This Monday, November 20, plug back into the fourth season of our Mysterious Travelers concert series, where musicians visit the Parkway Central Library's Subject Departments with a mission to meet a librarian and make music from titles in the Department’s collections.

This free,unique series kicks off its third show at 7:00 p.m. in the Montgomery Auditorium with Temple-trained drummer, bandleader and composer, Ben Singer. Working with librarians in Philbrick Hall, he’s curated a prorgram called the Nature of Morality. According to the Philadelphia Jazz Project, Ben's focusing on Dostoyevkys’ classic novel Crime and Punishment. Read the whole interview and reserve your ticket to this novel concert!

Up Next! Ben Singer
Ben Singer is a drummer local to Philadelphia and strives to build upon the strong music tradition that the city is known for. While attending Temple University, he studied with teachers such as Dan Monaghan, Dick Oatts, and Byron Landham to hone his skills and learn the history of the music. Ben is interested in incorporating new elements into the tradition and works to play within the space between the familiar and the unexpected. He has worked with many of the areas local talents, including Josh Lee, Tim Warfield, Daud El-Bakara, Jack St. Clair, Chelsea Reed, and Julian Hartwell. He has also worked as a musician on the Holland America cruise Line. Furthermore, Ben works as a bandleader/composer and strives to continually find his voice in the pursuit of presenting original music to the world.

Recapping Chad Taylor
This author watched as slow pulses gave way to free-jazz inspired roundabouts meditating on death and dying based on the resources in Education, Philosophy, and Religion department. Matt Engle’s bass solos were sometimes high up the neck of his instrument, though mostly he served as anchor to the band’s locomotive-like grooves, which were at times reminiscent of Bill Laswell. The effect of watching alto-saxophonist's Bobby Zankel’s solos was like watching Zorro slashing z’s into bedsheets. Trombonist Dan Blacksberg's tone was naturally thicker, and his notes moved more carefully, like tree-climbing in a rainstorm.

The second set was challenging and obtuse, but very rewarding. In some movements I couldn’t sense what they were trying to do—appearing like an amazing free jazz version of Public Image Limited or Nurse with Wound, with textures of the human breath interspersed... and other times I sensed there was a phantom logic underpinning it all—horror and science fiction writers have described this wel—like forgetting one is in an altered state. You can revisit this entire concert on Death and Dying via the Livestream below:

...and we hope to catch you on Monday, November 20 when Ben Singer makes Philbrick Hall sing!