Overview
Ben is a first-year graduate student in the musicology program, with research interests that examine the intersections of music, neoliberalism, and critical theory, often in the context of contemporary jazz. Before arriving at Cornell, Ben received a first-class BA degree in Jazz and Popular Music at the University of Hull, and his MMus at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he received a distinction.
Recent projects have explored Pat Metheny’s Orchestrion Project as an emergent assemblage; Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd’s Holding it Down: The Veterans’ Dream Project as cultural critique; as well as side projects on the emergence of digital cumbia from Peru; and issues of subject-position, narrative, and identity in the music of Tyler, the Creator.