Jon Balke


Jon Georg Balke is a Norwegian jazz pianist who leads the Magnetic North Orchestra. He is the younger brother of saxophonist Erik Balke.

Career

Balke started playing classical piano but switched to blues at 12, though he performs within several genres. At the age of 18 he joined Arild Andersen's quartet. By the mid-1980s he worked on his own and would become one of Norway's leading jazz composers. He was active in the groups of Radka Toneff and in the Afrofusion group E'olén before joining Oslo 13 and Masqualero in the early 1980s. From 1989 he focused on his own projects, such as JøKleBa and the Magnetic North Orchestra for which he composed the commissioned work Il Cenoneat to Vossajazz 1992.
Balke formed the percussion group Batagraf in 2002, and created the concept work with singer Amina Alaoui in 2007. He is also the creator of a series of multimedia concerts at Vossajazz festival, labeled Ekstremjazz. The concerts involve various practitioners of extreme sports, such as parachuting, paragliding, hanggliding, and BMX biking. In 2012 he was artist in residence at Moldejazz. In 2016 he launched the solo piano concept Warp the use of live electronics accompanying the grand piano in live performances.

Awards and honors

As leader

An asterisk indicates year of release.
Year recordedTitleLabelPersonnel/Notes
1994FurtherECMWith Morten Halle, Per Jørgensen, Tore Brunborg Anders Jormin Marilyn Mazur Audun Kleive
1997RotorCurling LegsWith Morten Hannisdal, Marek Konstantynowicz, Henrik Hannisdal and Odd Hannisdal
1998*SaturationJazzland/EmArcyWith Nils-Olav Johansen, Fredrik Lundin, Sidsel Endresen
1999SolarizedEmArcyMagnetic North Orchestra
2002KyanosECMMagnetic North Orchestra
2004Diverted TravelsECMMagnetic North Orchestra
2006Book of VelocitiesECMSolo piano
2007–08SiwanECMWith Amina Alaoui, Jon Hassell, Kheir-Eddine M'Kachiche, Helge Andreas Norbakken, Pedram Khavar Zamini, Bjarte Eike, Per Buhre, Peter Spissky, Anna Ivanovna Sundin and Miloš Valent, Rastko Roknic and Joel Sundin Tom Pitt, Kate Hearne, Mattias Frostensson, Andreas Arend, Hans Knut Sveen
2009Say and PlayECMWith Helge Andreas Norbakken, Emilie Stoesen Christensen, Erland Dahlen, Torgeir Rebolledo Pedersen
2012Magnetic WorksECMMagnetic North Orchestra
2014WarpECMSolo piano and keyboards with field recordings
2017Nahnou HoumECMSecond album with the Siwan concept
2020DiscoursesECMSolo album that further develops the methodology introduced on the 'Warp' album

As co-leader

With Jøkleba
With Batagraf
With Radka Toneff
With Masqualero
With Oslo 13
With others