Ben Black photo by Linda Hurst

I met vocalist and composer Ben Black outside of his apartment building on a brisk Seattle fall day. On the short walk from the front door to the elevator, they greeted four neighbors and one furry friend, knowing all of their names in the process. Although we had just met seconds before, Black took the time to introduce me to everyone as well as let me know a fun fact about each of them. We exit the elevator and as we step through the apartment door, I am quickly greeted with the smell of freshly burned frankincense and the sounds of Buena Vista Social Club. 

Since birth, Black was forced to integrate and reintegrate into communities. His father was in the military and did two tours in Vietnam. “We moved all around,” he said. “We lived in California, Indiana, Spokane, and Germany.” Black spent middle and high school in Puyallup and moved to Seattle in 1985, when he was just 18. 

Self-described as a “hot-mess” during this time in his life. “But I sang,” he said proudly. Black spent a year at Edmonds Community College and then two years at Cornish. His time at Cornish was very formative and introduced them into the Seattle jazz community. “That’s where I met a lot of my jazz mentors like Jay Clayton. I have a picture of her right here on my ancestor’s shrine,” he shared as he pointed behind him to a beautifully decorated corner with dozens of memories.

Addiction and existentialism plagued Black throughout his twenties, yet despite all the turmoil, he “… kept singing, kept singing, kept singing.” With unstoppable energy and persistence, today, Black has several original compositions, live performances, and a new release on Origin Records, Mystery and Wonder, to his name, leaving an unmistakable impression on the Seattle jazz scene.

Black has acquired a new goal for his fifties. “I want to thrive,” he shares. He’s lighting up – the excitement is palpable in his voice. “I want to be connected. I want to co-create. I want to focus on interdependency and community and use my voice – this precious gift that I’ve been given that I lose touch with sometimes. It’s like, use it to be a benefit in the world because the world is on fire.” 

This past August, Black teamed up with friends in the local jazz community and Falastiniyat (a grassroots collective of diasporic Seattle-Palestinian feminists) to raise money for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) and other grassroots mutual aid initiatives. Over the past year, the vocalist has been raising his voice for Palestine and participating in several local fundraising efforts. “We raised over $5,000 for several agencies that are directly helping the people in Gaza and Palestinians in Egypt who are trying to survive the genocide.” 

Activism isn’t new to Black. For decades, they’ve used their voice as a tool of resistance and healing. “Growing up Catholic, there was always this emphasis on service… I’d volunteer at food banks with my mom.” While the Catholic church lit their path toward activism, it was also a point of pain. As a survivor of intergenerational clergy victimization, Black has stood up for those victimized by the Catholic church. “In that early sobriety back in 1989, I raised my voice. I spoke out about the abuse and got involved with the class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Seattle. And I won,” he recalls. “I got involved with the survivor network of those abused by priests. I’m still involved with that network today, supporting survivors – which is supporting myself – and being an advocate.” 

As a queer person in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Ben was a fierce advocate for their queer siblings. He volunteered at Bailey-Boushay (a Seattle HIV/AIDS long-term care facility founded in 1992) and sang for the patients, as well as singing for various AIDS organization fundraisers. “It saved my life, my queer family.” 

On advocating for his peers and creating communities of care, Black shared this piece of advice: “Sacred activism is falling in love with everyone and everything you see.” He continues to raise his voice for those in need and is healing themself in the process.