Jon Balke

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Jon Balke (2006)

Jon Balke (born June 7, 1955 in Furnes ) is a Norwegian jazz pianist .

Live and act

As a teenager, Balke played in the rock jazz group Unis before founding his first own jazz quartet in 1973. He also had a jazz orchestra with his brother Erik Balke . He became known as a member of the Arild Andersen Quartet , founded in 1974 , with which the 1975 debut LP Clouds in My Head was created. He also worked with the Radka Toneff Quintet and in 1978 traveled to India with the singer Karin Krog .

Since the late 1970s he has also been heard with ethnic groups such as E'Olen and Surdu and appeared in 1982 with L. Subramaniam . With his brother ( Brødrene Balke Etno Funk ) he produced the show Palmevinsdrankeren (The Palm Wine Drinker ) in 1984 . He has also worked with many other groups such as the Lars Klevstrand / Guttorm Guttormsen Quartet , the quartet of Jon Eberson , the formation Oslo 13 , the jazz punk ensemble , the group Masqualero under Jon Christensen , the Sidsel Endresen Quartet and also with George Russell and Göran Klinghagen .

Since 1990 he has worked in a trio with Per Jørgensen and Audun Kleive . 1993–1994 he toured Japan and the USA with the Magnetic North plant . He also made recordings with Pierre Favre , Håvard Lund and Torbjørn Sunde and founded the Magnetic North Orchestra in 1992 . He can also be heard on Miki N'Doye 's albums.

Balke also composed several music for theater, the work Ø for the Åpent Øre Festival 1988 and Il Cenone for the Vossajazz Festival 1992.

Prizes and awards

In 1984 he was awarded the Buddy Prize. The group Oslo 13 received the Norwegian Spellemannprisen in 1988 for the album Off-balance , for which he had written the compositions . His album Siwan received the 2009 German Record Critics' Prize .

Discographic notes

  • Clouds in My Head , 1975
  • E'Olen , 1979
  • Nonsentration , 1990
  • Per Jørgensen, Jon Balke, Audun Kleive On and On ( Odin , 1991)
  • Jøkleba! , 1992 (with Per Jørgensen and Audun Kleive)
  • Further , 1993
  • Letters , 1995
  • Rotor , 1997
  • Saturation , 1998
  • Kyanos , 2002
  • Diverted Travels , 2004
  • Book of Velocities , 2007
  • Siwan , 2009
  • Batagraf Say and Play , 2013
  • Jøkleba Outland , 2014 ( ECM Records )
  • Warp , 2016 (ECM Records, solo)
  • Siwan, Nahnou Houm , 2017 (ECM, with Ensemble Siwan, Mona Boutchebak, Derya Türkan , Helge Norbakken, Pedram Khavar Zamini , Barokksolistene; quarterly list 1/2018 German Record Prize )
  • Discourses , 2020 (ECM, solo)

Web links

Commons : Jon Balke  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Kaiser: How the pianist Jon Balke works with reverberation. In: Deutschlandradio Kultur. March 1, 2016, accessed May 12, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Emotions and Zeitgeist (NDR: CD of the week)
personal data
SURNAME Balke, Jon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian jazz pianist
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Furnes , Hedmark , Norway