Casey Benjamin, who brought his colorful and expansive saxophone to the Grammy Award-winning Robert Glasper Experiment and added rich textures to recordings by Solange, A Tribe Called Quest and others, died March 30 in Maryland. He was 45 years old.
His brother, Kevin Benjamin, said the cause of death was pulmonary thromboembolism. He did not say where in Maryland Mr. Benjamin died.
Known for their willingness to experiment, their energetic stage persona, and their trademark swirls of locs, often streaked in turquoise or red. Mr. Benjamin was a founding member of pianist Robert Glasper's combo. Critic Nate Chinen wrote in The New York Times in 2012: “We specialize in deep, immersive grooves that are heavily influenced by hip-hop and R&B, just like any other known genre. jazz.”
“Black Radio,” the band’s fourth album on the storied Blue Note label, features guest appearances by neo-soul singer Erykah Badu, rapper Lupe Fiasco and Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def). It won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album in 2012 and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard album chart. Mr. Benjamin shared another Grammy with the band in 2015, when their cover of Stevie Wonder's “Jesus Children” won for best traditional R&B performance.
Collaborating with vibraphonist Stefon Harris of the band Glasper or Blackout, Benjamin showcased his unique voice on the alto saxophone, his primary instrument. Jazz bible DownBeat wrote in its obituary that he “possessed the fluid, round sound of the alto saxophone and a unique sense of phrasing.”
But he was never limited to a genre, style or even instrument. He created a rainbow of sounds using not only reeds and woodwinds, but also vocal synthesizers operated by keytars (a keyboard instrument worn on a string around the neck), guitar synthesizers, and effects pedals.
“It’s all about texture, basically,” he said in a 2012 video interview. “I try to apply my love of synthesizers to everything I do. Even if I use woodwind instruments, I try to imitate a Moog or some kind of keyboard or analog synthesizer.”
Derrick Hodge, a bassist and songwriter who worked with Benjamin on Experiment and Blackout, said in an interview: ‘Hey, let’s talk about what speaks to us, what feels real.’”
Mr. Benjamin's many collaborations include appearing on A Tribe Called Quest's 2016 comeback album, “We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service” and on Solange's chart-topping album “A Seat at the Table” that same year. .
Mr. Glasper, Mr. Mr. Hodge and many others. Benjamin performed on Earth, Wind & Fire vocalist Philip Bailey's first solo album in nearly 20 years, “Love Will Find a Way” (2019).
Earlier in the decade, he toured with Patrick Stump, lead singer of the band Fall Out Boy, in support of his 2011 solo album “Soul Punk.” At a recent Fall Out Boy concert in Milwaukee, Mr. Stump paused to pay a moving tribute to Mr. Benjamin.
“I don't say this lightly. He was probably the most talented musician I’ve ever met.”
Even when playing in support of other artists, Mr. Benjamin saw himself as a fellow musician rather than a sideman.
“99% of my career, I’ve been hired to be myself,” he said in a 2018 interview with the website HighBreedMusic. “‘I want Casey Benjamin. Just let him do his thing.' “Because I created this path, I created something that only I can do.”
Casey Bryon Benjamin was born in Brooklyn on October 10, 1978, the youngest of three children of Gentle Benjamin, a television video producer from Grenada, and Julieta (McAlmon) Benjamin, a nurse's assistant from Panama.
Casey had already shown an interest in jazz at the age of four, learned to play the piano at eight, and soon after learned the saxophone. Growing up in southern Jamaica, Queens, he was also surrounded by the sounds of the Caribbean permeating his neighborhood. “For Caribbean and Latin cultures, the party aspect has always been deeply ingrained in the music,” he told HighBreedMusic.
After graduating from Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Musical and Performing Arts in 1996, he studied music at the New School for Social Research in Greenwich Village, where he earned the title of Mr. We met Glasper and began a collaboration that would prove beneficial. Define his career.
In recent years he has toured with his own band and has a solo album scheduled for release later this year.
In addition to his parents and brother, Mr. Benjamin is survived by his sisters Nicole Benjamin and Cristina King, and his partner Whitley Davis.
Addressing the audience at a recent Fall Out Boy concert, Mr. Stump recalled the reserved stage persona of the band's early days and said Mr. Benjamin helped change that. “His authority for joy was widespread,” he said. “To be with him was to understand that music should be joy. We need to share this together.”
To put it more simply, Mr. Stumpf said, “He taught me how to smile on stage.”