Ben Riley

Ben has had the great fortune of having been brought up in an intensely jazz/classical family. From the age of 3 he was jamming in the basement with the late great pianist, Bill Evans (a regular family guest at the time), who had already taught him how to play brushes and keep time. He has been actively engaged in the Canadian music scene for over a decade. He has performed and toured alongside many luminaries such as Bruce Cockburn, Holly Cole, Michael Burgess, Molly Johnson, Joe Sealy, Doug Riley (his dad), Jake Langley, Marc Jordan, Amy Sky, Moe Koffman, Domenic Troiano, Michael Kaeshammer and Joshua Nelson (gospel singer/ Oprah Winfrey guest) among others. Having played on dozens of albums and hundreds of commercials, Ben has composed works for string quartet, world music ensembles, R&B and jazz groups, as well as for symphony orchestra. "That’s What Happens", a song co-written by Ben with Courtney Farquhar, was included on Warner’s Women and Songs 7 compilation CD which has gone platinum in Canada.