Benjamin Sher Image

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Benjamin Sher

Professor
Affiliated Departments
Ensemble
Guitar

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Benjamin Sher is a unique jazz guitarist, who combines a deep reverence and understanding of the great tradition of American jazz guitar with a love for Brazilian music, rhythm, and blues. Performing on both electric and acoustic guitars, Sher’s music can be referential to everything from Django Reinhardt to Djavan. A typical set at a club in New York (where he resides and performs frequently) with his trio Antropologia can include jazz sambas to Benny Golson and Marvin Gaye tunes. Sher is dedicated to music both as a performer and educator. He has seven recordings as a leader and, for 27 years, he's been a faculty member at Berklee, where his classes include the Guitar Styles of Grant Green and Pat Martino, Advanced Brazilian Guitar Styles, and two guitar ensembles, Brazilian and Latin Fusion.

Career Highlights
  • Three solo recordings on BGI Records
  • Leader of Brazilian Jazz group Tudo Bem, which has appeared at the Blue Notes in New York and Fukuoka, and clubs in Moscow, Switzerland, and Germany
  • Performances at the Montreaux, North Sea, Istanbul, Marsala, and Bell Atlantic jazz festivals as a sideman with Ute Lemper, Ballin' the Jack
  • Recording credits with Ballin' the Jack, Gunther Schuller, Yutaka Uchida, Oswaldo Montenegro, Deborah Latz, and the Boston Jazz Composer's Orchestra
Awards
  • Choro Novo Berklee Guitar Ensemble for Outstanding Latin Jazz Group Award at the Intercollegiate International Collegiate Virtual Guitar Ensemble Festival (2019-2024)
In Their Own Words
I'd like students to be inspired, exposed to music they hadn't heard before, and have concrete materials to work on.

The work that I've done professionally is represented in my teaching. I've been able to work as a professional guitarist for 40 years by knowing many different styles, from classical to rock, and of course, many styles of jazz. I've spent years developing teaching materials to help students move forward both technically and in learning to play in the different idioms that I have played.