Benjie Messer is a composer based in Phoenix, Arizona. He writes fluently in a broad range of traditional and modern musical styles, from orchestral and jazz to pop, electronica and world music. He composes for film and media productions and live performance ensembles, and is a staff arranger at One Light Music Productions. Messer has studied composition with Andy Jaffe, David Reck, Salvatore Macchia and Yusef Lateef. His compositions are represented by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).
An experienced trombonist, Messer is the leader of the New Orleans-style Bad Cactus Brass Band, and is a regular soloist with many jazz and popular ensembles. In various projects, he has opened for George Clinton and P-Funk, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Soulive, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and Melvin Sparks, and has performed with Gunther Schuller and Steve Turre. Messer studied trombone with John Faieta, David Sporny, Richard Frazier and Cameron Gates. He is a member of Local 586, the Phoenix chapter of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM).
Messer is currently an adjunct professor of Electronic Music at Phoenix College. He holds a Masters in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (2002) and a Kodaly Music Teacher’s Certificate from the Kodaly Music Institute at New England Conservatory (2004). From 2002-06, he taught general and choral music at Boston’s Learning Project Elementary School, as well as private music lessons on various instruments.