Ben Tankard
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Check out http://www.bentankard.org
Male
39 years old
Murfreesboaro, Tennessee
United States
Last Login: 7/5/2009
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Mood:
blessed
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Ben Tankard's Details
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| Status: | Married | | Here for: | Networking | | Orientation: | Straight | | Hometown: | Daytona Beach,FL | | Body type: | 6' 6" / Athletic | | Ethnicity: | Black / African descent | | Religion: | Christian - other | | Zodiac Sign: | Capricorn | | Smoke / Drink: | No / No | | Children: | Proud parent | | Occupation: | Gospel/Jazz Artist- Pastor-Pro BB Team co-owner |
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Ben Tankard's Companies
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Ben-Jamin' Music
Murfreesboro, TN US
President
Sony/Verity/BMG/Zomba
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www.bentankard.org
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Destiny Center Church
Murfreesboro, TN US
Pastor
Word Of Faith
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www.thedestinydome.tv
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Musicians Pro Basketball
Murfreesboro, TN US
GM/Co-Owner
NBA Minor League
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www.musiciansproball.com
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Ben Tankard New Album in Stores NOW "Mercy Mercy Mercy" Go Get Your Copy!!!! Welcome All Feedback...
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Ben Tankard's Latest Blog Entry
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Create your own Billboard cover!
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Ben Tankard My Lips Shall Utter Praises (Featuring SHELLY)
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Ben Tankard's Blurbs |
About me:
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“I’m addicted to the response you get from people when you can be a blessing to somebody else and be their miracle” - Ben Tankard
42 years ago, legendary alto saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley and his quintet recorded a song composed by their Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul that struck a nerve with listeners around the world. It was a churchy, soulful instrumental titled “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” that was recorded live before an enthusiastic audience and went on to become a million-selling jazz classic. During one of his patented, preacher-like intros for this 1966 recording (smack in the Civil Rights era), “Cannon” spoke with deep empathy about coping through hard times and overcoming adversity. It is a message that resonates as much or more in today’s trying times with the international financial recession; churches reeling from controversy; corporate greed and political power-mongering.
Multi-instrumentalist Ben Tankard, the best-selling gospel jazz player and producer in the world, gleaned glorious inspiration from the classic, rerecorded it in his own gently inspirational style, and has named his latest 20th Anniversary Verity Gospel Music Group offering MERCY, MERCY, MERCY. In a canon of 15 past recordings, this one stands as among the man’s most vital best yet. “While making this record, I was reflecting on my introduction to organized music,” Tankard states. “God took me back to when I was in the band room at Bradford Middle School in Starke, Florida. The first song I remember playing was Cannonball’s ‘Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.’ Reflecting on God’s mercy on me over all the years, I decided to revisit the song on my new album. When I Googled ‘Mercy, Mercy, Mercy’, I found Cannonball’s original live recording and was able to hear his spoken introduction:
“You know, sometimes we’re not prepared for adversity. When it happens sometimes we’re caught short. We don’t know exactly how to handle it when it comes up. Sometimes we don’t know just what to do when adversity takes over. But I have advice for all of us..And it sounds like what you’re supposed to say when you have that kind of problem. It’s called ‘Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!”
When I heard Cannonball say that, I felt he was saying ‘I’m on your side’ –while people all around him were crying out, ‘I need some help!’ I don’t believe that Mr. Adderley and Mr. Zawinul meant it as a pity party. They were saying, ‘You are not alone, someone’s got your back, and yes you can do this thing!’ So I brought twenty people from my congregation into my home studio, Tankard Palace, and I recorded the song “Live” with that very message in mind.
Tankard/MERCY/2
Like Cannonball, I was going to say a lil’ something on the intro about overcoming persecution. ‘If somebody is your enemy, no answer will be good enough. If somebody is your friend, no answer is required.’ But I didn’t want folks talking’ bad about me like, ‘Aww, dat Negro up there tryin’ to be deep!’ So I kept it simple: ‘You know, life does hand us adversity from time to time, but God’s mercy endures forever…mercy, mercy, mercy!’”
Tankard’s interpretation is faithful to the original in that it spotlights electric piano as the primary instrument, yet is singular from the original in that it revels in the ivory tickling cool that elicits more laidback synergy from his audience. It’s another sterling example of Tankard taking something very familiar and rechristening it anew. Elsewhere on MERCY, MERCY, MERCY he weaves similar magic with Sade’s “No Ordinary Love” from the ..90s and The Emotions’ “Best of My Love” from the ..70s. “Being a pastor, you have to be real careful that whatever music you choose is within the guidelines of what you preach,” Tankard explains. “I try to find secular songs on my recordings that have an inspirational thought. My process is never to try to outdo whoever created the original.”
The covers provide a gateway for new fans to enter into Ben Tankard’s musical kingdom before he hits them with the all original essence of who he is and what he stands for as a Christian progenitor of contemporary jazz on such soul-soothing pieces as “How Great is Our God,” “Hold On Keep Strong,” “Stirred Not Shaken,” and Ben’s favorite performance of the 12-song release, “Heavenly Vibes.” Bent humbly over his customized keyboard of a thousand sounds manufactured by Korg (which he endorses), Tankard’s touch is a profoundly anointed gift that distinguishes his sound from that of secular “smooth jazz” players. “It’s not a technical thing, it’s a spiritual thing,” he shares. “I believe that there is a spirit that God breathes onto my music that gives people a different feeling than the music from someone who is not of inspirational origin. Many people have told me that the sound of my music has been a healer in their lives. I’m humbled.” Guiding listeners into a spiritual experience with his music is also accomplished through the titles he gives his songs. “Words put you on a thought path. If I title my song ‘Heavenly Vibes,’ then you’ve got Heaven on your mind before you even hear the first note.”
Of course, there is no mistaking the message in Tankard’s music on songs like “Spend Some Time” (featuring his vocal group Tribe of Benjamin) and another of the CD’s most heart-touching highlights “My Lips Shall Utter Praise,” sang and co-written by Shelly Massey who Tankard first introduced on his 2004 release PIANO PROPHET. “Hearing Shelly in her raw form, I can honestly say that she is the most talented vocalist I have ever worked with…and that’s not taking anything away from anyone else I’ve mentored over the years”
Ben closes his Mercy, Mercy, Mercy CD with “Love Notes from The Piano,” which he composed musing on his marriage to Jewel. “We’ve been together 10 years and have never had an argument,” he marvels. God sent me Jewel during a concert in Detroit. When she caught my eye from the second row, I said, ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I see what I want!’ I walked right up to her after the concert and said, ‘I don’t want to waste time with any small talk. I believe you’re supposed to be my wife.’ She said, ‘Amen, brother. I’ve been praying for you.’ We met with a proposal. We have a blended family with five children between us and are extremely happy. We do have disagreements…we just don’t raise our voices. We teach marriage counseling all over the world and have a book coming out next year through Thomas-Nelson titled Soul Mates Not Cell Mates.”
Ben Tankard’s remarkable journey began humbly in several small towns in Florida, where he grew up in poverty with a minister father and missionary mother. He began playing drums in church at age three, then stepped out on tuba in middle school, ascending to the rank of #2 in the nation upon which time he was offered several music scholarships.
Tankard/MERCY/3
Instead, 6’6” Ben accepted a basketball scholarship to Wallace State in Alabama. After a short time in Canada with a minor league team, Ben had an opportunity to play in the NBA but was waived when he suffered a debilitating knee injury in training camp.
After hitting a low point of self-doubt, depression and near homelessness, Ben accepted Jesus Christ at a Pentecostal revival service in Dothan, Alabama. Asked to sit at the piano, he was anointed with oil by a preacher then startlingly began to play the instrument as if he’d been playing it all his life. It was clear that “The God of Second Chances” had another purpose for him. To this day, Ben Tankard does not read piano music – only the bass clef that he learned while playing tuba in school – and he refuses to learn. “I have no intention of ‘confusing’ God,” he shares. “My belief is God gave me this gift and it seems to be working just fine, so I’m not going to add my hand to it to try and make it ‘better.’” From there, he has gone on to discover multiple Grammy-winner Yolanda Adams, coin the wildly popular catch-phrase “Git Yo Praize On” via his 1997 smash hit, release 16 albums (and counting), collaborate with top-tier peers such as Take 6 and author best-selling inspirational books, and planted The Destiny Center where he pastors a faithful flock of on-fire believers every Sunday.
“I believe I’ve been called to encourage people,” an always humble Tankard states. “Pastoring is my way of giving back. I’ve never been obsessed with awards, though I thank God for them all.
With all of the satisfaction Ben Tankard enjoys in his life, there was always a part of him that wished he could be involved with basketball…especially when playoff season rolls around. Ben was blessed not once but twice with divinely unique avenues in which to keep his feet in the basketball arena. “I have my minor league team, The Murfreesboro Musicians, which gets to play every three years. A newer development is that while I was doing a concert several years ago in Lansing, Michigan, I found out that my limo driver was studying sports management, so I hopped up to the front seat to talk to him about it. The driver said, ‘I thank God for you taking the time to ask me about my goals and encourage me. A lot of the people I drive are very arrogant, but you didn’t have that spirit.’ I didn’t think anything more about it but ten years later this guy calls me and he’s now the Director of Player Development for the NBA. He engaged me to help him create quarterly motivational podcasts for NBA players – past and present – using my music in the background. I also scout for the Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins. So in my own way I still ended up ‘playing in the NBA.’”
Using not only his art but his life as a reflection, the ultimate lasting message of Ben Tankard’s latest offering MERCY, MERCY, MERCY is one of compassion, brotherhood and service. In a parting shot of wisdom, Ben Tankard shares, “A lot of people were recently all over a popular prayer that states, ‘Lord, bless me in deed, enlarge my coast, let your hand be with me, and keep me from evil so that I might not cause pain.” The problem is too many of those folks got stuck on the first line, ‘Bless me indeed’…the result being that their prayer life was centered on themselves: ‘Hook ME up!” What we really need to look at is the second part of that prayer which states, ‘Enlarge my territory.’ In Hebrew that translates as, ‘Send me somebody that needs me.’ If we adjust our attitude to be a blessing and make life better for somebody else, God will take care of our business without our having to ask.
‘Mercy, Mercy, Mercy’ is a musical message that encourages this higher level of Godly thinking. I want people to get more involved with other people and take their minds off themselves…because God’s mercy endures forever!”
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Who I'd like to meet:
Destiny Center,Inc P.O. Box 11594
Murfreesboro, TN 37129
(615) 907-0185 phone
(615) 907-6729-fax
thedestinydome@aol.com
Let's Get Quiet Album having recordbreaking year !
* 2008 Stellar Award Winner: Best Instrumental Album
* 2008 Dove Award Nomination: Best Instrumental Album
* 2007 Grammy Award Ballot: Best Pop Instrumental Album, Best Pop Instrumental Performance, Best Gospel Song.
* Barack Obama's office has requested Ben Tankard to be his official instrumental performing artist for his presidential campaign.
* KORG USA has signed Ben Tankard to an International Artist Endorsement Agreement.
* BILLBOARD CHART - Contemporary Jazz - peak #6 !!
* Performing Over 100 events in 2008 ! - CALL NOW TO BOOK !
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