NYC Native Ben Monder has been playing guitar since he was 11 years old. Specializing in avant-garde jazz, he’s been a fixture on the New York music scene for 30 years. Though he grew up listening to rock, his first guitar teacher turned him on to jazz.

He’s worked with a wide array of artists, including an early gig with soul-jazz legend, organist “Brother” Jack McDuff. He played on David Bowie’s final record, Blackstar. As a sideman, he’s graced the work of artists like Paul Motian, Donny McCaslin, Maria Schneider, Lee Konitz, Marc Johnson, among others, and is a member of the Minneapolis-based quartet, The Bad Plus. As a leader, Monder has released 10 albums, beginning with Flux in 1995.

Monder has had a long-standing and fruitful collaboration with German singer/composer Theo Bleckmann.  He’s teamed up Bleckmann again on his latest release, Planetarium. The three-disc set was a decade in the making, with expansive compositions that showcase Monder’s improvisational prowess. With extended instrumentals, and others featuring Bleckmann’s vocals (along with vocalists Charlotte Mundy, Emily Hurst, and Theo Sable), the work is engaging and atmospheric.  All Music has declared, “Planetarium is the guitarist's most ambitious, complex offering… attractively accessible, poignant, and resonant in execution.” Joining the guitarist on this opus are bassists Chris Tordini and drummers Ted Poor, Joseph Branciforte, and Satoshi Takeishi.