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

Moten started making music from an early age and developed as a pianist, pulling together other musicians in a band.

His orchestra featured the standard Kansas City style at the time: smooth sax chorus over tinkling piano and a bass drum beat.

(They made 10 recordings at Victor's Camden, New Jersey, studios on December 13, 1932, during a time when the band was suffering significant financial hardship.)

These sides were mostly arranged by Eddie Durham, and they include a number of tunes that later became swing classics: Moten died at Kansas City's Wheatley-Provident Hospital on April 2, 1935, following a failed tonsillectomy.

"[7] The complete personnel of Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra, as of 1926-1927 when the band was at the peak of its early popularity, was: