After more than five years since his last release,
Boston-based funk and retro-soul musician Big Ben Hillman is finally releasing
his debut full-length solo album. The Friday Night Consortium, a collection of
a dozen all new original Hillman compositions, runs the gamut of soulful
grooves; from the up-tempo kick off number “Let’s Get Crazy” and the smooth
dance-floor grinder “Friday Night,” to melodious ballads like “Beautiful
Stranger” (a duet with Boston-based songstress Lydia Harrell) or feel-good disco
romps like “It’s Too Easy,” The Friday Night Consortium has something for
everyone.
“I’d been recording an album in New York before I
got called to go on tour with the Greg Luttrell Band,” says Hillman, who was
born and raised in the Boston area. “We spent four months in Shanghai, China.
When I got back to the states I was going to pick up where I left off, but
instead I ended up writing a whole new album with all new songs.” Big Ben
Hillman, best known for hits like “It Must Have Been The Music” featuring
Nephtaliem McCrary of The Nephrok! All-Stars and the blues-flavored hip-hop
number “I’m Sorry” featuring Boston emcee Fee (One-Love, Ex-Cal) and Meyer
Statham (Chucklehead, John Scofield) has spent most of his career as a hired
freelance keyboardist, percussionist and background vocalist. He’s performed
with local acts such as D-Tension, The Boston Horns and Michigan Blacksnake as
well as major artists as diverse as hip-hoppers De La Soul and The Wu Tang Clan
and rockers like Les Claypool and Jimmy Buffet, yet Hillman says that writing
and producing music has long been his primary aim.
“I’ve always considered myself a songwriter first,”
says the man known by many as The Professor of Funk. His first big break as a
producer came in the form of “Lay ‘Em Down,” a heavy gangster rap cut featuring
Krumb Snatcha that he co-wrote and co-produced with D-Tension on his Contacts
and Contracts II album. “I was raised on hip-hop; it’s a part of my heritage,”
Big Ben says of his past work with the Brick Records artist “but I always knew
I had something else inside of me to share with the world.”
In 2010, the
performer who had started his career as a session drummer in Lowell, MA would
take his act on the road, performing in clubs in Philadelphia, Washington DC
and New York City. “I got a whole lot of experience spending those days on the
club circuit out there; I was really starting to find my voice as an artist,”
Hillman says as he reflects on his days on the road. “Now that I am back in
Boston I really feel like I have found my center and I am able make my visions
come to life.” The Friday Night EP is a four song promotional release
containing the singles released from the album, leading up to the release of
the full-length album on Friday September 18th. A release event will be held
that night at Toad in Porter Square, Cambridge, MA. The album will be available
at CD Baby, Bandcamp and at Big Ben’s website (www.bigbenhillman.com) as well
as all live events.
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