Jeff Ballard is an American

jazz drummer Jazz drumming is the art of playing percussion (predominantly the drum kit, which includes a variety of drums and cymbals) in jazz styles ranging from 1910s-style Dixieland jazz to 1970s-era jazz fusion and 1980s-era Latin jazz. The techniques an ...

. He has played with

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

and

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

and played periodically with

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...

in many groups such as Origin and the Chick Corea New Trio. He also played with many New York-based jazz musicians such as

Reid Anderson Reid Anderson (born 15 October 1970) is a bassist and composer from Minnesota. He is a member of The Bad Plus with drummer Dave King, saxophonist Chris Speed, and guitarist Ben Monder. The original lineup of The Bad Plus first played together ...

Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, and toured and recorded while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's Qua ...

Kurt Rosenwinkel Kurt Rosenwinkel (born October 28, 1970) is an American jazz guitarist, keyboardist, composer, bandleader, producer, educator and record label owner. Biography A native of Philadelphia, Rosenwinkel attended the Philadelphia High School for the ...

, Mark Turner, Miguel Zenon and

Eli Degibri Eli Degibri (Hebrew: אלי דג'יברי) (born May 3, 1978, in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel) is an Israeli jazz saxophonist, composer, and arranger. Early life Degibri first began playing the mandolin at age 7 in an after school music program at ...

. He has also played with the

Joshua Redman Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman (1931–2006). Life and career Joshua Redman was born in Berkeley, California, to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman ...

Elastic Band. He is a member of the

Brad Mehldau Trio Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, and toured and recorded while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's Quar ...

(since 2005) and co-leader of

Fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

, a collective trio with Mark Turner and

Larry Grenadier Larry Grenadier (born February 6, 1966 in San Francisco) is an American jazz double bassist. Early life Grenadier's father, Albert, was a trumpet player, and his two brothers, Phil and Steve, play trumpet and guitar, respectively. Grenadier be ...

and leads Jeff Ballard Trio and Jeff Ballard Fairgrounds.

Biography

Jeff Ballard was born 17 September 1963 in

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

but grew up and studied in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

.Wardle, Renato (19 October 2006
"Jeff Ballard: A Life in Music"
All About Jazz, retrieved 15 January 2019 He began playing drums at the age of 14, attended Cabrillo College where he studied music theory, and toured with many bands, all the time absorbing influences and developing his own approach to drumming.
/ref> He met

in 1982, with whom he plays in both

and Brad Mehldau Trio. At the age of 24 he went on the road with

for eight months every year 1988-1990 playing in Charles' Big Band. He moved to New York in 1990, where he started collaborating with

Ben Monder Ben Monder (born May 24, 1962) is an American modern jazz guitarist. Biography Monder started playing guitar when he was eleven, after two years on violin. From 1979–84, he attended the Westchester Conservatory of Music, the University of Miam ...

, Mark Turner and

Ben Allison Ben Allison (born November 17, 1966) is an American double bassist, composer, producer, bandleader, educator. In addition to his work as a performer, he co-founded the non-profit Jazz Composers Collective and served as its Artistic Director for ...

.Colligan, Georg
Jeff Ballard Interview"
Jazz Truth 14 June 2012 Later on in New York he started to play with Avishai Cohen and

.AllAboutJazz
All About Jazz, 20 October 2006 Ballard started the band

with Larry Grenadier and Mark Turner around the time Ballard was working with Corea. During a performance with Fly trio in New York city in 2005, pianist

was invited to sit in, which led to Brad inviting Jeff to join his own trio subbing for

Jorge Rossy Jorge "Jordi" Rossy (born August 21, 1964) is a jazz drummer, pianist and vibraphonist. Early life Rossy was born in Barcelona. He started playing drums at age 11. Later life and career Between 1980 and 1989, Rossy toured and recorded extensiv ...

, who for some time had been planning on moving back to Spain to focus on his piano playing. He formed the Jeff Ballard Trio with

Lionel Loueke Lionel Loueke (born 27 April 1973) is a guitarist and vocalist born in Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. Biography Loueke grew up in what he has described as a family of poor intellectuals in the W ...

and Miguel Zenon, releasing ''Time’s Tales'' (

Okeh Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

) as the recording debut for Ballard as leader in 2014. His second album as leader is ''Fairgrounds'' (

Edition Records Edition Records is an independent record label that was founded in 2008 by pianist Dave Stapleton and photographer Tim Dickeson.Kevin Hays Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...

and

with guest appearances from Mark Turner and

Chris Cheek Christopher Carson Cheek (born September 16, 1968) is an American jazz saxophonist. Biography Cheek was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where his father was the director of a Junior high school band. Cheek began learning to play the alto saxophon ...

Awards

* Best Debut Album, 2014,

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

Jazz Critics Poll, ''Time's Tales''NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll"
2014 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll * Best Instrumentalist / International Drums/Percussion,

Echo Jazz The Echo Jazz (stylized as ECHO JAZZ) was a German music prize, an Echo Music Prize for personalities and production of jazz. It was awarded annually by the between 2010 and 2018. The awards had been given in 30 categories, including ensemble of ...

Awards 2015 ''Time's Tales''Jazz awards 2015 for two OKeh artists"
OKeh Records

Gallery

File:jeff-ballard03.jpg File:jeff-ballard04.jpg File:jeff-ballard05.jpg File:jeff-ballard06.jpg

Discography

As leader

* Jeff Ballard Trio, ''Time's Tales'' with

Miguel Zenón Miguel Zenón (born December 30, 1976) is a Puerto Rican alto saxophonist, composer, band leader, music producer, and educator. He is a multiple Grammy Award nominee, and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship. He als ...

(

OKeh Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

, 2013) * ''Fairgrounds'' (

Edition Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Recor ...

, 2019) – live recorded in 2015

As group

With Mark Turner and

* 2003: ''

'' (

Savoy Jazz Savoy Records is an American record company and label established by Herman Lubinsky in 1942 in Newark, New Jersey. Savoy specialized in jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel music. In September 2017, Savoy was acquired by Concord Bicycle Music. ...

, 2004) * 2008: '' Sky & Country'' ( ECM, 2009) * 2011: ''

Year of the Snake The snake ( 蛇) is the sixth of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Snake is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 巳. According to one legend, there is ...

'' (ECM, 2012)

SFJAZZ Collective The SFJAZZ Collective is an American jazz ensemble comprising nine performer/composers, launched in 2004 by SFJAZZ, a West Coast non-profit jazz institution and the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival. Collective activities The SFJ ...

*　''Live: SFJAZZ Center 2013 - The Music of Chick Corea'' (SFJAZZ, 2013) CD

As a sideman

With Avishai Cohen * ''Adama'' (Stretch, 1998) – recorded in 1997 * ''Devotion'' (Stretch, 1999) * ''Colors'' (Stretch, 2000) With

* ''

Change Change or Changing may refer to: Alteration * Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time * Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of the menstrual period * Metamorphosis, or change, ...

'' (

Rykodisk Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

, 1999) * ''Corea.Concerto: Spain For Sextet & Orchestra / Piano Concerto No.1'' (

Sony Classical Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by ...

, 2000) * ''Past, Present & Future'' (Stretch, 2001) * ''

Rendezvous in New York Rendezvous in New York is an album by American pianist Chick Corea that was released on April 22, 2003 by Corea's label, Stretch Records. The recording took place at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City over the course of three weeks. Core ...

'' (Stretch, 2003) – live * ''5trios – 3. Chillin' in Chelan'' (Stretch, 2007) With

* '' Day Is Done'' (

Nonesuch __NOTOC__ Nonesuch may refer to: Plants * ''Lychnis chalcedonica'', a wildflower * ''Medicago lupulina'', a wildflower Places and structures *Nonesuch, Kentucky *Nonesuch Island, Bermuda *Nonesuch Mine, Michigan *Nonesuch Palace, mis-spelling of ...

, 2005) * '' Metheny/Mehldau'' (Nonesuch, 2006) * '' Metheny Mehldau Quartet'' (Nonesuch, 2007) * ''

Brad Mehldau Trio Live ''Brad Mehldau Trio Live'' is a live album by American pianist and composer Brad Mehldau's Trio released on the Nonesuch label in 2008. Reception The album received universally favourable reviews. AllMusic awarded the album 4 stars and in it ...

'' (Nonesuch, 2008) * ''

Highway Rider ''Highway Rider'' is a contemporary jazz album by American pianist Brad Mehldau released in 2010 by Nonesuch Records. Background It was Mehldau's second collaboration with producer Jon Brion (the other is the 2002 album '' Largo)'', and it fea ...

'' (Nonesuch, 2010) * ''

Ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...

'' (Nonesuch, 2012) – recorded in 2011 * ''

Where Do You Start ''Where Do You Start'' is an album by the Brad Mehldau Trio released on the Nonesuch label in 2012. Reception The album received generally favourable reviews with Metacritic giving it a score of 80% from 7 reviews. AllMusic awarded the album 3½ ...

'' (Nonesuch, 2012) – recorded in 2008–11 * '' Blues and Ballads'' (Nonesuch, 2016) – recorded in 2012–14 * '' Seymour Reads the Constitution!'' (Nonesuch, 2018) With

* 2005: '' Metheny/Mehldau'' (Nonesuch, 2006) * 2005: '' Metheny Mehldau Quartet'' (Nonesuch, 2007) With

* ''

The Enemies of Energy ''The Enemies of Energy'' a 2000 jazz album release by Kurt Rosenwinkel. Its release marked Rosenwinkel's third album as a band leader.Lyles, RMark Turner Discography accessed May 7, 2019 Track listing Personnel * Kurt Rosenwinkel – guitar * ...

'' (

Verve Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * ''The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee ho ...

, 2000) – recorded in 1996 * '' The Next Step'' (Verve, 2001) – recorded in 2000 * '' Heartcore'' (Verve, 2003) – recorded in 2001–03 * '' Deep Song'' (Verve, 2005) With others *

Chihiro Yamanaka is a Japanese jazz pianist and composer, born in Kiryū, Gunma Prefecture."Chihiro Yamanaka BiographyAllMusic/ref> As of 2012, she was based in New York City. She has had more than a dozen albums as a leader, most of them being released by Verve ...

, ''Madrigal'' (Atelier Sawano, 2004) * Ted Nash, ''

Sidewalk Meeting ''Sidewalk Meeting'' is an album by saxophonist Ted Nash (saxophonist, born 1960), Ted Nash which was recorded in 2000 and released on the Arabesque Records, Arabesque label the following year. Reception The AllMusic review by David R. Adler sa ...

'' (Arabesque, 2001) – recorded in 2000 *

, ''

Momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass an ...

'' (

, 2005)

References

External links

Official website

AllAboutJazz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Jeff American jazz drummers Jazz musicians from California 1963 births Living people Musicians from Santa Cruz, California 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians 21st-century American drummers Fly (band) members SFJAZZ Collective members 21st-century American male musicians Edition Records artists Okeh Records artists