Benny Rietveld profile picture

Benny Rietveld

Cephalopods are cool

About Me


S o, I'm a bass player, composer, and producer

B orn in Utrecht, Holland , raised in Honolulu, Hawaii / Composition student at the University of Hawaii / Played bass with Richie Cole, Barney Kessel, Howard Roberts, Bill Mays, Bud Shank, Makoto Ozone and others / Also did a short tour with The Crusaders, and played regularly with Gabe Baltazar, an alumnus of the Stan Kenton Orchestra

R elocated to San Francisco in 1983 / Played with Ray Obiedo, Andy Narell, Pete Escovedo, Linda Tillery and others

J oined Sheila E in 1984 / Recorded and toured with her for two years (once as the opening act for Prince) / Appeared with her in the rather silly but seminal rap film Krush Groove

I n 1986 toured, recorded and co-wrote some material with singer/songwriter Bonnie Hayes

J oined Miles Davis' band in 1988 / Toured throughout most of the world, appeared in the Warner Bros. video Miles In Paris, at the 1990 Grammy Awards, and other stuff / Appear on Dingo (soundtrack album with Michel Legrand) and on Miles Around The World, a live album

J oined Santana in 1990 / Played and authored some material on Spirits Dancing In The Flesh and Milagro / Recorded Supernatural in 2000, won 8 Grammy Awards / Played on the 2002 Grammy winner Game Of Love with Michelle Branch

A lso recorded with John Lee Hooker, Zucchero, Booker T. Jones, Keola Beamer, and others

O ther production projects include Edi Xol, Gregory James, and Chuscales / Wrote multimedia music for ComputerLife, Computer Gaming World, Sprint and others

R eleased my first solo CD, Mystery Of Faith in 2002, featuring performances by Carlos Santana, Tom Coster and Barbara Higbie

C ompleted my first film score in 2005 for Brooklyn Rules, starring Alec Baldwin, Mena Suvari, and Freddie Prinze Jr., released in 2007

C urrently working on a second film, another solo release, doing some mixing for the next Santana release, and a bass instructional video, more like an epic movie / Perform semi-regularly in the East Village area of New York City / Okay, maybe other places as well


My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 4/5/2006
Band Website: bennyworld.com
Band Members:

BOBBY GETS SHOT v2
BR - Programming

EARTH'S REVENGE
BR - Bass, 2nd Guitar, Programming
Robin Pfefer - Electric Guitar
Rodney Holmes - Drums
Alex Murzyn- Tenor Saxophone
Tom Coster - Accordion

ANYBODY THERE?
BR - Bass, Programming
Rodney Holmes - Drums
Alex Murzyn- Flutes, Tenor Saxophone

OPENING
BR - Programming
Juliana Cressman - Vocals
Natalie Cressman - Vocals
Sandy Cressman - Vocals


Influences: Grey Goose or Ketel One; Brazil (the movie and the country); The Big Lebowski; the seas, skies, trees, mountains and all the creatures of Earth; tonkatsu; family and friends...
Sounds Like: burnt black coffee and a honey glazed donut the morning after the Apocalypse.
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Sirius & XM

Not that I actually listen to any satellite radio (it's now almost as bad as regular old-fashioned radio - who the fuck needs it?), but, a merger between the two main players? Bad idea, people need a...
Posted by Benny Rietveld on Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:24:00 PST

Please abandon Hotmail and AOL

For the love of every deity known, please PLEASE get off of Hotmail and AOL. Such a pain in the ass, these guys. I'm constantly getting bounce-backs from my friends who use Hotmail and AOL for their...
Posted by Benny Rietveld on Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:29:00 PST