Samm Bennett - Lesser Known Aspects
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Here I am at one of my solo percussion concerts, back in the day. It used to really wow the crowds when I’d spin around suddenly and do a glissando on the glockenspiel behind me. “With superb timing and flawless technique, Bennett brilliantly evokes the spirit of Jerry Lee Lewis with his glock gliss” is how a reviewer for the Cincinnati Herald-Examiner characterized it. I’m thinking I’ll bring back this setup and this stage wear at some future point, should there be some inexplicable need to do so for some unimaginable reason.
Neville Sprunk using the "Direct To Ear" device
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My "Concerts For One Listener" project was wildly popular with introverts and antisocial types who didn't want to be in crowded rooms. My special "Direct To Ear" device was key to the success of the concert series, although there were some slight problems involving permanent hearing loss with a handful of attendees. Reaching out-of-court settlements with most of them helped keep bad publicity out of the papers, but the whole enterprise just grew too expensive, and I retired the project. I did manage to sell the "Direct To Ear" device (and patent) to English entertainer Neville Sprunk, who went on to use it with great success in his legendary performances in Swaziland and Albania.
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One very little-known aspect of my musical career was the period in France where I performed under the stage name "Zenem", using, as my musical tools, a selection of specially made trumpets. In those performances, I would lay out before me on several tables a collection of unique, custom made horns, each one designed to play but a single pitch. Among the nine trumpets, an interval of a minor third (more or less) was possible to recreate. Yes, that's right, the entire range of my Zenem shows was but a minor third. This, you see, was the beginning of my explorations into micro-teeny-tonalism, or "unjust intonation" as it is sometimes referred to. The extremely subtle differentiations in pitch were, admittedly, sometimes difficult for audiences (particularly in France) to discern, but overall the concerts were a success and earned me more than enough for a café au lait and croissant every other morning. One critic from a top Paris newspaper had this to say: "c'est le concert le plus ridicule auquel j'aie jamais assisté". I'm told this is a positively glowing review, although my French is not what it was back in the heady Zenem days!
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Years back, I'm sure many of you across the country (and beyond) thrilled to the technological marvel known as "The Robot Band". The drums/accordion/saxophone trio sold out concert halls throughout major swathes of the land, and you could hardly turn on the radio without hearing one of their smash hits. Well, enough time has passed, and certain key entertainment lawyers and record company executives have died, so that I can now divulge: the drummer was NOT a robot! No. It was I. That's right! Although the technicians had no problem designing robots to play (in virtuoso fashion) the accordion and the sax, it was simply beyond their skill and abilities to fashion a robot who could keep a decent beat. So... I was hired. Made a ton of money, I won't lie. But it DID get hot in that metal suit under those stage lights every night! One really good part about the whole thing was that I got along so well with my two band mates. They were good sports, and took it in stride when I'd josh around with them about their playing sometimes sounding "too mechanical", or how they sounded like they were "getting rusty". Haha! We had some good times, I'm telling you. I was sad when the whole thing ended and they were melted down for scrap.
Aside from my work as a performing and recording artist, I have also been designing and crafting unique and ingenious musical instruments for many years, some of which have come into regular use by prominent musicians all over the world. One of my most beloved sound-creating implements is the Didgeridon't, being played here by Cleveland's own Margie Wifflebloom, who made quite a splash with the instrument in her rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee at the bi-annual Ohio Service Station Owners Association Convention a few years back.