Benjamín Brea

Benjamín Brea
Benjamín Brea
Background information
Birth name	Benjamín Arsenio Brea Constenla
Born	September 18, 1946; Galicia, Spain
Died	23 April 2014 (aged 67); Caracas, Venezuela
Genres	Jazz, classical, folk, Latin, pop
Occupation	Musician
Instrument(s)	Saxophone, flute, oboe, clarinet
Years active	1956–2014
Website	musicavenezuela.com/mv/benjamin_brea

Benjamín Brea (18 September 1946 – 23 April 2014) was a Spanish-born Venezuelan musician, arranger and teacher, mostly associated with jazz, even though he had the advantage to play several music genres in various bands as a soloist as well as sideman and conductor.^[1]

Career

Born Benjamín Arsenio Brea Constenla in Galicia, Spain, he moved with his parents to Venezuela in the early 1960s. He received formal music training in Caracas and graduated under Vicente Emilio Sojo in the José Ángel Lamas school of music. Brea started his professional career in 1962, playing saxophone, flute, oboe, clarinet, and bass clarinet.^[2]

After playing with local dance bands, he remained and performed on soundtracks and jingles. In addition, he became a member of the Radio Caracas Television orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Caracas conducted by Aldemaro Romero. He worked with Jeff Berlin, Paquito D'Rivera, Julio Iglesias, Armando Manzanero, Danilo Pérez, Arturo Sandoval, The Jackson Five and The Supremes, while playing in jazz big band formats led by Porfi Jiménez, Alberto Naranjo and Gerry Weil. In between, he performed with Soledad Bravo, Vytas Brenner, Maria Teresa Chacin, Ilan Chester, Franco de Vita, Simón Díaz, Gualberto Ibarreto, Los Cañoneros, Ricardo Montaner, Alí Primera, María Rivas, Serenata Guayanesa and Cecilia Todd.^[3]

Despite working as a sideman in recording sessions, Brea released only three albums. His first solo album, Another Point of View, was released in 1995 and consists of jazz standards by Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller. It includes Moonlight Serenade and Summertime as well as a version of the Andean classic El Cóndor Pasa.^[3]

His second album, Un Viejo Amor, is a more romantic offering and less jazzy, while Christmas Saxes was a production made by him alone, recording the soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone tracks in counterpoint with the aid of engineer Javier Alquati. This last album is a compilation of traditional Christmas songs from Venezuela and beyond.^[3]

He organized a jazz band and was a staff member at the El Hatillo Jazz Festival, which is an annual event celebrated in the small town of El Hatillo Town, Venezuela.^[4]

In January 2014, Brea fainted while attending a rehearsal and was moved to a hospital in Caracas, where he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He died on 23 April 2014, at the age of 67.^[5]

Discography

1995 Another Point of View
1997 Un Viejo Amor
1999 Christmas Saxes^[3]
2000 Siempre Seremos Niños^[6]

References

^ Peñín, José; Guido, Walter Guido. Enciclopedia de la Música en Venezuela (1998), Tomo 1, pg. 221. Fundación Bigott, Caracas, Venezuela; ISBN 978-980-6428-03-4
^ Enciclopedia de la Música en Venezuela
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Benjamin Brea: Biography and Discography". Retrieved 25 April 2014.
^ Mipunto.com El Hatillo Jazz Festival Archived 2012-02-13 at the Wayback Machine (2006; in Spanish); accessed 25 April 2014.
^ Notice of death of Brea, eluniversal.com, 24 April 2014; accessed 25 April 2014.
^ "Siempre Seremos Ninos - Various Artists". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 March 2021.