Born to an American father and French mother, Ben grew up in Paris. He was introduced to music at an early age by his father, Mike Zwerin, a famous trombonist and writer for the “International Herald Tribune” who played with Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy and Maynard Fergusson.
At the age of nineteen, Ben was awarded a scholarship to Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music where he studied with reputable teachers such as Hal Crook, Bruce Gertz and Phil Wilson.
After graduating, Ben began performing throughout the country and taught at Northeastern University in Boston until moving to New York in 2000.
Upon moving to NYC, Ben began touring internationally (“Montreux Jazz Festival”, “Jazz a Juan”, “Jazz a Vienne”, “North Sea Jazz”, “Playboy Jazz Festival”, “Newport Jazz Festival”…) as well as playing in local NYC venues (Carnegie Hall, Roseland, Bowery Ballroom, Bitter End, Joe’s Pub, Mercury Lounge) with talented and diverse artists such as Lizz Wright, Angelique Kidjo, Lila Downs (Sony), Nouvelle Vague (EMI), Claudia Acuna, Lionel Loueke (Blue Note), Kellylee Evans (Universal France), Otis Clay, The Revelations feat. Tre Williams, Oliver Mtukudzi, Ycare (Sony France), Brendan James (Decca/Universal), Souldiggaz (Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige), Frenchie Davis (The Voice, Rent and American Idol), Ellen Greene (of The Little Shop of Horrors), Antonique Smith (of Rent and Notorious), Forro In The Dark (Nublu/Nat Geo), Running Still (East/West/Atlantic). Ben has also played in the Off-Broadway shows Bat Boy and A Broadway Diva Christmas.
For the past 20 years he has focused on writing with, and producing various artists (RC Andres, Jennifer Porter, Aimua Eghobamien, Brian Lazarus, Jason Ewald, Daisy Jopling, Brianna Sage, Summer Virshup, Alex Bell, Erol Josue, Running Still...) as well as writing music for TV shows (All my Children, One Life to Live, American Pickers and several more).