NEW ALBUM!
The Golden Spike Trail
foot-tapping piano trio jazz, with melodies and rhythms that emerged from daily strolls in the fresh air of Redwood Regional Park
Click here to listen on the web, Spotify, Apple Music, etc
with Cairo McCockran (drums and percussion), Sam Heminger (bass), and Ben Slater (piano, and sax on "D's Filles").
Recorded January 26th, 2025 at Opus Studios in Berkeley, CA
Engineered by David Luke.
Edited and mastered by Jacob Blumberg
Cairo McCockran is a multidsciplinary creative from Oakland, CA. Cairo enjoys his time educating the youth, painting mixed media images on large canvasses, and working as a drummer for the Ben Slater Trio and the Helltones.
Sam Heminger is a bassist from San Francisco, California. He has a range of influences but is drawn most to playing music with a lot of interplay and communication between musicians. He can be found locally around the Bay Area playing with a variety of bands.
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About
Ben Slater grew up in San Francisco and returned to the city after some time on the East Coast and New Orleans. He has been the musical director of Mean to Me Jazz Band since 2013. The band has performed regularly at venues like Red Poppy Art House, Bird & Beckett Books & Records, Blush! Wine Bar, Mr Tipple's Recording Studio, Club 1923, and Revolution Cafe.
Ben composes original music, arranges jazz standards, and performs on both piano and tenor saxophone. His formative influences on piano were Ahmad Jamal, Erroll Garner, and Thelonious Monk—each of their lively, rhythm-centered approaches to the instrument. On sax, he has absorbed the lyricism of Lester Young and the heavy swing of Sonny Rollins.