Ben Neill

"Ben Neill is using a schizophrenic trumpet to create art music for the people." — Wired Magazine Composer and inventor Ben Neill is the creator of the Mutantrumpet, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument merging brass performance with electronics, live sampling, and video control. His music fuses live brass with ambient electronics to create immersive soundscapes. Neill has released fourteen albums on labels including Universal/Verve, Astralwerks, Thirsty Ear, Six Degrees, and his Blue Math imprint. His latest, Amalgam Sphere blends the Mutantrumpet's rich textures with ambient grooves and haunting vocals. He has performed at Lincoln Center, BAM Next Wave, Big Ears, Moogfest, Umbria Jazz, Spoleto Festival in Italy, and the Edinburgh Festival, among many others. Neill has worked closely with artists such as John Cage, La Monte Young, Pauline Oliveros, DJ Spooky, Rhys Chatham, John Cale, and Mimi Goese. The Mutantrumpet began in collaboration with Robert Moog and has evolved into a multidimensional performance platform. Neill is also the author of Diffusing Music (Bloomsbury), a 2024 book on democratization in music, and host of a podcast of the same name exploring creative futures.