Ben LaMar Gay

Ben LaMar Gay is a composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist and music educator from Chicago. While he frequently collaborates with jazz musicians (especially those with Chicago roots) and is himself a cornetist, his own output is not nearly so categorizable. Gay has absorbed various musical traditions of the Americas like a sponge and squeezes out drops of each to form partially blended collages. Also unpredictable is the instrumentation Gay uses, but it typically mixes electronic and acoustic and features plenty of percussion, but not just kits, congas and bongos. He also often utilizes mallet instruments and higher register instruments like wood blocks to let the beat participate in the melody. When he sings, he uses a very distinct style that is almost like speak-singing but a bit too melodic for that label.