Rick Benjamin

Rick Benjamin is the director and founder of the world renowned The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. He has an active career as a pianist and tubist as well as an arranger.

Benjamin was greatly encouraged in his musical career by his grandfather, J. Edward Smith, who played violin, clarinet and piano, among other instruments, throughout his life, and was a musician with the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, for many years until his death. He and his Orchestra continue to perform regularly in Monmouth County venues, where both grandfather and grandson lived.

Benjamin has produced his own CDs and travels around the world as the leader of his orchestra.