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Jazz Articles about Jon Balke

About Jon Balke

213

Album Review

Jon Balke / Batagraf: Statements

Read "Statements" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
March 26, 2006

Batagraf is less a group or band than a collection of like-minded musicians who have come together to explore ideas related to rhythm and language. Made up of four percussionists and five vocalist/reciters, along with but two “normal" instrumentalists (trumpet and alto saxophone) and Balke himself playing electronic keyboard and percussion, plus some vocals and sound processing, one might think that the music would be percussion heavy. That is not the case, and, if you can suppress ...

274

Album Review

Moller/Balke/Lund: Trialogue

Read "Trialogue" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich

by Matthew Wuethrich
July 7, 2004

Jon Balke has risen to attention with his large ensemble albums for ECM. His Magnetic North Orchestra and Oslo 13 bristle with a provocative mix of percussion, punchy brass sections, electronic textures and placid piano interludes. This trio date, with Danish tenor saxophonist Lars Moller and drummer Morten Lund, distills those large ensembles into a stripped down form, while losing none of the intrigue. Recorded in 1999 but not released until 2003, Trialogue documents the trio’s improvised studio meeting. The ...