The Casey Benjamin Memorial Foundation

The Casey Benjamin Memorial Foundation honors the life and legacy of two time Grammy award-winning musician, producer and artist, Casey Benjamin. 

Donations are greatly appreciated, and will be used to support causes close to Casey’s heart, including music education and training for underserved youth, and financial assistance for professional musicians whose livelihoods have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Casey was a first generation New Yorker, born in Brooklyn to a Panamanian mother and a Grenadian father. He grew up listening to music and began to show an interest in jazz at the tender age of 4. He started playing the saxophone at the age of 8, and began performing at the age of 12. Casey studied at the Harlem School of the Arts and graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art.

Casey complemented his early jazz studies by attending pianist Barry Harris’ Jazz Workshops and Dr. Billy Taylor’s Jazzmobile. As a young kid, growing up in Jamaica, Queens also afforded Casey contact with musicians involved in the bustling Jamaica Funk crew – bassist Marcus Miller, trumpeter Tom Browne, and keyboardists Bernard Wright, Donald Blackman, Ozell Miller and Weldon Irvine Jr.

After high school, Casey attended The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in Manhattan, where he met Robert Glasper in 1997. Robert played piano on Casey’s demo for Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program. Casey and Robert collaborated formally in 2004, and Casey became the first original member of the Robert Glasper Experiment, which played its first gig at New York City’s Knitting Factory.

Casey constantly pushed past the limits of music and genre. He pioneered a unique style on the saxophone, aerophone and vocoder, and developed a sound that was wholly original. 

Through his melodic ingenuity on the vocoder and vocals, textual mastery on the keytar and spiky virtuosity on the alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone and wind synthesizer, Casey gave the Robert Glasper Experiment its most defining sounds that enabled it to earn two GRAMMY awards and gain international acclaim in the jazz, R&B and hip-hop scenes on such trailblazing albums as Black Radio (Blue Note Records, 2012), Black Radio 2 (Blue Note Records, 2013) and ArtScience (Blue Note Records, 2016).

In addition to the Experiment, Casey toured with singer Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy) and traveled the world working with a string of other stellar musicians that include jazz greats – singer Betty Carter, vibraphonists Roy Ayers and Stefon Harris (Blackout), drummer Mike Clark (Headhunters), trumpeter Roy Hargrove, bassist Victor Bailey, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and bassist Buster Williams; hip-hop artists – Drake, Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Mos Def (Yasiin Bey), Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest, Common, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Busta’ Rhymes, Pusha T, Diddy, Heavy D, Consequence, DJ Logic and Wyclef Jean; R&B/Pop singers – Anderson Paak, Solange, Yebba Smith, Bilal, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Lady Gaga, Summer Walker and Beyoncé; and Black Rock Coalition gurus – Vernon Reid and Melvin Gibbs. 

With singer and songwriter Nicky Guiland, Casey co-led the funk-forward combo, HEAVy, which has released three discs –HEAVy (Kindred Spirits, 2000), Jazz Money$$ (BBE, 2007) and First Sessions (Kindred Spirits, 2008).

Casey most recently contributed his musical genius and creativity to the ALI Musical as associate music producer alongside Q-Tip, lead producer Richard Willis and director Clint Dyer. ALI the Musical is slated to open on Broadway in 2025. Casey’s solo album will also be released soon, fulfilling his dream to share his new music with the world. 

Casey passed away on March 30, 2024 at the age of 45. Thank you for helping to keep his memory alive, and to carry on his legacy.