Ben Stack profile picture

Ben Stack

Ben Stack

About Me

Visit Ben Stack at www.bandmeup.co.uk


For Bookings, Touring and Festivals contact: book Ben Stack
Ben Stack has recorded and toured internationally for more than 20 years, both as a solo artist/songwriter and session guitarist varying in style from Jazz to folk - and almost everything in between. As a result of these widely differing musical experiences, he explores, and often fuses, different aspects of funk, jazz, folk, blues and rock. Switching between acoustic and electric guitars, on which he often uses a variety of stomp boxes and other effects, it is a singular experience to hear the sounds he can produce from an acoustic guitar. He uses about a dozen different tunings and incorporates an highly personal picking style which almost sounds like percussion adding a unique flavor to his sound. The first thing that strikes you when you see Ben live is the sheer energy and personality the man exudes. It's like being taken on a journey that can be anywhere from soothing, to dark, often highly emotional, to down right funky. You never really know what to expect. I'v heard him several times play the same song but one night it's pure jazz and the next it's funk ...or folk .... or an improvisation of where the mood takes him. Even though the scope of his improvisations can take you in many different directions, it's almost impossible not to follow him where ever he takes you. It really amazing to watch people who normally would never listen to jazz or folk become entranced by the hypnotic energy Mr. Stack puts out. The second thing is the way he involves you in an interplay between raw emotion and controlled delivery. Following him as he communicates through his guitar and voice you feel that he's talking to you personally. The list of luminaries he has work with, played with and collaborated with range from John Martyn to Ray Brown.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/4/2006
Band Website: benstack.com
Band Members:
All these tracks were recorded live (with no over dubs) to 8bit mini disk format. They are not perfect, nor are the meant to be but they are live! So if the eneggy hits ya it’s for real.
Thanks to Marten Ingle:Bass, Vincent Gornot: Drums, and (second) last, but not least my dear friend Denis Martinet without whom none of this would have been possible.
I would also sincerely like to thank -for all the thankless work that’s never seen (unless it’s not there!)- Dominique Brunet without whose ingenuity, know how, and expertise this project would never have gotten on stage!
Don’t ya just love those mini disk recorders?

All photography by Jean Miart
With special thanks to the musicians and friends who make me sound good when I’m doing what I do: Vincent Gornot-drums, Denis Martinet- Keys- Marten Ingle -Bass- Danny Montgomery-Drums - Oisin, Domi, Lana, Baldrick and all the choir. Thank you one and all.
profile edited with Thomas’ Myspace Editor V4.4

Influences: Bill Evans, T.S. Eliot, Larry Carlton, Chet Baker, Donald Fagen, John Martyn, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Randy Newman, Little Feat, W.B.Yeats, Vladimir Nabokov, James Joyce, Jackson Pollock
Sounds Like:

Here’s a kind of goofy video of a sound check in Paris, France. It was filmed by my good friend and keyboard player Denis Martinet on a small numeric camera. It features Danny Montgomery on kit, Marten Ingle on fretless and Ben Stack on guitar...
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None