Our profile this week focuses on drummer Ben Hall. Hall has been organizing and performing in Detroit for twenty five years, perhaps most well known for recording with and producing the late trio work of Bill Dixon, Weight/Counterweight due for reissue in 2025. Hall works regularly with the ensemble Oceanic Beloved, a sort of trunk rattle jazz with other foundational Detroit musicians Marcus Elliot and Jaribu Shahid (Griot Galaxy/SunRa/Art Ensemble) In Oceanic he writes all of the percussion arrangements and is producing their forthcoming LP, Altar Road, on Spotlite Records. Additionally, he runs the imprint Ornette Coleman Fiend Club, a tape label produced in coordination with Torn Light Records in Chicago. OCFC focuses on rap, solo improvisation, and poetry.
CS: What has been inspiring you lately?
BH: Nobody is more inspiring to me than the filmmaker and journalist Bisan Owda, the Palestinian filmmaker who has been reporting from Gaza.
CS: Favorite musicians, artists, thinkers and why (current or general)?
BH: I’m always coming back to the poet Marwa Helal’s two books, Ante body and Invasive Species. Also, Eliza Myrie’s recent interview as part of the BOMB Oral History Project has been read and reread a lot over here. And I got to spend a lot of time in Sean Meehan’s sound world last year and that’s still producing massive reverberations for me.
CS: Favorite films, books, etc. and why (current or general)
BH: Saw Jake Meginsky’s Milford Graves: Full Mantis on a biggish screen with a great sound system and I was mesmerized by the use of polyrhythm, to wit: the Yara still image sequence. Victor Viera-Branco’s trio Bark Culture just absolutely shreds and bounces, best new ‘jazz’ for me in a long,long time And always coming back to Berryman’s Dream Songs over and over.
CS: Favorite record no one else has listened to?
BH: Bashi Rose’s Ritual of Rebellion which just went up on pre-order. Some of the most incredible drumscapes (?) imaginable. Everyone will have listened soon though!
CS: Best thing you’ve seen on Youtube (recently)?
BH: O’Landa Draper & The Associates-My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord
Detroit drummer Daru Jones had did a play-along vid with My Soul for Drumeo but the sound was horrible and GRATEFULLY he rereleased it with and audio reconfig.
CS: Dream trio/quartet/quintet with historical figures?
Ack, so many but I really just want to be the second drum machine in Ghetto-era Graham Central Station. Or maybe a duo with June Jordan’? “A Menace to my Enemies but with my clatter and tones.
CS: Last performance you saw that expanded the way you think about your own work?
I’m somewhat obsessed with brass and Beth McDonald blew me away a couple weeks ago and I was already a fan. And then Lemuel Marc, trumpet, solo at 10F in Greenfield a couple years ago, still unpacking that one! Also Sawt Out, Beins and Vorlfeld, no other non-dance music makes me sweat like they do!
CS: Record you most wish you had played on?
BH: That’s easy, even though I’d ruin it since it’s a perfect trio, Joe McPhee, Live at Willisau. Maybe I could play shaker or bells or something.
CS: Recording people would be most surprised you listen to?
BH: I listen to an inordinate amount of Creole and Cajun music. That accordion/fiddle hook up just fills me with so much feeling. Anything with Canray Fontenot and the Les Blank films Dry Wood and Spend It All will give you the real picture.
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Enjoy Ben’s Artist Profile at the Soundstream!