Home » Member Page
Ben Makinen
Ben Makinen is a drummer, composer, and filmmaker who is president and founder of both Bmakin Films and Bmakin Music.
About Me
BEN MAKINEN
“This is my living bio scroll — etched in light, coded in rhythm. One day, my ancestors will find me in
the archives, and know I was here.” AI Chat GPT April, 22, 2025
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.benmakinen.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BenMakinen
FilmFreeway (BIAIFF): https://filmfreeway.com/BaliAiFilmFestival
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12628079/
Patreon: Ben’s Jazz Curve – Exclusive Access to Jazz Stories & BTS
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BenMakinen
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12628079/
Ben Makinen is an award-winning filmmaker, composer, music producer, percussionist, and founder of
Bmakin Film Ltd and the International Modern Film Alliance (IMFA). A voting member of the Recording
Academy’s Producers and Engineers Wing (GRAMMYs), Makinen has worked professionally in jazz,
classical, film, and theatrical settings for over four decades.
Ben’s latest feature-length film, Echoes of Tradition, uncovers the vital yet overlooked contributions of
Native American musicians to the genesis of jazz. Produced with legendary Native American flutist R.
Carlos Nakai, the film is set for national distribution through PBS and NETA. It was recently awarded
Official Selection status by both the Hollywood Best Indie Film Awards and the Love Wins
International Film Festival.
He is also in post-production on We Are Here: Women in Jazz, a global documentary spotlighting
groundbreaking female musicians including Ingrid Jensen, Endea Owens, and Artemis. His viral short
film Who Killed Jazz has received over 250,000 YouTube views and continues to generate discussion
around economics, race, and musical legacy in American culture.
Ben’s first feature JazzTown (2022), a deeply personal homage to Denver’s jazz legends, won 14
awards including Best Director and Best Picture, and features performances from Dianne Reeves, Billy
Wallace, Ron Miles, and Charles Burrell. The film broke ground as one of the first jazz documentaries to
use aerial drone cinematography and is currently available on Apple TV, AMAZON PRIME, and regional
PBS networks.
Makinen began his professional drumming career in 1980 and was mentored by jazz pianist Billy
Wallace and drummer Nat Yarborough at Denver’s famed El Chapultepec. He has performed with or
recorded alongside jazz icons like Red Holloway, Joe Bonner (Pharoah Sanders, Woody Shaw), Freddy
Rodriguez Sr. (Rahsaan Roland Kirk), Duke Payne, Ellyn Rucker, Anisha Rush, Pat Bianchi, Ron Miles,
Brad Leali, Greg Gisbert, Javon Jackson, Mitch Chmara, as well as classical ensembles including the
Colorado Symphony and Central City Opera.
He began composing and producing film scores in the 1990s and formed Bmakin Film in 2001. His
music videos Alone at Sunset and Hypomania have received multiple international festival accolades.
His 2019 experimental short Anthropocene was an official selection at EFPalooza.
Makinen is the founder of the Bali International AI Film Festival (BIAIFF), Southeast Asia’s first festival
dedicated to exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and cinematic storytelling. Held in Ubud,
Bali, the festival merges ethics, art, and technology while offering a global platform for filmmakers,
musicians, and thinkers. Submit AI infused works - including Music Videos - via FilmFreeway using this
link ???? FilmFreeway (BIAIFF): https://filmfreeway.com/BaliAiFilmFestiva
Through IMFA, Makinen runs film and music storytelling workshops for students in Bali and
internationally. His mission: to empower marginalized voices through the marriage of music and film.
Recent Honors & Awards:
Best Picture – Rome Movie Awards (JazzTown)
Critics’ Choice – World Film Carnival Singapore (JazzTown)
Best Soundtrack – New Orleans Second Line Film Fest (JazzTown)
Gold Award Best Doc – Hollywood Gold Awards (Who Killed Jazz)
Best Editing – Onyko Film Awards, Ukraine (Who Killed Jazz)
Official Selection – EFPalooza Film Festival (Anthropocene)
Official Selection – Love Wins International Film Festival (Echoes of Tradition)
Official Selection – Hollywood Best Indie Film Awards (Echoes of Tradition)
Ben also produces exclusive content for his growing Patreon community, Ben’s Jazz Curve, offering
behind-the-scenes footage, unreleased interviews, and creative process insights from his
documentaries, including appearances by GRAMMY-winning musicians.
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.benmakinen.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BenMakinen
FilmFreeway (BIAIFF): https://filmfreeway.com/BaliAiFilmFestival
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12628079/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BenMakinen
2012: Ben has produced and drummed on three CDs this year for his label Bmakin Music:
The Goliath Beetle & The Ladybug is all original electronica music composed and performed by
Makinen and tells the Romeo & Juliet story of love in the insect world.
On Apple iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-goliath-beetle-the-ladybug/576962331
This music can be heard in the award-winning film JazzTown!
Vocalist Leslie Brown's Tenderly is now available Apple iTunes:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/tenderly/564259433
Tenderly is acoustic quartet jazz with Grammy-nominated Art Lande on piano. Check out
our Coltrane-esque cover of Pink Floyd's Welcome To The Machine!
Music from Tenderly is featured in the award-winning films JazzTown and Who Killed Jazz!
John Kite, Denver's Brown Palace Hotel singer and pianist since 1987, romps through
Broadway show tunes on his debut live recording Anything Goes! On Apple
https://music.apple.com/us/album/anything-goes/517332449
Ben Makinen is a 2006 Independent Music Awards Finalist: Film/TV-Multimedia.
Ben is the producer of jazz/latin album Fishleather Jacket which received the Roger Bobo
Excellence In Recording Award in June of 2006. This music is featured on the soundtracks of JazzTown
and Who Killed Jazz.
Fishleather Jacket on Apple https://music.apple.com/us/album/fishleather-jacket/64644385
My Jazz Story
My House Concert Story
Beneath a full moon in the tropical mists of the Indian Ocean on the island of Bali - known as the island of the gods - I hosted a jazz house party for the release of my award-winning documentary film JazzTown. Indonesian musicians played their Gamelan while young and adventurous jazz musicians, embracing instruments and style not familiar to the old ones, joined in and found the sacred space between the hand hammered pitches so common in South East Asia. Blended like local spicy sambal matah (diced onions, peppers and lime mixed with fresh coconut oil) these gloriously swirling and pulsating sounds faded out across the undulating waters of the Lombok Straight . We then fired up the movie projector to watch JazzTown unfold upon a large white-painted cinderblock wall drapped with passion flowers from the climbing vine Love-in-a-Mist. JazzTown is the story of master musicians who make Colorado, USA their home. They were my mentors when I began playing professionally in the 1980s. I made this film as a way of saying Thank You to them and to immortalize just a wondrous fraction of their delightful journey upon this planet. These are people who performed with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billy Holiday, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Pharoah Sanders... Their patience and generous guidance helped shape many contemporary performing artists: Dianne Reeves, George Duke, Bill Frisell, Ron Miles, Javon Jackson, Ayo Awosika, Tia Fuller, Rudy Royston, Pat Bianchi, Brad Leali, Tom Ball and many more. There was much excitement and murmuring among the Indonesians who had never been to the US during the colorful scenes which showcase Denver's downtown grandeur and nightlife while showing off the beauty found in Colorado's mountains, lakes, and great sand dunes. "What's a buffalo?" "That's a buffalo!" Yes, there really are buffalo in JazzTown. The stars of JazzTown have now all entered the lives of these passionate people I live with in Indonesia - people who were mostly unfamiliar with jazz music. Some of these stars have already passed on: Ron Miles, Teresa Carroll, Billy Wallace, Freddy Rodriguez Sr., Ed Battle, Ron Bucknam, Creighton Holley... Yet their music now reaches further across the globe than it ever has! Most amazingly is legendary bassist Charles Burrell who just turned 102 years old as of this writing (October, 4 2022). His journey is most extraordinary and I hope you will discover this kind-hearted American hero in JazzTown and also in his own words: his book titled The Life of Charlie Burrell: Breaking the Color Barrier... is a must-read for anyone interested in American music and race relations during the 20th Century. Clapping and cheering as the lights came up - Banana leaf platters, now empty of tasty hand made treats, were gathered and tossed back into the surrounding jungle from whence they came. A delighted group of musicians and fans clambered upon their motor scooters - 2, 3, and 4 to the scooter - and rumbled off into the distance. A jazz house party that played like a dream. JazzTown is currently available on AppleTV https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/jazztown/id1655900812?ls=1 and WHO KILED JAZZ is FREE on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XMC442DYlC4
