- Mastering those parallel dimensions
with a jazzy ease -

He began playing piano at seven and discovered jazz at fifteen. Since then, the Berklee College of Music graduate, IMA winner and multiple IMA-Jazz-nominee Marco Benevento, has been on tour  all across the U.S., several times, has toured abroad, has released four solo albums, another four albums as part of the critically acclaimed Benevento Russo Duo and another album with the group Garage A Trois. He has played Playing Carnegie Hall on a bill with Jamie Cullum, bewitched  Fricke from Rolling Stone and, as if he needed to prove some kind of superpower  to the world (let's say the ability to split into five people or maybe a kind of super stamina), has had the time to start up The Royal Potato Family.

Many find it extremely difficult to classify his musical style, maybe this is down to the fact that it is unclassifiable, but this is one of its multiple beauties.

We could say, just so we can give you an idea of where you would be able to find this, mainly instrumental, material, that it is a fusion of jazz, rock and experimental music. But, unlike many others, Benevento’s musical experiments make a melodical, warm, intelligent, soulful sense.

Acoustic piano with distorted electric bass, film projectors for amplification, all sorts of vintage keyboards, including an Optigan , drum kits “enhanced” with old car parts, samplers, loops, circuit bent toys, glockenspiels, guitars, a homemade array of effects pedals… Eno must feel proud, for, in a Brooklyn style, Benevento is exploring those parallel dimensions with a deliciously outrageous imagination, and mastering them with a jazzy ease.

His latest solo album "BETWEEN THE NEEDLES & NIGHTFALL", will take you to a childhood time-space where you will happily observe your own growth process, bring you back into wild jazz land where anything is possible, tele-transport you into a Blade Runner scene, wet your appetite with delicate drops of infinite harmony and definitely bring out the adventurer in you.

MDM: Marco, thank you very much for responding to this interview, we are really pleased with your participation in this issue of the MDM Wonderlance.Could you possibly imagine a life without music?

MARCO: Pasta without sauce? Cookies without milk? No way! Life IS music.

MDM: You have been a member of the New York's jazz and experimental music scene since 1999. If you had to choose three particular moments of your professional life in this environment, which have imprinted themselves in your mind forever, you would choose...

MARCO: Playing Carnegie Hall last year with Andrew Barr and Reed Mathis.

Touring with Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon and Joe Russo

Having my second child at my apartment in Brooklyn

MDM: Your ability to make music with an almost infinite array of non-conventional instruments/processes is obvious, and this complements seamlessly your masterful piano skills. Does creativity tend to come to you naturally or do you work at it with cleverness?

MARCO: I like to do things in my studio without delay. If I have an idea or a certain sound I'm thinking of I'll do whatever it takes to make it all happen - sometimes that takes 5 minutes and sometimes it takes 5 weeks!

MDM: What pieces, from your previous albums, do you personally feel most proud of?

MARCO: Now They're Writing Music (Me Not Me), The Real Morning Party (Invisible Baby), Snow Lake (Between The Needles).

MDM: For you, what are the main differences in terms of emotion, from composing, to jamming with other musicians, to playing live for an audience?

MARCO: That's a great question. Ideally when you compose you wouldn't want any thought to interrupt the "writing" process and that ideal closely relates to the process of live improvisation as well. So, in that way they are very similar. Even further many bands record their improvisations to try and remember their "spur of the moment" mind frame because that's when the "magic" is happening.

That being said though I actually think they are also very different.
The song writing process most often involves different days to rework your germ of an idea. Live improvisation leaves any plans for reworking in the dust.

MDM: What song of "Between The Needles and Nightfall” feels more timeless to you?

MARCO: Two Of You.

MDM: What can you say to our readers that “The Royal Potato Family” has that other labels don’t?

MARCO: Kevin Calabro!!!

MDM: Is there anybody with whom you would just love to share the stage?

MARCO: Paul McCartney

MDM: Where and when can the public listen to you live next?

MARCO: At marcobenevento.com you can find all of your Marco needs.
I'm playing a handful of shows in Canada in October and then touring New England after that! In the immediate future, I'm finishing a run of shows with Garage A Trois on the West Coast and then head straight to Colorado to join up with Surprise Me Mr. Davis.

MDM: Marco, again, it’s been a pleasure to interview you. We hope you can continue exploring sound and its infinite parallel dimensions for us, for many years to come.