Results for "Jon Balke"

Jon Balke

Born: June 7, 1955

Jon Balke was born in Furnes, Norway, and has been a professional musician since 1974. Balke has no formal education in music or composition and has mainly worked within the realm of improvised music. His main instrument has been the piano and this has lead, in time, to the use of electronic keyboards. He began composing for larger ensembles in 1982, first and foremost for Oslo 13, a 'small' big band, and has since composed works for the theatre and various chamber ensembles, in addition to big bands and jazz ensembles. Balke's activities in music have always been two-fold. On the one hand, there is a search for maximum spontaneity through the establishing of orchestras which are increasingly based on pure improvisation; a development that has culminated in his very successful trio Jøkleba with Audun Kleive and Per Jørgensen (keys, percussion, and trumpet)

Dominik Wania: Lonely Shadows

by Friedrich Kunzmann
April 26, 2021

Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert (1975) may still be regarded as the undisputed milestone in ECM's rich history of solo piano recordings. But that doesn't mean that other landmark albums such as Paul Bley's Open, To Love (1973), Richie Beirach's Hubris (1973) or later releases like Stefano Bollani's Piano Solo (2005) and Marilyn Crispell's Vignettes (2007)—among ...

Alessandro Sgobbio: la musica come viaggio verso sé stessi

by Emmanuel Di Tommaso
April 23, 2021

Non capita spesso di potersi confrontare con musicisti dal profondo livello culturale e dalla caratura internazionale di Alessandro Sgobbio. A pochi mesi dall'uscita di Transparence, disco d'esordio del quartetto Hitra, abbiamo avuto la fortuna di poter discutere con il pianista di origini pugliesi dei temi e delle idee all'origine dei suoi progetti passati, presenti e futuri, ...

A Musical Tryptich: Between Jazz, Folklore And Song

by Friedrich Kunzmann
January 4, 2021

The three albums below come from international European groups (among them one with a substantial Asian infusion) who recognize no boundaries in music nor borders between nations. Taking a variety of musical idioms and traditions and turning them into something new, each musician here is inspired by the lack of musical limitations that allows them to ...

In memoriam: Alessandro Giachero

by Francesco Martinelli
October 27, 2020

Only with a very heavy heart one can write an obituary for a young friend and great musician who left this world suddenly, prematurely and unjustly, leaving his colleagues and pupils, but above all his family, in mourning. It will hopefully be useful to leave a trace of his musical contributions and a lead for future ...

Claudio Vignali: Rach Mode On

by Emmanuel Di Tommaso
September 18, 2020

Dopo l'ottimo esordio di Indu Juggernaut e gli interessanti dischi collaborativi del 2016 Now and Then e Revert, Claudio Vignali prosegue il suo appassionante viaggio alla ricerca di territori sonori inesplorati tornando in studio di registrazione insieme a Daniele Principato, con il quale ha intrapreso fino dal 2012 un percorso di integrazione fra strumenti acustici ed ...

Alessandro Giachero: consapevolezza e ricerca

by Neri Pollastri
August 10, 2020

Pianista, compositore, improvvisatore, didatta, Alessandro Giachero è tra i musicisti più interessanti e originali del nostro Paese. Dopo aver assistito a un suo splendido concerto per piano solo e in occasione dell'uscita del primo disco della sua più recente formazione, l'ensemble Sonoria, lo abbiamo intervistato per conoscere meglio il suo percorso artistico e il suo modo ...

Recollections of an Oslo experience

by Henning Bolte
October 17, 2019

Oslo has its week-long Jazz Festival taking place in mid-August at Sentralen and various locations from bar to church to opera house and university auditorium in the Norwegian capital. This already indicates something of the variety of the presented music. This year's edition has been the last one under the thirteen-year aegis of bassist and festival ...

Torino Jazz Festival 2019

by Antonio Baiano
May 21, 2019

Skydive Trio: Sun Sparkle

by Karl Ackermann
September 10, 2018

Norwegian guitarist Thomas Dahl's primary project is the Skydive Trio with bassist Mats Eilertsen and drummer Olavi Louhivuouri. The trio is an off-shoot of a quintet of the same name that includes tenor saxophonist Tore Brunborg and pianist Alexi Tuomarila. Sun Sparkle is the second release from the smaller group whose sound, like the album title, ...