From Suits to Sneakers (Published as “Benny and the Jets”)
Jazz in Wilmington: From Suits to Sneakers
Published as: “Benny and the Jets” (Editor Re-title) in Focus on the Coast, September 2012
Jazz is one of those rare forms of music that just is. It can be learned, studied and approached objectively, but it is never really understood until it is felt. The style has stayed alive, around the world and in our fair Wilmington, for so long because it avoids exactly that which would contain it, becoming a limited genre. It can generate passion, sorrow, joy and self-reflection, and those notes that pull on the strings of our souls inevitably inspire us to do and think things we never thought possible, or even likely. It is such inspiration that keeps it flowing, from small bars to large opera halls, across the world or the hallway, the heart or the head, the dinner lounge or the riverside bars.
In a small tavern called the Rusty Nail, on Fifth Avenue in Wilmington, I found Benny Hill Jr. standing to the side of a stage empty of people, but full of instruments, on a break. He was tremendously warm and receptive, a big smile and a bigger personality. It didn't take me long to see into that humility that often masks the grand ideas of artistry. As he generously offered me a drink and bypassed the typical journalistic line of questions Benny started to show me, between hopping on stage for introductions, sets and some necessary mingling, was a story.
Benny Hill Jr. got his first saxophone on Christmas from his parents at age twelve, and hasn't put it down since. He is quick to remind people that, while he is passionate about music, it was his mother, Blondelle Hill, that “pushed him, encouraged him, sacrificed time, money” and all manner of things to make sure her son found something to love in his life. While his mother was helping him nurture his passion for the arts, his instructor at Wake Forest High School helped him learn that while there are no limits to music, there is a structure you must know in order to be innovative and improvisational. Bob Hood, Benny says, pushed him to be technically good, enough so that he understood it was necessary in order to get the music in his head out through his heart.
As Benny was growing up, many of his influences came from early hip hop, but eventually grew to include musicians such as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Kenny Garrett. Getting more experienced meant diversifying the technical music knowledge base as well, which led to what he calls a “non-professional use of piano, bass, guitar and drums, you need to understand them to teach music.” You can feel the diversity of his knowledge in his music, and his ability to recognize other musicians tendencies, strengths and tone, and have to wonder how excellent his former band, “Organics,” must have sounded. Then again, after playing in Paris, Grenada, Australia, Mexico and the Caribbean, and cruise ships one tends to accrue a wealth of experience. There comes a point when you only have to feel the music, the audience and the other artists to interact. Music, as Beethoven said, “is the electric soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.”
Beyond his musical verbosity, Benny Hill Jr. is also a talented events organizer, having successfully run a “Jazz Jam” at The Rusty Nail every Sunday evening for several years. He credits Sandy Williams, the owner, with keeping the event and scene alive. The evening has a crowd that never fails to come out in force, and always brings people back. So much so that the bartender, Karen, says she won't leave jazz night. “The music is unbelievable,” she said to me. “It inspires the audience, the performers, and it's genuinely a warm and wonderful night. It will keep going, whether it costs [Sandy Williams] or not, because she is dedicated the music.”
Benny Hill Jr. is a devoted and talented musician, performer, and, by all counts, a pleasure to work with. He's available for events, playing around town at Sweet and Savory, The Rucker Johns and Carolina Farmin', when he's not teaching Big Band, Music Appreciation, and Jazz Saxophone lessons at Cape Fear Community College. If you'd like to have Benny behind the music at your wedding, private party, or venue you can visit his website at http://www.bennyhilljazz.com, contact him by e-mail ([email protected]), or call him at (910)-297-4727.
