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“Bender played electrifying saxophone leads”
The LA Beat

“Jessy Bender adds a sometimes optimistic, sometimes sultry moodiness to the music with her saxophone”
YouBloom Artist Spotlight

“Saxophone player Jessy Bender hold[s] fort with [a] flawless grip on...[her] instrument.”
Metal Assault

“In a sax soaked noir underworld, Gene Vincent and David Bowie battle for your soul!”
Surgeon Marta

“Gorgeous saxophone”
Under The Radar

Music has always been my closest ally, partner and accomplice, I’m enthralled by how it makes me feel.

Growing up in Columbia, Missouri, I listened to all genres of music and was drawn to the sax-heavy songs I heard on the radio as a kid, songs like “Baker Street,” “Year of the Cat” and “Just the Way You Are.” At 10, I picked up my first sax, and by 16, I was playing in bands and touring regionally with Deke Dickerson, an acclaimed rockabilly guitarist noted for melding garage rock, blues, punk, and country and rock with rockabilly.

Since then, I’ve played live with artists across multiple genres. I love to engage with an audience. When I play with other artists, there’s something magical and transcendent that happens between us.

A fan of Charlie Parker, Clarence Clemons, and Bobby Keys, I learned the rudimentaries of music and the technicalities of playing the sax while finding the freedom and inspiration of improvisation. I’ve always thrived on discovering the place where a beautiful, rich, sultry riff can lift the music to a higher place.

After graduating from Indiana University, where I studied comparative literature, film studies, and music, I moved to LA. I began my career as a sound engineer, working in film, television, and commercials. I later produced the feature-length documentary,The Gits, a critically acclaimed film released in 2008.

After The Gits, I focused my attention back on sax, attending the Silverlake Conservatory, soaking in the wisdom and techniques of the musicians I played with in sessions and on stage.

When I put the headphones on in the studio, I’m transported to an inner world. I can hear what an artist is communicating, and my fingers know the notes to play that will enhance the song. I can feel it.

What is most important to me is the immense freedom, from the depths of my being, that comes from expressing myself through the sax.

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Jessy Bender

Alto Saxophonist