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Ben Leinbach Making Music in Marin
We met Ben and his youngest son, Axel where anyone who spends time with small children in Fairfax ends up eventually - at Peri Park. Hanging out near the slides that day, we struck up a conversation about teeny carrots, kid-friendly yogurt, and the incredible musical work Ben finds time to do when he's not hanging out with Axel, son Hugo and wife, Elizabeth Vaughan.
Now talk about musical connections. Visit Ben's site and you will see he's collaborated, created and jammed with some of the top musical names from Jai Uttal to Joshua Redman to local favorite Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers. From rap to R&B to meditative music, Ben's had a hand in the award winning composition, engineering and performance of some outstanding music.
Ben also produces, records and mixes tracks for singer/songwriters from his own recording studio in San Anselmo, California. As well, he works as a freelance sound engineer, recording projects that span the musical spectrum from world music to rap, rock and roll to Latin-jazz.
At the moment, Ben is working on a compilation CD of some of the top names in devotional world music on which Deva Premal and Jai Uttal will make appearances. And, he'll soon to begin a project with Fairfax resident and fantastic singer Karnamrita. If that's not keeping him busy enough, he's also now composing tracks for a compilation album entitled “Voice of Life” which encourages listeners to reap the healing benefits of the voice by vocalizing or “toning” along with the music.
We asked Ben, where he finds inspiration for his projects. His response, "I’ll pick up on cool compositional or production concepts from any music that I hear. Right now I listen to a lot of children’s CDs in the car with my kids, so I’ll think 'Wow, mixing a berimbau with an accordion, that’s cool!'. I’m always looking for new sounds or different production approaches that might lend some uniqueness to a track, however subtle that it might be.
And what's got him most intrigued now? He explains, "My own albums, music that I’ve composed, produced, and arranged, prove to be the most intriguing to me at the moment. Not because the material is all that amazing, but because of the intense process of creativity. I don’t hear melodies in my head, I’m not that kind of composer. I start with a concept, like “medium tempo world groove with exotic solo instruments for yoga practice”. From there ideas beget ideas and I just hop on for the ride. This process of letting the music dictate the direction is fascinating to me.
This county is filled with ridiculously talented musicans like Ben. Go to his website to hear just how gorgeous this music is and be sure to contact him if you've got some music that's wanting to be made!