Bennie Moten

Bennie Moten
Background information
Birth nameBenjamin Moten
Born(1893-11-13)November 13, 1893
Kansas City, Missouri, United States
DiedApril 2, 1935(1935-04-02) (aged 41)
Kansas City, Missouri
GenresJazz, Kansas City jazz
Occupation(s)Musician, bandleader
InstrumentPiano
LabelsVictor, OKeh, Bluebird, His Master's Voice, RCA

Benjamin Moten (November 13, 1893 – April 2, 1935) was an American jazz pianist and band leader born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

He led his Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the regional, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s, and helped to develop the riffing style that would come to define many of the 1930s big bands. The jazz standard "Moten Swing" bears his name.