Jazz Articles about Ballister

About Ballister

Album Review

A listener might have a premonition when they drop the needle on the hot pink vinyl version or push the play button on the CD or digital download of Smash And Grab by the trio Ballister. They understand, or have knowledge by way of the trio's ten previous releases, that a storm awaits them. The trio of saxophonist Dave Rempis, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love conjure a tempest of sound that simply refuses to become background music.

Album Review

Ballister: Chrysopoeia

Read "Chrysopoeia" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
May 5, 2022

It is difficult to imagine a Ballister recording having its origins in any setting other than a live performance. The trio of saxophonist Dave Rempis, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love fuels each performance with the audience's energy on all their recordings, including Chrysopoeia, their tenth. Not that the trio could not produce their music in a studio setting, it is just the intensity of their free jazz performances would not contain the fevered eruptions available to the music ...

Album Review

Ballister: Znachki Stilyag

Read "Znachki Stilyag" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
October 3, 2020

Although the title, composed of two unrelated Russian words chosen because they sounded good, doesn't have a meaning, the contents not only sound good but carry rather more weight. The high intensity free jazz trio Ballister comprises reedman Dave Rempis, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, three of the finest proponents on their instruments in this particular ballpark. For its ninth release the band selects three dynamite cuts, coming in at just under an hour, from a live date ...

Album Review

Ballister: Slag

by Nicola Negri
December 22, 2017

Ballister: cronache di una working band. Sesto album per questo trio, formato nel 2009 da Dave Rempis (sax contralto e tenore) insieme a Fred Lonberg-Holm (violoncello, elettronica) e Paal Nilssen-Love (batteria e percussioni varie). Negli anni la musica del trio ha sempre mantenuto le stesse caratteristiche di base: un'improvvisazione collettiva caratterizzata da una forte spinta ritmica, dove la batteria implacabile di Nilssen-Love sostiene le evoluzioni di Rempis al sassofono, in pieno stile fire music, mentre ...

Album Review

Ballister: Slag

by Mark Corroto
January 29, 2017

If you were a fan of cyclist Marco Pantani, you must have appreciated the manner in which he could defeat his opponents in a 100 mile bicycle race. Nicknamed il pirata (the pirate), he could rip their legs off from the start, but the real thing of beauty was the numerous other ways he could win. Maybe that is why experiencing the live concert recording SLAG evokes Pantani's style. The trio of saxophonist Dave Rempis, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and drummer ...

Album Review

Ballister: Dave Rempis, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Paal Nilssen-Love: Worse for the Wear

Read "Worse for the Wear" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
October 15, 2015

Cinque dischi in cinque anni non sono male per un trio dalla spiccata identità free, con innesti rumoristico/elettronici. Nato nel 2011, Ballister è formato dal sassofonista Dave Rempis, dal violocellista Fred Lonberg-Holm e dal batterista norvegese Paal Nilssen-Love, tutti partner -a vario titolo -di Ken Vandermark e dei massimi strumentisti radicali che fanno base a Chicago. La loro è una libera improvvisazione dalle tinte accese, una lava incandescente che investe l'ascoltatore secondo modelli che fanno ...