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Jazz Articles about Charlie Ballantine
About Charlie Ballantine
Instrument: Guitar
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by Robert Middleton
In the 72 Jazz Thrillers series we've gone from 1969 to 2023, an expansive 54-year journey. From the jazz vanguard of Bitches Brew to the dynamic movie soundtrack of Roy's World, from the sublime guitar of Bill Frisell to the singing guitar of Charlie Ballantine, the thing that all these jazz albums have in common is their amazing listenability, music you can enjoy for years and never get bored. At least I haven't been. Thanks for reading, and I encourage ...
read moreCharlie Ballantine: Jazz Guitar Without Borders
by Mark Sullivan
jny: Indianapolis-born jazz guitarist/composer Charlie Ballantine has a special relationship with American music of all kinds: jazz, folk, the blues (his father was a blues guitarist, providing some of Ballantine's earliest musical memories) and contemporary rock. He is acclaimed as one of the finest and most versatile young guitarists on the scene today. Yours truly described his style by stating Jazz, rock, and folk music peacefully coexist in Charlie Ballantine's world." In addition to an impressive body of ...
read moreCharlie Ballantine: Falling Grace
by Robert Middleton
At 33, Ballantine has recorded eight albums and they are all gems. His range is wide and eclectic with tributes to Bob Dylan, Thelonious Monk and Kurt Vonnegut. But his December 2022 release stands out as a masterpiece of artistry, melody, and deep feeling. Falling Grace doesn't hit one over the head right away, but you might find you can't stop playing it over and over again. Ballantine's guitar style is crisp as an autumn morning, bluesy as ...
read moreQuinn Sternberg: Cicada Songs
by Chris M. Slawecki
On Cicada Songs, bassist Quinn Sternberg paints a dreamy portrait of a languid summer evening at home, a visit to a comfortable front porch full of snoozing dogs, meandering cats, and the natural summer serenade of its title track. The first Cicada song is June," Sternberg and company's collective musing about what Sternberg's beloved dog named June might dream about. June" opens with a shimmer of cymbals, like you're passing through the gossamer curtain of sleep and are ...
read moreCharlie Ballantine: Reflections/Introspection: The Music Of Thelonious Monk
by Chris M. Slawecki
Reflections/Introspection... follows-up guitarist Charlie Ballentine's Life is Brief: The Music of Bob Dylan, the guitarist's tribute to another (and very different type of) iconoclastic modern composer and one of the best albums of 2018. He absolutely bounces through this double-LP (one trio, one quartet) on a merry joyride through the compositions of the onliest Monk." Monk has such an incredible catalogue that one of the big challenges we faced was what songs to choose and also what instrumentation ...
read moreCharlie Ballantine: Reflections/Introspection: The Music Of Thelonious Monk
by Mark Sullivan
Indianapolis-based guitarist and composer Charlie Ballantine has made thematically organized albums before. Life is Brief: The Music of Bob Dylan (Green Mind Records, 2018) featured creative versions of songs by the iconic songwriter, and Vonnegut (Green Mind Records, 2020), was made up of original Ballantine compositions inspired by the work of novelist Kurt Vonnegut. Here the inspiration is purely musical, and it is one of the pillars of modern jazz: the brilliant composer & pianist Thelonious Monk. Many of the ...
read moreCharlie Ballantine: Vonnegut
by Mark Sullivan
Indianapolis-based guitarist/composer Charlie Ballantine took his inspiration from iconic American novelist Kurt Vonnegut for this project, the most complex set of music in his already lengthy and varied recording career. He was joined by fellow Indianapolis musicians: saxophonist Rob Dixon, saxophonist/clarinetist Amanda Gardier, pianist Mina Keohane, bassist Jesse Wittman and drummer Cassius Goens. Dixon, Gardier and Wittman have appeared on several prior Ballantine recordings, so there is a strong base of shared experience to draw upon. Kurt Vonnegut ...
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