Pianist Ben Jenkins: His Story and Music this Wednesday on “Jazz Caravan”

Pianist Benjamin Jenkins is a young Colorado musician with a bright future, but also a cash-strapped present-day situation.   A recent graduate from the Denver School of the Arts, Ben has been accepted to attend the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston.  While a student struggling to meet tuition is sadly a too-common plight in our society, the circumstances in which Jenkins and his family arrived at this place is somewhat unusual:  Ben was diagnosed with severe autism at age three.  Doctors had told his parents that the boy may never speak, and could face a lifetime inside institutional facilities.  Ben found music at age six and his family found a talented behavioral therapist thereafter.  Already, the now eighteen year old musician has accomplished what his boyhood doctors thought impossible: a life with direction, friends, schooling and meaningful relationships…  However, the costs required to bring Ben this far in life has bankrupted the Jenkins family.  Ben will join Erik Troe in the Phyllis A. Greer Performance Studio at 4:30 on Wednesday, July 23rd on the Jazz Caravan.  Tune in to hear more about this remarkable young man’s story, and he’ll play a few tunes on our Yamaha grand piano.