Song:Beat Street
Album:Time's Tales
Jeff Ballard is one of today's top jazz drummers. He's so busy as a sideman that he rarely gets the opportunity to record as a leader. This 2014 album was Ballard's debut as a leader. It is a must for jazz fans. He was born Sept. 17, 1963 in Santa Cruz, CA. Ballard listened to his dad's big band jazz records and was influenced by Mel Lewis and Elvin Jones. After studying music at Cabrillo CC in Santa Cruz, Ballard moved to San Francisco and heard Tony Williams. Since then he has emulated Williams' style. In 1988 he joined the Ray Charles band and he stayed for three years. Then he moved to New York. Ballard's big break came when Chick Corea hired him in 1998 to play in his band Origin. Ballard had played on a couple of albums by bassist Avishai Cohen for Corea's label Stretch. He has since appeared on several Corea albums and has toured with him. Then he formed Fly with sax player Mark Turner and bassist Larry Grenadier. They have released three albums. In 2005, Ballard and Grenadier joined pianist Brad Mehldau's trio and that band is still active. Ballard and Grenadier have been friends since 1982. Ballard has also recorded with Kurt Rosenwinkel and Joshua Redman among others. The 2014 album Time's Tales was Ballard's debut as a leader on Sony's Okeh label. The musicians are Puerto Rican sax player Miguel Zenon and West African guitarist Lionel Loueke. This is available as a budget CD so be sure to check it out. Ballard continues to tour and record with Mehldau. He recently released the album Fairgrounds featuring Loueke, pianists Reid Anderson and Kevin Hays and sax players Mark Turner and Chris Cheek. It looks like there are plans to tour with this band in 2020. Here's Jeff Ballard with Miguel Zenon and Lionel Loueke performing Beat Street at the 2011 Jazz a la Villette in Paris.
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