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Jazz Articles about Jon Balke

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Album Review

Jon Balke: Siwan: Hafla

Read "Siwan: Hafla" reviewed by David Bruggink


A large appeal of ECM Records has always been its encouragement of cross-cultural collaboration. Across countries and genres, listeners and critics alike have reveled in records from Codona (1979) to Le Pas du Chat Noir (2001), Chants, Hymns and Dances (2004) and Arco Iris (2011).  There is joy in seeing musicians from diverse backgrounds come together to have their compositions treated with ECM's trademark recording quality. Norwegian composer, keyboardist, and percussionist Jon Balke's Siwan project, now in its third incarnation, has seen multiple arrangements ...

11
Album Review

Jon Balke - Siwan: Nahnou Houm

Read "Nahnou Houm" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


When Norwegian keyboardist/composer Jon Balke began the Siwan project in 2007 it grew out of a fascination with Andalusian culture, and an imaginary musical history. What would have happened in European and world musical development if the Inquisition had never happened? Siwan (ECM, 2009) brought together Gharnati music (represented by vocalist Amina Alaoui and violinist Kheir Eddine M Kachiche), Baroque and improvised contemporary music. This album seeks to establish the concept as a working unit. Only Balke, Helge ...

2
In Pictures

Chamoisic Festival VIII Edition

Read "Chamoisic Festival VIII Edition" reviewed by Antonio Baiano


Held in the village of Chamois, located in Valle d'Aosta (Italy), the Chamoisic Festival was founded by composer/trumpeter Giorgio Li Calzi. Since its inception, the festival has presented a wide range of music, from classical to jazz, folk and electronica, on stages surrounded by the majestic Alps. The 8th annual edition featured the Selene Framarin Trio, the Iain MacFarlane Trio, the Pugile Trio and saxophonist Diego Borotti. Jon Balke closed the festival on Sunday with his orchestra featuring ...

Album Review

Jon Balke: Warp

Read "Warp" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Progetto in solitudine del pianista norvegese, quasi un decennio dopo il suo Book of Velocity, ma qui il pianoforte-- registrato al Rainbow Studio -è accompagnato da suoni registrati e campionati, da rumori d'ambiente e da voci, il tutto processato dall'autore assieme ad Audun Kleive, già partner di Jon Balke in altri lavori, e poi missato alla registrazione. L'obiettivo dichiarato di questa operazione era inserire il suono del piano all'interno di una più ampia architettura sonora, che in particolare ...

17
Album Review

Jon Balke: Warp

Read "Warp" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Best known for his Magnetic North Orchestra, pianist and composer Jon Balke has a background that is rich with global influences and diverse musical stylings. Trained as a classical pianist in his youth, Balke was playing with Masqualero on Bande à Part (ECM, 1985) by the time he was eighteen. That recording, in the company of Arild Andersen, Nils Petter Molvær, Tore Brunborg and Jon Christensen, set some enduring musical relationships in motion, with all but Andersen going on to ...

Album Review

Jon Balke: Magnetic Works 1993-2001

Read "Magnetic Works 1993-2001" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff


Questo doppio CD raccoglie una selezione della produzione della Magnetic North Orchestra di Jon Balke, tratta dagli album Further (1994), Solarized (1999) e Kyanos (2002). La riedizione, opportuna e interessante, permette di ricordare e tener conto di quanto si muoveva in Norvegia a cavallo del nuovo secolo, mentre l'accostamento dei tre lavori consente di apprezzare in modo più preciso l'evoluzione di una musica che ha influenzato molte delle produzioni successive, visto che nella Magnetic militavano musicisti come Per Jørgensen, Arve ...

5
Extended Analysis

Jon Balke: Magnetic Works 1993-2001

Read "Jon Balke: Magnetic Works 1993-2001" reviewed by John Kelman


Jon Balke Magnetic Works 1993-2001 ECM Records 2012 As his flagship Magnetic North Orchestra nears its two-decade anniversary in 2013, Norwegian pianist/composer/bandleader Jon Balke has been performing occasional shows with Magnetic Book, taking a fresh look at the group's repertoire through an expanded edition where its core septet is augmented with an additional six baroque string players. Its 2011 performance, at the Oslo International Jazz Festival, was so compelling in its implementation of unorthodox compositional ...


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