Eli Bennett (born March 9, 1989)[1] is a Canadian Juno Award-nominated jazz saxophonist and Leo Award-winning film composer.[2] He has composed more than twenty film scores[3] and in 2018 received his first Leo Award for Best Musical Score in a Feature Length Documentary for the film Believe: The True Story of Real Bearded Santas.[4] He was also awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Premier of BC for his contribution to the arts in Canada.[5] He is married to violinist and vocalist Rosemary Siemens with whom he records and performs with their instrumental duo SaxAndViolin and in 2019 they performed together at The Vatican.[6]
Biography
Early life
Bennett was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as the firstborn son of Canadian composer, cellist, and Powder Blues Band drummer Daryl Bennett.[7] Bennett grew up listening to his father's film scores in his studio and was introduced to the alto saxophone through his father at age 11. At age 13, Bennett switched to the tenor saxophone and began accompanying his father on gigs at Vancouver's iconic blues bar The Yale, where he shared the stage every Monday night with local blues musicians.[8]
In 2007, Bennett was awarded a full scholarship to study music at Humber College in Toronto where he studied with saxophonists Pat LaBarbara, Kirk McDonald and shared the stage with Chris Potter, Terence Blanchard, Mike Stern, Kurt Elling and Dave Grusin. After graduating from Humber College in 2011, Bennett returned to Vancouver to apprentice with his father as a film composer. Alongside his father, he composed additional music for the films Nash, The Exhibition, and co-composed the score for Take Back Your Power, and Human Harvest.[12] His original score for Believe: The True Story of Real Bearded Santas won a 2018 Leo Award for Best Musical Score in a Feature Length Documentary as well as a SOCAN Foundation Award.[13] He also composed and performed music on an episode of the TV show Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman.[14]
In 2017, Bennett was named 35 best Canadian jazz artists under 35 by CBC Music and described as "...one of the most underrated instrumentalists in jazz today. The greatest aspect of this virtuoso musician is his chameleon-like ability to master funk, soulful music, bebop, modal jazz and all styles in between while keeping his distinctive sound."[22]
In 2018, he earned a Juno Award nomination alongside Five Alarm Funk for his work on the album Sweat.[23]
In 2017, the Leo Awards announced that Bennett would replace Hal Beckett as Musical Director for the Leo Awards.[28][29] Each year, Bennett directs the live band for the Leo Awards show including the show's opening production and in-show music. Bennett is a Leo Award winner and a five-time nominee for his work as a composer.[13][30]
In 2012, Bennett created his own publishing company, Eli Bennett Publishing, and released his first transcription eBook entitled Chris Potter Plays Acapella Solo Standards.[33] The eBook featured eleven solos over jazz standards performed by award-winning jazz saxophonist Chris Potter.[34]
Personal life
On March 18, 2017, while on separate Canadian tours, Bennett proposed to his girlfriend, violinist Rosemary Siemens, by interrupting her concert in Gretna, Manitoba, by entering through the back of Buhler Hall, playing Elvis's "Can't Help Falling in Love" on his saxophone.[35] Once on stage, Bennett got down on one knee and proposed to Siemens in front of the entire audience. She said yes, and the couple were wed later that year on August 20, 2017, in a public wedding ceremony in Plum Coulee, Manitoba.[36] In September 2018, the couple welcomed their first son, Theodore Parker Bennett, into the world after keeping the pregnancy a secret. They announced the birth through a YouTube video featuring a song Siemens wrote and Bennett produced entitled "You and Me".[24]
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