Tag Archives: Ben Riley

The original NY Jazz Quartet was founded by pianist Roland Hanna in the first ’70s and contains flutist Hubert Laws and regulations, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Billy Cobham. That one group went nowhere, however in 1974, Hanna got better luck using a lineup of flutist Frank Wess, bassist Carter …

A fantastic drummer whose solid support has helped a number of advanced bop periods, Ben Riley is most beneficial known for his association with Thelonious Monk’s Quartet despite the fact that he was just an associate for 3 years. Prior to using Monk, Riley performed numerous combos, including those led …

On the day that Thelonious Monk died (February 17, 1982), the Monk tribute group Sphere — made up of Monk’s longtime tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Buster Williams, and Monk’s former drummer Ben Riley — recorded an album of Monk tunes. Although Sphere began being a tribute …