Bennett Roth-Newell is a pianist, emcee, and songwriter from the Bay Area. At age 7, he began playing piano and immediately became enamored with the likes of legendary jazz pianists Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner, and Bill Evans. Starting as a teenager, he also found a love for hip-hop and began honing his craft as a lyricist, recording artist, producer, and live performer. He has performed on multiple occasions at San Jose Jazz Summer Fest and Winter Fest, SoFA Street Fair, Yoshi’s, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Great American Music Hall, Cafe Stritch, Herbst Theater, Black Cat Jazz Club, The New Parish, and The National Black Theatre Festival to name a few. His discography includes the duo album After You (2015) alongside guitarist Mason Razavi, The Bad Ones’ self-titled debut (2016), with 6 credited compositions, and Put It Out (2019), a 4-song hip-hop and jazz-influenced EP. As a music educator, he has taught at Valley Christian High School, San Jose State University, Cogswell Polytechnical College, Stanford Jazz Workshop, and currently serves as Music and Creative Arts Director at The Riekes Center in Menlo Park, CA. In addition to performing his own music and leading his own bands, Bennett appears frequently with The Illiance, Amy D, Jonah Melvon, Greysmith, Mason Razavi, The Bad Ones, Lilan Kane, Tracy Cruz, Maya Victoria, and more. Bennett’s forthcoming album Grown is set to be released in March 2022.
Soul, Straight Ahead
The "cool" counterpart to our annual Summer Fest, Winter Fest presents the best new discoveries in jazz, blues, Latin, salsa, Americana and more.
Subscribe to our updates and you’ll be the first to know about coming performances, special events and happenings in San Jose's arts and culture community.