Gregg Bendian

Who is Gregg Bendian?

Gregg Bendian is a jazz percussionist and composer, primarily a vibraphonist.

Born in Englewood, New Jersey, Bendian studied under Noel DaCosta. He has played and recorded with Nels Cline, Pat Metheny, Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Steve Hunt, Gary Lucas and Cecil Taylor amongst others. Records under his own name and that of his group Interzone incorporate elements of fusion and free jazz.

Bendian is fond of recording tributes. With Interzone, he recorded Requiem for Jack Kirby, a tribute to the great comic book artist. He has also recorded tributes to Octavia Butler and others. In 1999, he and Nels Cline released Interstellar Space Revisited, a critically acclaimed cover album of John Coltrane's Interstellar Space, which Bendian described as "my love letter to Free Jazz drumming". The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD said, "Hard to listen to this contemporary pairing without returning to the source material. Hard to revisit that without wanting to hear Bendian and Cline again."