Benito Gonzalez

Benito Gonzalez [piano] Buster Williams [bass] Lenny White [drums] Emilio Modeste [saxophone] Pianist Benito Gonzalez, two times Grammy nominee, is an internationally beloved artist who combines a long lineage of American jazz traditions with rhythms from around the world. Benito Gonzalez is an exhilarating pianist who won the 2005 Great America Jazz Piano Competition and was honored in 2020 to be a Steinway & Sons artist for “his sound [that] is recognizable for the powerful rhythm section and Afro-Latin patterns he prioritizes across his projects.” The Venezuela-born, New York-based artist grew up playing traditional Venezuelan folk music with his family before absorbing the inventiveness of such pianists as Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett who inspired him to join in the explorations on the instrument. Leonard "Lenny" White III is one of the founding fathers of the jazz-rock movement and is a four-time GRAMMY Award winner. Lenny is an American jazz fusion drummer who was a member of the band Return to Forever led by Chick Corea in the 1970s. Lenny has played and collaborated with artists such as Joe Henderson, Gato Barbieri Gil Evans, Stan Getz, Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, and Chaka Khan. GRAMMY Award winner Buster Williams is a prodigious artist whose playing knows no limits. He has played, recorded and collaborated with jazz giants such as Art Blakey, Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Chet Baker, Chick Corea, Dexter Gordon, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Nancy Wilson, Elvin Jones, Miles Davis, Ron Carter, Sarah Vaughan and Bobby Hutcherson, to name a few. Emilio Modeste is a young, New York-based tenor saxophonist and composer. He is currently lead saxophonist in the bands of Stanley Clarke N 4EVER and Cindy Blackman Santana. Modeste has shared the bandstand with world-renowned musicians including: Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb, Buster Williams, Patrice Rushen, Lenny White, Gary Bartz, Steve Turre, Christian McBride, Rene McLean, Antoine Roney, Donald Harrison, and many more. He spent his early musical years as saxophonist in the Wallace Roney Quintet.