Michel Benita

Michel Benita ( born July 29, 1954 in Algiers ) is a French jazz bassist.

Life and work

At the age of five years, Benita moved with his parents to France. He studied at the Music Academy of Montpellier guitar, then bass. He first played in the south of France with musicians such as Jean -Marc Padovani, Guy Lafitte, or Bill Coleman; then he took lessons with Henri Texier. In 1981 he moved to Paris, where worked as a studio and session musician. So he worked with Michel Portal, Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, Daniel Humair, André Ceccarelli, Michel Legrand, Horace Parlan, Archie Shepp and Adam Nussbaum.

François Jeanneau, in whose quartet he was, caught up with him in 1986 in the first edition of the Orchestre National de Jazz, with which he was traveling on tours in Europe and Africa. In 1988 he was presented in a quartet with pianist Rita Marcotulli the audience his own compositions. His warm, powerful and flexible tone on the bass led to collaborations with musicians such as Marc Ducret, Martial Solal and Nguyên Lê, but also with Gil Evans, McCoy Tyner, Toots Thielemans, Judy Niemack, Urs Leimgruber, Don Friedman and Dino Saluzzi.

With drummer Aldo Romano, Paolo Fresu and Glenn Ferris, he led the band project Palatino, which occurred in Europe. Then he was with Erik Truffaz on a world tour, dealt with Nu Jazz and also worked with Robert Wyatt.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Preferences ( with Dewey Redman, Rita Marcotulli and Aldo Romano, 1990)
• Soul ( with Dewey Redman, Rita Marcotulli and Aldo Romano, 1994)
• Lower the Walls ( with Bobby Thomas, Andy Sheppard and Sylvain Luc, 1998)
• Rough ( with Gaël Horellou, Philippe Garcia, 2001)
• Drastic ( with Nils Petter Molvaer, Dhafer Youssef, Erik Truffaz, Jalal and Kpt'n Planet, 2006)
• Erskine - Lê - Benita: Dream Flight (2008)