Born to an American father and French mother in Nimes, France, Ben grew up in
Paris. He was introduced to music at a very early age by his father, Mike Zwerin,
a famous trombonist and writer for the “International Herald Tribune” who played
with the likes of Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy and Maynard Fergusson.
In the fall of 1995, he left France to accept a scholarship at Boston’s prestigious
Berklee College of Music where he was fortunate to study with great teachers
such as Hal Crook, Bruce Gertz and Phil Wilson. Ben also extended his musical
family, which led him to perform in many European music festivals including
“Montreux Jazz Festival”, “Jazz a Juan” and “Jazz a Vienne”.
After graduating in the fall of 97, Ben performed all over the East coast and taught
at Northeastern University in Boston until he moved to New York in 2000. He
then started touring nationally and internationally as well as working in the local
NYC venues (Carnegie Hall, Roseland, Bowery Ballroom, Bitter End, Joe’s Pub,
Mercury Lounge) with talented and diverse artists like Angelique Kidjo, Lila
Downs (Sony), Nouvelle Vague (EMI), Claudia Acuna, Lionel Loueke (Blue
Note recording artist, Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard), Kellylee Evans
(Universal France), Otis Clay, The Revelations feat. Tre Williams (song in the
RZA/Tarantino movie “the Man with the Iron Fists”), Oliver Mtukudzi, Ycare
(Sony France), JJ Appleton (with whom he opened for Hootie and the Blowfish,
Edwin McCain and Sister Hazel and appeared on “Last Call with Carson Daly”
and “Wild on E!”), Brendan James (Decca/Universal recording artist),
Tammany Hall (has had songs on HBO, MTV, NBC as well as WB11),
Souldiggaz (Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige), Frenchie Davis (The Voice, Rent and
American Idol), Ellen Greene (of The Little Shop of Horrors), Antonique Smith
(of Rent and Notorious), Forro In The Dark (Nublu/Nat Geo), Running Still
(East/West/Atlantic).
Ben has also played in the Off-Broadway shows Bat Boy and A Broadway Diva
Christmas.
Since moving to New York, he has been focusing on writing songs and producing
various artists (Daisy Jopling, Brianna Sage, Summer Virshup, Alex Bell, Erol
Josue, Eleanor Dubinsky, Milly Beau, Running Still...) as well as writing music
for TV shows (such as All my Children, One Life to Live and American
Pickers).