Jazz / Post-Bop
Recorded November 2001
Magnetic North Orchestra
Per Jørgensen trumpet
Morten Halle saxophones, flute
Arve Henriksen trumpet
Svante Henryson cello
Jon Balke piano, keyboards
Anders Jormin double-bass
Audun Kleive drums, percussion
The first ECM album in nine years by Norwegian pianist/composer/arranger Jon Balke and his "orchestra", now streamlined to a septet of top-flight Scandinavian soloists. "Kyanos" is Greek for "blue", and the album pulsates with intense colour. Balke has developed into an exceptionally skilled arranger and his blending of textures as well as his strong melodic sense are to the fore in this striking and arresting album. Like Duke Ellington or Gil Evans before him, Balke writes with the idiosyncratic sounds and personalities of his musicians in mind, and makes the fullest use of the resources available to him. He still understands jazz as "the sound of surprise", and his melodies take unexpected turns.
Jon Balke
Active Decades: '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: 1955 in Norway
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Modern Creative, Modern Free, Post-Bop, Modern Composition, Folk-Jazz, Experimental Ambient, Structured Improvisation
Norwegian pianist Jon Balke is an avant-garde-leaning musician with a bent toward mixing various stylistic influences, including contemporary jazz, post-bop, rock, folk, world, and classical. He released his debut album, On and On, in 1991. A year later he made his ECM debut with Nonsentration. A member of the Magnetic North Orchestra, Balke has also released several albums with the ensemble, including Kaynos in 2002 and Diverted Travels in 2004. In 2009, Balke paired up with a similarly inclined group of musicians -- including trumpeter Jon Hassell, violinist Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche, vocalist Amina Alaoui, and others -- for the experimental ethnic fusion album Siwan.
---Matt Collar, All Music Guide |
