Jon Balke

Jon Balke

Musicians | Instrument: Piano | Location: Oslo

Balke continues to be a master of the selective keyboard intervention.

—Outland

Updated: November 9, 2023

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). On the other hand, there is a search for thoroughly composed chamber music, with an orchestral expression that goes beyond traditional forms, which can be heard in the recordings of Magnetic North Orchestra and Siwan, as well as in numerous works for contemporary ensembles. Balke also has developed a catalogue of songs, resulting from cooperation with singers like Radka Toneff, Sidsel Endresen, Trine Lise Væring, Emilie Christensen and Mattis Myrland.

Source: Music Information Center Norway

Awards

1984 Norwegian Jazzforbunds "Buddy" price 1993"Årets Jazzmusiker" FNJ musikerpris “OL-musiker” i forbindelse med vinter-OL 1994 1986-88 1999 “Jazzvisitor in Copenhagen”, Denmark 2000 The Edvard price from Tono and Norwegian Composers association 2003 Oslo City Culture Grant 2008 Rolf Gamleng price 2009 "Jahrespreis den deutchen schallplattenkritik” for Siwan 2012 Artist in residence at Molde int Jazzfestival 2014 Jazz visitor at Torino Jazz festival


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9
Album Review

Jon Balke: Siwan: Hafla

Read "Siwan: Hafla" reviewed by David Bruggink


A large appeal of ECM Records has always been its encouragement of cross-cultural collaboration. Across countries and genres, listeners and critics alike have reveled in records from Codona (1979) to Le Pas du Chat Noir (2001), Chants, Hymns and Dances (2004) and Arco Iris (2011).  There is joy in seeing musicians from diverse backgrounds come together to have their compositions treated with ECM's trademark recording quality. Norwegian composer, keyboardist, and percussionist Jon Balke's Siwan project, now in its third incarnation, has seen multiple arrangements ...

11
Album Review

Jon Balke - Siwan: Nahnou Houm

Read "Nahnou Houm" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


When Norwegian keyboardist/composer Jon Balke began the Siwan project in 2007 it grew out of a fascination with Andalusian culture, and an imaginary musical history. What would have happened in European and world musical development if the Inquisition had never happened? Siwan (ECM, 2009) brought together Gharnati music (represented by vocalist Amina Alaoui and violinist Kheir Eddine M Kachiche), Baroque and improvised contemporary music. This album seeks to establish the concept as a working unit. Only Balke, Helge ...

2
In Pictures

Chamoisic Festival VIII Edition

Read "Chamoisic Festival VIII Edition" reviewed by Antonio Baiano


Held in the village of Chamois, located in Valle d'Aosta (Italy), the Chamoisic Festival was founded by composer/trumpeter Giorgio Li Calzi. Since its inception, the festival has presented a wide range of music, from classical to jazz, folk and electronica, on stages surrounded by the majestic Alps. The 8th annual edition featured the Selene Framarin Trio, the Iain MacFarlane Trio, the Pugile Trio and saxophonist Diego Borotti. Jon Balke closed the festival on Sunday with his orchestra featuring ...

Album Review

Jon Balke: Warp

Read "Warp" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Progetto in solitudine del pianista norvegese, quasi un decennio dopo il suo Book of Velocity, ma qui il pianoforte-- registrato al Rainbow Studio -è accompagnato da suoni registrati e campionati, da rumori d'ambiente e da voci, il tutto processato dall'autore assieme ad Audun Kleive, già partner di Jon Balke in altri lavori, e poi missato alla registrazione. L'obiettivo dichiarato di questa operazione era inserire il suono del piano all'interno di una più ampia architettura sonora, che in particolare ...

17
Album Review

Jon Balke: Warp

Read "Warp" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Best known for his Magnetic North Orchestra, pianist and composer Jon Balke has a background that is rich with global influences and diverse musical stylings. Trained as a classical pianist in his youth, Balke was playing with Masqualero on Bande à Part (ECM, 1985) by the time he was eighteen. That recording, in the company of Arild Andersen, Nils Petter Molvær, Tore Brunborg and Jon Christensen, set some enduring musical relationships in motion, with all but Andersen going on to ...

5
Extended Analysis

Jon Balke: Magnetic Works 1993-2001

Read "Jon Balke: Magnetic Works 1993-2001" reviewed by John Kelman


Jon Balke Magnetic Works 1993-2001 ECM Records 2012 As his flagship Magnetic North Orchestra nears its two-decade anniversary in 2013, Norwegian pianist/composer/bandleader Jon Balke has been performing occasional shows with Magnetic Book, taking a fresh look at the group's repertoire through an expanded edition where its core septet is augmented with an additional six baroque string players. Its 2011 performance, at the Oslo International Jazz Festival, was so compelling in its implementation of unorthodox compositional ...

569
Album Review

Jon Balke: Diverted Travels

Read "Diverted Travels" reviewed by John Kelman


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 ...

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