Jazz Articles about Jon Balke

Jon Balke: Diverted Travels

by John Kelman
July 3, 2012

As Jon Balke moves further and further away from his '80s work with the Miles-informed group Masqualero, he moves deeper into abstraction, experimenting with instrumental combinations that allow for a broad range of textures within an ever-expanding concept. Since the mid-'90s, with his constantly shifting Magnetic North Orchestra, he has explored the juncture between composition and improvisation in a way that assimilates an increasing number of world music influences, yet never seems to sound directly like any of them. Diverted ...

Jon Balke Batagraf: Say And Play

by John Kelman
February 7, 2012

He may be nowhere near a household name in North America, but elsewhere-- in particular in his native Norway--pianist Jon Balke's influence continues to grow. That he's better known for the music he writes--and the contexts in which he delivers it--shouldn't be taken as a negative, either; only that, with projects like the brass-heavy Oslo 13, chamber-tinged Magnetic North Orchestra and culturally and stylistically cross-pollinated Siwan (ECM, 2009), the collaboration-minded Balke simply doesn't opt for contexts where his own playing ...

Jon Balke Batagraf: Say and Play

by AAJ Italy Staff
December 1, 2011

La recente ricerca ritmica di Jon Balke tenta di far convivere il linguaggio percussivo africano occidentale, il minimalismo elettronico nordico, la forma canzone malinconica. Non sono territori inesplorati, tuttavia Balke trova una sua misura, una piccola alchimia, che forse non arriva a soddisfare le ambizioni di partenza ma semina suoni per le tappe future. All'interno di una cornice definita, tracciata da un insieme di tastiere e dalla vocalità ora dispiegata melodicamente ora recitante, Balke tiene in primo piano le percussioni, ...

Jokleba: Jokleba! / nu jok?

by John Kelman
June 26, 2011

Jøkleba Jøkleba! / nu jøk? Universal Music AS, Norway 2011 (1992) It was the show of the year. When veteran bassist Dave Holland had to pull out of his performance at Norway's Vossa Jazz 2011 due to a serious family illness, the festival approached another veteran with a desperate plea for help. From 1991-96, Jøkleba was a Norwegian collective that wasn't quite yet a super group, but has ultimately proven to be one: keyboardist ...

Jon Balke: Siwan

by Nenad Georgievski
October 18, 2009

Jon Balke Siwan ECM Records 2009

Keyboardist Jon Balke's project Siwan is another category-defying masterpiece blending different elements from various traditions and styles into something special. It is an incredibly powerful work, where Balke makes the kind of cinematic music that simply defies tidy description because of its richness of resources and references. He invites a 12 piece baroque ensemble, Barokksolistene, Algerian violinist Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche, Iranian zarb player Pedram Khavar Zamini, ...

Jon Balke: Siwan

by John Kelman
June 27, 2009

A banner year for ECM in many respects, 2009 has seen two specific releases that, in their intrepid conceptual cross-pollination, stand poised as contemporary masterpieces. One is composer/sound sculptor Ambrose Field's exploration of 15th Century composer Guillame Dufay's music with tenor John Potter on the forward-thinking Being Dufay (ECM, 2009); the other is Norwegian keyboardist/composer Jon Balke's Siwan. Being Dufay turned music from a European classical environs ultra-modernistic, even for this 21st Century. Balke takes music from Middle ...

Jon Balke: Siwan

by C. Michael Bailey
June 23, 2009

The competent and successful musico-cultural eutection promoted by ECM founder Manfred Eicher since the release of Jan Garbarek/Hilliard Ensemble's Officium (ECM, 1993) takes another quantum step with keyboardist Jon Balke's imaginative and far reaching Siwan. Balke enters a realm of cross-cultural pollination evolving from Officium, through that same collaboration's expanded vision on Mnemosyne (ECM, 1999) to John Potter's excellent Dowland Project outings: Care-Charming Sleep (ECM, 2001) and Romaria (ECM, 2006).

The focus of Siwan is not one of strict musical ...