Finding his own saxophone sound

Eli Bennett, an artist featured at this year’s jazz fest, is finding success

at a young age

Saxophonists wax poetic while using creative adjectives to describe their tone.

They call the rich, spirited notes – liquid, clear and brilliant. Compare it to a deep, dark buzz or label it soft and furry like a cat.

Don’t play a saxophone, said jazz legend Charlie Parker, let it play you.

At 19, Eli Bennett clearly takes the advice to heart.

On stage, his cheeks puff and fingers fly, guided perfectly to pump each key.

It’s been a process to find his own sound, says Bennett, who has performed with jazz luminaries like Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, Maria Schneider, Barry Harris, James Moody, Dave Douglas and Mike Stern over the past two years.

“I think I am close to finding my own identifiable sound that’s unique to anyone else.”

It hasn’t been long since Bennett picked up a saxophone. At age 12, he was given a hand-me-down sax by his dad Daryl, a drummer, film scorer and member of the band Powder Blues.

“I picked it up and have loved it every since,” Bennett says.

“When I heard my first saxophone player, Michael Brecker, on a record, his sound captivated me and made me wanted to sound like him. Get the same emotion he was getting out.”

Under the guidance of saxophone master Stan Karp, the teen’s progress on the wood-wind instrument can only be describe as “quick.”

He began playing professionally at age 14, hitting blues clubs like the Yale in Vancouver with his dad.

A year later, at the age of 15, Bennett won the Rico Reed Award at Musicfest Canada for best high school saxophonist in Canada.

In 2006, at the 49th Grammy awards, he shared the stage with Oscar Peterson playing first tenor with a Grammy big band in Hollywood.

“It was way more inspired and it was just so cool to share the stage with someone I’ve listened to, who has invented jazz basically,” says Bennett, who is currently studying at Humber College in Toronto on a full scholarship.

Since then, Bennett has continued to collect accolades, winning the Fraser MacPherson Scholarship for the finest young jazz instrumentalist in western Canada, the Dal Richards Scholarship for best high school musician at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, the Yamaha Kando Award for most outstanding young musician in Canada, IAJE Canada’s highest scholarship award and the prestigious Oscar Peterson grant for Jazz Performance among others in 2007.

“It’s a life-time goal, but I am on the right track,” says Bennett, who uses adjectives like “contemporary” and “cutting edge” to describe the kind of sound he’s seeking.

He wants to write compositions he can work his personality into.

“Use the old stuff to come up with new stuff,” Bennett says.

Nothing compares to playing jazz and blues, he adds.

“The improvisational side of it and the fact that it is really exciting coming up with new stuff all the time and interacting with musicians on stage is fresh and neat. It has a feeling like no other music.”

• Catch Eli Bennett at 1:15 p.m. at the Maple Ridge Jazz and Blues Festival on Saturday.