition, Concord, Motéma, Sunnyside, and Brainfeeder, including acclaimed solo projects like The Seasons, High Heart, All One, and Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard.
Wendel's work has earned honors including ASCAP Jazz Composer Awards, multiple Chamber Music America New Works Grants, the Canada Council for the Arts’ Victor Lynch-Staunton Award, and he has co-written music for film and television. An Eastman School of Music graduate, former faculty member at USC and The New School, and dedicated educator, Wendel has led hundreds of masterclasses worldwide and reached students in over sixty countries.