Benny Benack III: Magic of Manhattan

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Join Emmy-nominated trumpeter and Downbeat Jazz Magazine's "2024 #1 Ranked Rising Star Male Jazz Vocalist" Benny Benack III on a musical night celebrating the singular energy of The City That Never Sleeps: New York! Benack hosts an elegant Jazz-inspired affair highlighting songs and artists along the way that made New York City simply, the place to be. From the Cafe Carlyle uptown to Broadway's theaters and the famed "52nd Street" lineup of Jazz clubs in midtown, all the way downtown to the village and below where even more historic sounds were made, "The Magic of Manhattan" captures the sounds of what makes NYC such a coveted experience to music-lovers around the world.  

Whether it's Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" or Blossom Dearie's ode to "Manhattan", by the time Frank Sinatra's iconic "New York, New York" is played by the band, audiences will feel like they just spent a night out in New York City! 

About Benny Benack III
By age 31, Emmy-nominated trumpeter and singer Benny Benack III has proven to be that rarest of talents: not only a fiery trumpet player with a stirring command of the post-bop trumpet vernacular in the vein of Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard, but also a singer with a sly, mature, naturally expressive delivery in the post-Sinatra mold, performing standards and his own astute songs with a thrilling sense of showmanship. His dual talents were recognized by Downbeat magazine in 2022 where he appeared as not only the #2 Rising Star Male Vocalist but also a top Rising Star Trumpeter in their critics’ poll. Now in 2024, Benny was voted the #1 Rising Star Male Jazz Vocalist and #8 Rising Star Trumpeter. His superb intonation and bracing virtuosity enable him to handle astounding feats of originally composed vocalese (complex solos with written lyrics). On top of it all, he’s a highly capable pianist as well. 

Benny has performed internationally as an Emcee/Host for the YouTube sensation Postmodern Jukebox and achieved his own viral success amassing millions of views for his crooning alongside the Grammy-award winning “8-Bit Big Band”. In early 2020 he released A Lot of Livin’ to Do, the follow-up to his well-received 2017 debut One of a Kind. This sophomore effort, richly varied in mood and brimming with bop inflection, features bassist extraordinaire and jazz ambassador Christian McBride (whose Grammy-award winning Big Band frequently calls upon Benny in the trumpet section) and drummer/producer Ulysses Owens, Jr., as well as the radiant Takeshi Ohbayashi on piano and Rhodes. His vocalese duet on “Social Call” from this album alongside fellow young star vocalist Veronica Swift became an instant smash hit single, being transcribed and learned by jazz vocalists around the world. 

Alongside his global touring as a straight-ahead/contemporary bandleader, Benny has appeared as a trumpet soloist in more commercial circles alongside Josh Groban, Ben Folds, fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi, Ann Hampton Callaway and more. He’s been featured at Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Mezzrow, Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle and other leading New York venues and has also been a special guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops Orchestra, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, and the Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra. He made his television debut in NBC’s short-lived, SNL-inspired variety show “Maya & Marty” playing in the in-studio band led by acclaimed bassist & Broadway arranger Charlie Rosen. His global recognition has been bolstered by recent live-streaming concerts at Smalls Jazz Club, where he maintains a weekly residency, as well as frequent appearances on fellow young lion Emmet Cohen’s “Emmet’s Place” weekly show. 

Third in a generational line of Pittsburgh jazz notables, Benny follows in the footsteps of his trumpeter/bandleader grandfather, Benny Benack, Sr. (1921-86), and his father Benny Benack, Jr., a saxophonist/clarinetist who gave the young Benny his first professional experience. Benny, Sr. hailed from a Pittsburgh lineage that also produced Roy Eldridge, Earl Hines, Art Blakey, Billy Strayhorn and so many more. He recorded the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 1960 theme song “Beat ’Em Bucs” and toured with Tommy Dorsey and Raymond Scott, among others. Benny III returns to Pittsburgh often to perform, saluting his family forebears and the jazz heritage as a whole, nonetheless staking his bold and highly individual artistic claim. He is an endorsing artist with Torpedo Bags cases, CarolBrass flugelhorns, as well as various menswear fashion lines including X-Suit, Alain Dupetit, Proper Cloth & Vittone.