Release date: 13 March 2026

Ben Wendel tenor saxophone, EFX

Joel Ross vibraphone, marimba

Simon Moullier vibraphone, chromatic balafon, EFX

Patricia Brennan vibraphone, EFX

Juan Diego Villalobos vibraphone, electric marimba, percussion, EFX

Visionary saxophonist and composer Ben Wendel presents BaRcoDe, a daring new electroacoustic album for saxophone and mallets (vibraphone and percussion). The project features four leading vibraphonists and percussionists – Joel Ross, Simon Moullier, Patricia Brennan, and Juan Diego Villalobos – and captures the energy of their residencies at The Jazz Gallery, recorded at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn. Across intricate compositions and immersive sound design, BaRcoDe blurs the line between chamber music, modern jazz, and electronic experimentation, expanding Wendel’s creative language into new terrain.

A two-time Grammy nominee and co-founder of Kneebody, Ben Wendel has built a career defined by range and reinvention. BaRcoDe continues that trajectory, uniting four boundary-pushing percussionists each redefining their instruments in distinctive ways – from Ross’s expressive harmonic sensibility to Moullier’s microtonal precision, Brennan’s processed textures, and Villalobos’s folkloric rhythmic intensity. The album embodies Wendel’s restless drive to explore sound as architecture – elastic, collaborative, and boldly futuristic.

Tour Dates:

11 Mar De Nieuwe Kerk, The Hague NL
12 Mar BOZAR, Brussels BE
13 Mar Bimhuis, Amsterdam NL
14 Mar Espace Sorano, Paris FR
15 Mar Blue Note Milano, Italy
17 Mar Moods, Zurich CH
18 Mar HA!, Gent BE

Notes on the Deluxe Vinyl

The vinyl is the same as the standard LP, with the addition of exclusive digital content. This includes one bonus track ‘Floating’ available to download as a Hi Res Wav File, plus downloadable PDF sheet music for two tracks ‘Mimo’ and ‘Birds Ascend’.