 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Jon Ballantyne (born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a pianist and composer who resides in the New York area. [1]
Ballantyne started playing the piano at an early age and began formal study at the age of six. His father, Fred, is a pianist. Both of his parents are jazz enthusiasts and exposed him to the recordings of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and Duke Ellington.
He studied classical piano and played in a garage band when he was a teenager. He also played the tenor saxophone and piano in high school concerts and stage bands. He attended high school in City Park Collegiate Institute (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan).
Ballantyne was awarded a scholarship to study in North Texas State University (attending from 1982 to 1985) where he played in the One O'clock Lab Band.
In the fall of 1987, Ballantyne joined the Woody Herman Thundering Herd for an extensive tour in the U.S.. He re-joined the band in the late 1990s for various European and United Kingdom tours and performances in the Northeast, New England and Florida.
As a six-year resident of Park Slope, Brooklyn in the 1990s, he played afternoon jam sessions in his studio apartment with forward-looking musicians such as Seamus Blake, Bill Carrothers, Phil Haynes, Donny McCaslin, Dave Pietro, Scott Neumann, Jay Rosen, Tony Scherr, Mark Turner, Elliot Zigmund, and Matt Wilson, most of which are his neighbours.
He has conducted educational clinics in Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, McGill University, University of Toronto, Concordia University, and University of Saskatchewan, among others.
From 1999 to 2006, Ballantyne led a quartet consisting bassist Boris Kozlov, drummer Jeff Hirshfield, and saxophonist/bass clarinetist Douglas Yates, as well as a trio featuring Drew Gress and Gene Jackson. Ballantyne also went on several solo piano concert tours in the 90's, 2000's and most recently, in 2014.
In 2013, Ballantyne toured Canada extensively with the Alan Jones Canadian All Star Sextet, featuring drummer Alan Jones (leader and compositions), Seamus Blake (tenor), Phil Dwyer (alto), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Brad Turner (trumpet, one city) and Tom Wakeling (bass).
Ballantyne performs often in noted jazz clubs in the Northeastern US, such as The Deer Head Inn (Delaware Water Gap), Small's (New York), Zinc Bar (New York), Cleopatra's Needle (New York), Mezzrow (New York), and Chris's Jazz Cafe (Philadelphia).
There were sold-out performances of the Bill Goodwin Trio, which Ballantyne is a member of, in Mezzrow Jazz Club in New York during early 2023.
Currently, Ballantyne plays in the Bill Goodwin trio (with bassist Evan Gregor), The Parker Trio (with drummer Adam Nussbaum and bassist Gene Perla), and tenor saxophonist Dan Wilkins' quartet. He also plays with guitarist Bill Washer as a duo called the "Mode for Joe Duo", which features the music of Joe Henderson, whom Washer played with from 1969 to 1972 and Ballantyne from 1989 to 1992. A live recording of the duo was released in the Spring of 2024 on the Deer Head Records label, followed by a new trio release ("Trio It Is") in the summer of 2024 on Vector Disc Records, with Bill Goodwin and Evan Gregor as follow-ups to their widely-acclaimed 2017 album.
An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.
| Year recorded | Title | Label | Personnel/Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987* | Trio Jon Ballantyne | Jazzimage | with Terry Clarke, Drums; Jim Vivian, Bass. *JUNO Award Nominated | |
| 1988 | Sky Dance | Justin Time | Quartet, with Joe Henderson (tenor sax), Neil Swainson (bass), Jerry Fuller (drums) *JUNO Award Winner | |
| 1991 | A Musing | Justin Time | Some tracks solo piano; most tracks duo, with Paul Bley (piano); some tracks duo with Dave Laing (drums) | |
| 1994 | The Loose | Justin Time | Trio, with Drew Gress (bass), Billy Hart (drums) | |
| 1995 | Trio Live | NY Jam | Trio, with Drew Gress (bass), Billy Hart (drums) | |
| 1997 | Known/Unknown | NY Jam | Trio, with Drew Gress (bass), Gene Jackson (drums) | |
| 2000* | Round Again | NY Jam | ||
| 2005 | 4tets + Dewey Redman | Real Artist Works | With Douglas Yates, Jeff Hirshfield, Gene Jackson, Boris Kozlov; Dewey Redman (sax) added on some tracks | |
| 2002 | "The Banff Session" | Real Artist Works | With Boris Kozlov, Hugh Sicotte | |
| 2006* | Avenue Standard | Real Artist Works | Solo Piano *JUNO Award Winner | |
| 2006 | Ever Since Now | Real Artist Works | Solo Piano | |
| 2012* | Twenty Accident Free Workdays | Real Artist Works | With Hugh Sicotte *JUNO Award Nominated | |
| 2016 | "Live at Porter's" (*Unreleased, 2024 release imminent) | with Bill Goodwin, Drums; Tony Marino, Bass: Jon Ballantyne, Electric Piano | ||
| 2017 | "Trio" | Vector Disc Records | With Bill Goodwin, leader, drums; Evan Gregor, bass | |
| 2020 | "Duaxis" | Real Artist Works | With Devin Gray | |
| 2021 | "The Parker Trio" | PM Records | with Gene Perla, Adam Nussbaum | |
| 2024 | "The Mode for Joe Duo, Live at the Deer Head Inn" | Deer Head Records | Bill Washer, Jon Ballantyne | |
| 2024 | "Trio It Is" | Vector Disc Records (to be released Fall of 2024) | with Bill Goodwin, Drums; Evan Gregor, Bass |
Dave Douglas is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator. His career includes more than fifty recordings as a leader and more than 500 published compositions. His ensembles include the Dave Douglas Quintet; Sound Prints, a quintet co-led with saxophonist Joe Lovano; Uplift, a sextet with bassist Bill Laswell; Present Joys with pianist Uri Caine and Andrew Cyrille; High Risk, an electronic ensemble with Shigeto, Jonathan Aaron, and Ian Chang; and Engage, a sextet with Jeff Parker, Tomeka Reid, Anna Webber, Nick Dunston, and Kate Gentile.
David Holland is an English double bassist, bass guitarist, cellist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States since the early 1970s.
George Wallington was an American jazz pianist and composer. Born in Sicily, his career as a pianist began in the early 1940s, when he played with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and contributed to the development of bebop. Following several years as a sideman during the late 1940s, he formed his own group, experimenting with trios and a string ensemble before settling upon a permanent quintet.
Paul Bley, CM was a Canadian jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ARP synthesizers. His music has been described by Ben Ratliff of the New York Times as "deeply original and aesthetically aggressive". Bley's prolific output includes influential recordings from the 1950s through to his solo piano recordings of the 2000s.
Larry Grenadier is an American jazz double bassist.
Wynton Charles Kelly was an American jazz pianist and composer. He is known for his lively, blues-based playing and as one of the finest accompanists in jazz. He began playing professionally at the age of 12 and was pianist on a No. 1 R&B hit at the age of 16. His recording debut as a leader occurred three years later, around the time he started to become better known as an accompanist to singer Dinah Washington, and as a member of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's band. This progress was interrupted by two years in the United States Army, after which Kelly worked again with Washington and Gillespie, and played with other leaders. Over the next few years, these included instrumentalists Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Wes Montgomery, and Sonny Rollins, and vocalists Betty Carter, Billie Holiday, and Abbey Lincoln.
Ellery Eskelin is an American tenor saxophonist raised in Baltimore, Maryland and residing in New York City. His parents, Rodd Keith and Bobbie Lee, were both professional musicians. Rodd Keith died in 1974 in Los Angeles, California, and became a cult figure after his death in the little-known field of "song-poem" music. Organist Bobbie Lee performed in local nightclubs in Baltimore in the early 1960s and provided Eskelin an introduction to standards from the Great American Songbook as well as inspiring an early interest in jazz music.
Mulgrew Miller was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. As a child he played in churches and was influenced on piano by Ramsey Lewis and then Oscar Peterson. Aspects of their styles remained in his playing, but he added the greater harmonic freedom of McCoy Tyner and others in developing as a hard bop player and then in creating his own style, which influenced others from the 1980s on.
Kevin Hays is an American jazz pianist and composer. He began playing in New York while still at high school and led his first record date in 1990. He has recorded more than twenty albums as leader or co-leader, including three each for SteepleChase and Blue Note Records. He led a long-standing trio with bassist Doug Weiss and drummer Bill Stewart, and has also sung with his New Day Trio of bassist Rob Jost and drummer Greg Joseph.
Harold Mabern Jr. was an American jazz pianist and composer, principally in the hard bop, post-bop, and soul jazz fields. He is described in The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings as "one of the great post-bop pianists".
John Josephus Hicks Jr. was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He was leader of more than 30 recordings and played as a sideman on more than 300.
Irene Louise Rosnes, known professionally as Renee Rosnes, is a Canadian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.
Craig Marvin Taborn is an American pianist, organist, keyboardist and composer. He works solo and in bands, mostly playing various forms of jazz. He started playing piano and Moog synthesizer as an adolescent and was influenced at an early stage by a wide range of music, including by the freedom expressed in recordings of free jazz and contemporary classical music.
Guy Lafitte was a French jazz saxophonist.
F. Bill Goodwin is an American jazz drummer.
Marty Morell is a jazz drummer who was a member of the Bill Evans Trio for seven years—longer than any other drummer. Before joining Evans, he worked with the Al Cohn-Zoot Sims Quintet, Red Allen, Gary McFarland, Steve Kuhn, and Gábor Szabó.
This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 1933.
James G. Aton, best known as Jim Aton or Jimmy Aton, was an American jazz bassist, pianist, vocalist and composer. He worked with numerous notable artists including Billie Holiday, Anita O'Day and Bill Evans. He appeared in films such as Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957) with the Bobby Troup Trio, Roustabout (1964) with Elvis Presley and Barbara Stanwyck, and in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) with Jane Fonda.
Adam Rafferty is a guitarist and composer. He is known for his arrangements of pop songs by Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and the Beatles and for the use of beatboxing while playing guitar.
Russ Lossing is an American jazz pianist, composer, improviser, arranger, educator, and scholar.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
