music.wikisort.org - Composer

Jon Ballantyne (born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a pianist and composer who resides in the New York area.[1]

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (March 2016)

Jon Ballantyne
Born	Saskatchewan, Canada
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instrument(s)	Piano

Career

Ballantyne started playing piano at an early age and began formal study at the age of six. His father Fred is a pianist and both parents are jazz enthusiasts and exposed him to the recordings of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and Duke Ellington. His mother took him to an Oscar Peterson concert when he was six-years-old.

He studied classical piano and played in a garage-band when he was a teenager. He attended high school at City Park Collegiate Institute, (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan). He attended North Texas State University, where he played with visiting musicians such as Nat Adderley, Michael Brecker, Ron Carter, Peter Erskine, Joe Henderson, Elvin Jones, Dianne Reeves. Bob Mintzer, and Emily Remler. At the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, he worked played with John Abercrombie, Karl Berger, Ed Blackwell, Steve Coleman, Dave Holland, Lee Konitz, Dave Liebman, Eddie Marshall, Julian Priester, Cecil Taylor, Don Thompson, and Kenny Wheeler. In New York City, he studied with Kenny Barron, Richie Beirach, Joanne Brackeen, Hal Galper, and Barry Harris.

He has performed with or recorded with Pepper Adams, Krister Andersson, Reid Anderson, Peter Bernstein, Ed Bickert, Paul Bley, Don Braden, Terry Clarke, Avishai Cohen, Al Cohn, Scott Colley, Buddy DeFranco, Ray Drummond, Phil Dwyer, Charles Fambrough, Jerry Fuller, George Garzone, Mick Goodrick, Jimmy Giuffre, Nicole Glover, Bill Goodwin, Drew Gress, Al Grey, Craig Handy, Billy Hart, Roy Haynes, Joe Henderson, Vincent Herring, Ingrid Jensen, Roxy Koss, Joe LaBarbera, Chris Lewis, Joe Lovano, Mingus Big Band, Red Mitchell, Adam Nussbaum, Gene Perla, Ben Perowsky, P. J. Perry, Rich Perry, Dewey Redman, John Riley, Shorty Rogers, Jim Rotondi, Richard Stoltzman, Ben Street, Neil Swainson, Lew Tabackin, Clark Terry, Ben Turner, and Phil Woods, to name a few.

As a six-year resident of Park Slope, Brooklyn in the 1990s, he played afternoon jam sessions in his studio apartment with young musicians, most of them neighbors, such as Seamus Blake, Bill Carrothers, Phil Haynes, Donny McCaslin, Dave Pietro, Jay Rosen, Tony Scherr, Mark Turner, and Matt Wilson.

He has conducted educational clinics at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and at the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, McGill University, University of Toronto, and Concordia University.

He led a quartet with bassist Boris Kozlov, drummer Jeff Hirshfield, and saxophonist/bass clarinetist Douglas Yates, and currently plays in the Trios of Bill Goodwin, and Gene Perla (The Parker Trio).

Awards and honors

He received Juno Awards for the albums Sky Dance and Avenue Standard.

He and fellow Canadian musician Hugh Sicotte released an experimental album (delving into Hugh's real-time laptop-programs manipulations of Jon's playing of acoustic, electric and prepared piano) called Twenty Accident Free Workdays, which was nominated for a Juno Award.

Discography

An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.

Year recorded	Title	Label	Personnel/Notes
1987*	Trio Jon Ballantyne	Jazzimage
1988	Sky Dance	Justin Time	Quartet, with Joe Henderson (tenor sax), Neil Swainson (bass), Jerry Fuller (drums)
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
2000	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
2006*	Ever Since Now	Real Artist Works	Solo Piano
2012*	Twenty Accident Free Workdays	Real Artist Works	With Hugh Sicotte
2017	"Trio"	Vector Disk	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

Filmography

• In the Key of Eh! Canadian Jazz Piano (1996)
• DUOS: The Jazz Sessions (1999)
• SOLOS: The Jazz Sessions (Bravo! Canada, 2006)

References

External links

• JonBallantyne.com
• Official Myspace Page

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