Drummer Benny Amón left California, born & raised in Davis and trained in jazz, for New Orleans — where he lived and played for the ten years from 2011 to 2021, and where his love for the oldest jazz traditions was nurtured and flowered.

In New Orleans, Benny performed regularly at Preservation Hall, Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro, The Palm Court Jazz Cafe, and aboard the Steamboat Natchez. Along the way, he has toured the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Sweden, performing in clubs and at jazz festivals that have included the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, Festival international I LOVE JAZZ in Brazil and the New Mexico Jazz Festival.

Benny is currently a Teaching Artist with the Preservation Hall Foundation and the Jazz In Schools program at Jazz at Lincoln Center. In the Bay Area, he regularly leads his own quartet playing New Orleans and classic jazz, as well as his trio that focuses on the music of the Ahmad Jamal trio, and is also the Musical Director for the South Bay Traditional Jazz Society.

It is with his trio focused on the music of Ahmad Jamal that we present Benny tonight at Bird & Beckett, with Charles Chen on piano and Mikiya Matsuda on bass.