Bennett Paster

or over 30 years, pianist Bennett Paster has been a fixture on the faculty at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, where he brings his vast experience as a composer, arranger, performer, and educator available to all SJW jazz campers. In New York City, Bennett is very busy as a keyboardist, arranger, composer, bandleader, producer, recording and mixing engineer, and as the owner of his own studio.

Bennett has performed with a wide array of great jazz artists, including Wallace Roney, Keb’ Mo’, Robben Ford, Kurt Elling, Bill Stewart, Peter Erskine, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Yosvany Terry, and Curtis Stigers. He has also performed with musical theater and cabaret stars Christine Ebersole, Ann Hampton Calloway, and Michael Cerveris. He has performed original music at clubs, concerts, and festivals in the United States, the Caribbean, South and Central America, Central and South Asia, and throughout Europe.

Fluent in a variety of different styles and musical idioms, and equally talented on piano, organ, and electric keyboards, Paster has released eight recordings as a leader or co-leader. His newest funky jazz album Indivisible (2019) features ten originals, each exploring a different rhythmic feel, but unified by a singular focus on groove. He currently gigs regularly around NYC and works as a producer and engineer at his studio, Benny’s Wash & Dry, in Brooklyn, NY.