Concerts and tours, Interviews

Benjamin Creighton Griffiths: ‘If you can think of it, it’s being done on the harp!’

Posted onAuthorNikolas Fotakis [he/ him]

Don’t know if you’ve noticed — the harp has made a comeback in the jazz world, and Benjamin Creighton Griffiths is one of the artists at the forefront of this resurgence. An adventurous performer with a wide range of interests, he’s determined to make people see the harp through his eyes — as an instrument able to transcend musical genres and cultural barriers. Hailing from South Wales, UK, Ben started making a name for himself as a child prodigy; two decades later, he is one of the champions of jazz harp in Europe — and these days, he’s touring Australia, presenting his music, ethos, and passion for the harp to anyone with open ears and open mind.

What are you going to present at your tour dates around Australia? What should people expect to hear? 

For my solo performances I present a selection of tunes that I really enjoy to play from across the broad spectrum of jazz that I also feel show off the versatility and appropriateness of the harp in this style of music. I bring a bit of everything — from gypsy jazz and French swing, to blues, Latin tunes, funk fusion, and modern jazz — in the hope that these concerts serve as a good introduction to the harp in jazz. There’ll be standards everyone knows by the masters of the genre, but also lesser known tunes, and some original compositions — all of which are put together in my own arrangements to suit the instrument.

You are doing both performances and master classes; what do you enjoy the most in each setting?

I enjoy the educational aspect of my work a lot. I get great satisfaction working with harpists around the globe on my travels, and giving them a taste of jazz and improvisation. It’s great seeing traditionally, classically-minded musicians expose themselves to something new and rather different from what they might usually do — and to see them relishing the challenge and experience.

You combine many different musical traditions; how do you describe your approach to music genres?

I’m pretty relaxed in my approach to genres, particularly for my solo shows.

I always want to present variety, particularly to new audiences, and to show just what the harp is capable of doing outside of its traditionally thought of setting.

When performing with my bands, I’m a little more set, genre wise: The Transatlantic Hot Club (co-lead with New York based violinist Adrien Chevalier) is focused on presenting the gypsy jazz style of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt on the harp and violin, whereas Chube (a trio of harp/synths, bass, and drums) is a jazz rock fusion band drawing on elements from across more mainstream styles combined with modern jazz.

With the Hot Club in particular, it’s a lot more set — though even then we’ve recently expanded the traditional Hot Club repertoire to include Corsican Song and traditional Balkan tunes.

Working more with my bands has pushed my repertoire to be more set in those two styles recently and I would describe them as my specialisms.

But I’m heavily influenced by my listening tastes which covers everything from classical music to metal — I don’t really like being constrained sound-wise, if I’m honest.

How has your journey in music been so far?

It’s been an interesting journey for sure. Originally I was classically trained but the last 10 years have seen me shift primarily to focussing on jazz and alternative styles. I still perform a fair deal of classical music as a soloist and in orchestras, but it’s not so much of a focus.

Career highlights over the last few years include presenting my own Concerto for Jazz Harp & Symphony Orchestra alongside a number of orchestras in the UK (and in fact I am giving the Australian premiere in Hobart on the 24th August), my first USA tour with the Transatlantic Hot Club last summer in New Orleans, Florida, and New York, and debuting Chube in London at the Pizza Express Soho Jazz Club, one of London’s premier jazz venues. 

With the harp the biggest challenge is always logistics. The instrument is large, heavy, and awkward to tour with and not always readily available at the other end of a flight. Over the years I’ve taken harps on the A Train in New York in the middle of summer, been given a Paraguayan harp for a gig in India (they are tuned differently to pedal harps, so it’s not something you can just use), had harps sticking out the back of hired Fiat Pandas in the Caribbean, and I regularly have to drive 2000 miles or more to gigs in Europe, as it’s easier than hiring a harp at the location (in some places like Corsica there are no harps to borrow at all). I make that worse by requiring an electric harp for my gigs which are rarer, and when playing with Chube, I also play two synths in the bad. But it’s worth it.

Photo: Brian Homer
You are one of the rare male harpists; do you have a comment in this gender-instrument misunderstanding?

Male harpists are in fact not that rare at all. In Wales the harp is actually a well known male tradition as well as female, so there’s not that much questioning of it even amongst the general public, and in the harp world itself the gender divide is also not really as present with many fantastic male harpists as well as female in the community across all genres. It’s generally only outside of the harp world that you have the regular comments around a man playing the harp and I suspect this is mostly down to the wedding industry’s portrayal of the harp, which is really the only place most people not in the music industry ever encounter a harp in real life. For me challenging that sort of view goes hand in hand with challenging the opinion of the kind of music the harp plays — again this opinion of it being a lovely romantic instrument that only plays pretty bits of music is just not remotely close to what I and many of my amazing colleagues — male and female — do and I love seeing the reaction of people after gigs, realising that the harp is so much more than what people expect.

How would you describe your own relationship with the harp?

I started playing when I was four, and it’s what I’ve always wanted to do, with no thought of anything else about it really. I don’t remember a time before playing and I don’t really remember exactly what fascinated me about the instrument, but it’s just always been there in my life. However I’ve always wanted to do something different and even as a young musician studying classical music, I’ve always been drawn to playing alternative and non conventional music on the instrument.

What is it the one thing people don’t know about the harp — and you REALLY want them to know?

The thing people should know the most about the harp is that it’s actually not just this angelic, sweet, and beautiful instrument that generally someone will think of when you say ‘harp’. It can be dramatic, aggressive, groovy, dark, funky, loud, and anything else you can think of — and that’s what I try to demonstrate to my audiences where possible.

There’s a sort of resurgence of the harp as a jazz instrument lately; how do you see your role in this ‘movement’?

The explosion of jazz harp has absolutely been noticed — and it’s a long time coming! I have a number of excellent colleagues around the globe striving just like me to bring the harp out of its box and into the jazz clubs, world music festivals, and the mainstream music scene. And after many years, I think it’s just hit this critical mass where many of us have hit our stride in our own careers, which has also brought the instrument to many new ears, and it’s this combination of many voices and styles that has done the trick. A number of harpists have been building on the work of Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane, others are from South America and combining their traditional music with jazz, and of course a number are tackling more straight ahead jazz styles.

For my part my main focus is on my two bands and my jazz concerto — bringing the harp to the gypsy jazz scene, the jazz-rock fusion scene, and also classical crossover with the concerto.

These are the three strands of work I’m becoming most associated with and enjoy the most and let me have my own unique voice amongst the other jazz harpers. I’m incredibly proud to be just one voice amongst many bringing the harp to the fore — and I encourage all jazz fans to check out the huge variety of musical output from my talented harp colleagues. If you can think of it, it’s being done on the harp!

How did you get into jazz?

My first real jazz experience was as a six-year-old hearing a jazz pianist, Julian Martin, at a local pizza restaurant in Cardiff. The next week I went for a lesson with him, and went on to study with him for 20 years. Julian’s guidance and enthusiasm was a huge part of my development; he helped me begin to transfer what I was learning on the keyboard to the harp.

What does jazz mean to you?

It’s a freedom and a relaxation that I never fully got with classical music. The ability to take any tune I like and overhaul it to a completely different interpretation, and the freedom from having to play things in a very specific and expected way like in the classical world works very well with my ear and what I enjoy musically. Strangely enough though, since focussing so much on jazz recently, I’ve found my love, passion, and respect for classical music has actually grown, as I’ve now got this other outlet for my non-traditional music.

Which tune best describes your current state of mind?

A tricky one, but Herbie Hancock has always been my greatest inspiration, and the vibe of ‘Chameleon’ is always how relaxed I want to be. And for the most part these days I’d say that’s about how relaxed I am!

Benjamin Creighton Griffiths AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES

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Author: Nikolas Fotakis [he/ him]

I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king. Also a father, a husband, a writer, an editor, a coffee addict, a type 1 diabetic and an expat. Born and raised in Athens. Based in Melbourne. Jazz is my country.