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Lucian Ban
LUCIAN BAN was raised in a small village in northwest Transylvania, in “the region where Bartok did his most extensive research and collecting of folk songs" and grew up listening to both traditional and classical music. He studied composition at the Bucharest Music Academy while simultaneously leading his own jazz groups, and notes that his approach to improvisation has been influenced by “the profound musical contributions of Romanian modern classical composers like Aurel Stroe, Anatol Vieru and of course Enesco". Desire to get closer to the source of jazz brought him to the US, and since moving from Romania to New York in 1999 has been leading several projects creating music that reinvents the jazz idiom and collaborating with some of today’s most celebrated jazz musicians. His compositions are performed and recorded by several ensembles and he has released 19 albums under his name for labels such as ECM, Sunnyside, Clean Feed, CIMP, Jazzaway, all the while maintaining a worldwide touring schedule.
In 2013 ECM records releases Transylvanian Concert, a live album of self-penned ballads, blues, hymns and abstract improvisations with american violist MAT MANERI that is met with critical acclaim spanning constant touring ever since. His 2nd album with ELEVATION quartet, Songs from Afar (Sunnyside 2016), featuring Abraham Burton, John Hebert, Eric McPherson and special guests Mat Maneri and Transylvanian traditional singer Gavril Tarmure won the 2016 DOWNBEAT BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR Award receiving a 5* "masterpiece" review. In 2017 Clean Feed Records releases to rave reviews Sounding Tears featuring Mat Maneri and legendary Evan Parker, one of the pivotal figures of European jazz experimentalism of the last 50 years. His Enesco Re-Imagined (Sunnyside 2010) album dedicated to reinterpreting the music of early XX century classical genius George Enesco and featuring some of NYC most celebrated musicians like Tony Malaby, Gerald Cleaver, Ralph Alessi and tabla legend Badal Roy wins multiple BEST ALBUM OF YEAR from Jazz Journalists Association and performs major venues and festivals on both sides of the Atlantic.
2019 sees the release of Free Fall (Sunnyside), a duet with Amsterdam based clarinetist Alex Simu, a tribute to jazz icon Jimmy Giuffre and his groundbreaking trio with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, followed by DARK BLUE a celebration of two decades of close collaboration with baritone sax master Alex Harding. In November Mat Maneri releases DUST featuring Lucian Ban, John Hebert & Randy Peterson and on December 6 Opera de Lyon presents the premiere of OEDIPE REDUX a radical new take on George Enescu magnum opera Oedipe conceived with Mat Maneri for an all star octet featuring Theo Bleckmann, Jen Shyu, Ralph Alessi, Tom Rainey, John Hebert and French bass clarinet virtuoso Louis Sclavis.
In 2020 Lucian Ban releases Transylvanian Folk Songs in trio with Mat Maneri & and legendary John Surman re imagining the Béla Bartók collected folk songs of Romanian people in Transylvania at the beginning of XX century. Album garners critical acclaim with features on NPR, Financial Times, Jazziz, etc.
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Alex Harding, Lucian Ban: Blutopia
by Neri Pollastri
Il pianista Lucian Ban e il sassofonista baritono Alex Harding, assidui collaboratori dalla fine degli anni Novanta, riuniscono qui un quintetto di stelle per interpretare una musica assai diversificata di brano in brano e la cui sintesi è forse espressa da una citazione del filosofo Ibn Al-Arabi riportata nel libretto, la quale celebra il movimento quale origine della vita ed elemento che rende impossibile qualsiasi stasi nel mondo. Accanto ai due co-leader, la formazione vede il violista Mat ...
Continue ReadingLucian Ban: jazz, musica popolare della Romania e l'alter ego Mat Maneri
by Neri Pollastri
Originario della Romania, sebbene da quasi trent'anni residente a New York, il pianista Lucian Ban alterna da tempo le proprie produzioni originali alla ricerca sulla musica della propria terra, quasi sempre assieme al violista Mat Maneri, con il quale forma da anni uno stretto sodalizio artistico. Dopo aver più volte parlato dei suoi album dedicati alla rilettura della musica romena --quali per esempio Transilvanian Folk Songs, Transylvanian Dance e Oedipe Redux --abbiamo avuto occasione di ascoltare Ban e Maneri al ...
Continue ReadingLucian Ban: Following Bartók's Trail Through the Transylvanian Villages
by Dean Nardi
It is hard to re-invent where jazz can go. Players can eschew all the conventional methods they want, but a wheel is still a wheel. This is a reason why pianist Lucian Ban's efforts to bring to light the Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist Bela Bartók's works as a field collector of folk music in 21st-century terms are so important and riveting. Ban expands on these recordings, which were stored on notebooks and wax cylinders, with ancillary writings and photos ...
Continue ReadingLucian Ban e Mat Maneri al PARC di Firenze
by Neri Pollastri
Lucian Ban e Mat Maneri P.A.R.C. Mixité 2025 -Toscana Produzione Musica Firenze 11 maggio 2025 Collaboratori di lungo corso nei reciproci progetti, il pianista rumeno Lucian Ban e il violista statunitense Mat Maneri sono approdati al P.A.R.C. di Firenze, terza data italiana del loro lungo tour europeo , per presentare Transylvanian Dance, il loro ultimo lavoro dedicato alla rielaborazione della musica tradizionale della Romania. La ricerca nelle musiche del paese d'origine del ...
Continue ReadingLucian Ban, Mat Maneri: Transylvanian Dance
by Neri Pollastri
Prosegue l'esplorazione e la rielaborazione della musica della propria terra da parte del pianista rumeno Lucian Ban, accompagnato come sempre dal violista statunitense Mat Maneri, con il quale da un quindicennio collabora strettamente. Ancora una volta è la natia Transilvania a fare da punto di riferimento (il pianista è nato a Teaca, villaggio della regione, e si e poi trasferito a Cluji e Budapest per studiare musica classica e infine a New York per dedicarsi al jazz, non ...
Continue ReadingLucian Ban and Mat Maneri: Transylvanian Dance
by Scott Gudell
Classical composer Bela Bartok was fascinated by folk melodies he heard throughout his native Transylvania at the close of the 19th century / beginning of the 20th century. Similar to when American musicologist Alan Lomax journeyed into the rural communities of the US (and other counties), Bartok journeyed deep into his native countryside to research and collect songs. He eventually archived approximately 3600 pieces on the then-prevalent cylinders. It was not long before he incorporated some of those sounds into ...
Continue ReadingLucian Ban, Mat Maneri: Oedipe Redux
by Neri Pollastri
Pur se da venticinque anni residente negli U.S.A., il pianista Lucian Ban non ha mai smesso di coltivare le sue radici rumene, che spesso anzi caratterizzano sottilmente la sua prolifica produzione artistica. In particolare, assieme al violista Mat Maneri --con il quale collabora assai spesso, contribuendo recentemente al suo album Ash --ha più volte proposto apprezzati lavori ispirati alla tradizione popolare rumena (Transilvanian Dance (ECM 2013), Transilvanian Folk Songs (Sunnyside 2020), mentre già nel 2010 aveva presentato sempre per Sunnyside ...
Continue ReadingAngles Of Repose, Featuring: Mat Maneri, Drew Gress, Lucian Ban, Randy Peterson
Source:
Lwm
Brooklyn, NY: The palimpsestic Series, curated by Oscar Noriega, presents “Angles of Repose” featuring Mat Maneri, Viola, Drew Gress, Bass, Lucian Ban, Piano and Randy Peterson, drums, October 24, 8pm at Barbes, Park Slope Brooklyn. Angles, always presented as a quartet led by Maneri and Ban, will be presenting new music for this performance. “Angles of Repose” is the continuation of a musical rapport developing between violist Mat Maneri and pianist Lucian Ban which features an ever changing roster of ...
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Pianist Lucian Ban Interviewed at AAJ
Source:
All About Jazz
One of the most creative new musicians on the New York City scene, Lucian Ban is a Transylvanian pianist and composer whose collaborations with fellow NYC jazzers continue to produce a burgeoning collection of original music. Recordings with Bob Stewart, Alex Harding, and Jorge Sylvester highlight Lucian's prodigious recent output, a body of work that includes five releases in the last five years.
After studying composition at the Bucharest Music Academy from 1992 to 1995, Ban formed his first stable ...
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”Ban plays with a fluency and sensibility that recalls Vladimir Horowitz as much as McCoy Tyner” – All About Jazz “Like many of the great masters, pianist Lucian Ban makes personal art that feels universal” – DOWNBEAT “Ban’s tasteful, reflective piano playing combines the elegance and technical precision of the European classical tradition with wide-ranging musical interests and a passion for improvisation” – Jeff Stockton, All About Jazz “Ban suggests Keith Jarrett, Monk and early Abdullah Ibrahim with 20th-century classical infusion” – The Guardian ”Ban plays with a fluency and sensibility that recalls Vladimir Horowitz as much as McCoy Tyner” – All About Jazz
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Poor Is My Heart
From: Transylvanian DanceBy Lucian Ban
Transylvanian Dance
From: Transylvanian DanceBy Lucian Ban
Lucian Ban
Location: New York City
Instrument: Piano
