Benjamin Jacob Rivera
Born at Albert Einstein Hospital in the Bronx, New York on June 4th, 1985. Stemming from a Puerto Rican background Rivera was exposed to a wide array of musical genres from jazz, Latin, gospel, soul, funk, hip hop and some rock and roll. He was self-taught from the age of six, he would sit in the front row of church and “air drum”, rocking out to his imaginary drum set his parents were notified that it was a distraction in the church, and they needed to “get that boy a drum set”. Christmas of 95’ he was finally rewarded with a magazine clip of a drum set, when his mother says “it’s on lay away”. After the point of receiving the drum set, Rivera could not be separated from his instrument. Watching videos of Buddy Rich, Omar Hakim, Dennis Chambers he grew a strong passion for music. Benny’s main influences are Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Sting, Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, Notorious B.I.G, and Hector Lavoe. His first official gig was playing deep in the south Bronx at the Latino Pastoral Action Center Sunday services, along with playing multiple other jazz shows at the time. He later registered for classes at Five Town College to major in Jazz/commercial music, and Music Education, where he was labeled as one of the elite musicians of the school. Acquiring the first chair in the jazz orchestra being a sophomore, he astounded many of is peers and professors, frequently playing the many recording sessions and concerts for the school. Rivera being a true musician enhanced his skills in other instruments such as vibraphone, timpani, piano and an overall knowledge for music theory. Even though he was studying to be a scholar at the college Rivera is no stranger to paying his dues, he was playing with a band called The Resistants, he played with the band for a year and a half in the well-recognized downtown underground rock scene. He has performed with a large variety of musicians at the college doing showcases with Chrissette Michelle and many others. At the college Rivera was approached by Michael Coppola to perform for the annual hip hop show, a culmination of the best acts from the college, they teamed up with three other elite musicians and they played a memorable performance on December 5th, 2006 and decided to form the band that would become The Senate after a visit to Coppola’s recording facility, Get Open Studios.
MUSICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
I got skills to spare.
Some Recent Shots
