Jon Balke

Jon Georg Balke (born 7 June 1955 at Furnes, (Ringsaker), Norway) is a Norwegian jazz pianist and composer currently known for his Magnetic North Orchestra. He is the younger brother of saxophonist Erik Balke.

Career
He began with classical piano, but switched to blues at 12, though today 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 (with Audun Kleive and Per Jørgensen) and the still existing 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 Siwan 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.

Honors

 * Buddyprisen 1984
 * Jazz Musician of the year 1993
 * Oslo Bys kulturstipend 2003
 * Edvard Prize 2000 in the class popular music – major works, for the album Solarized''
 * ''Gammleng-prisen 2008 in the class Jazz
 * Artist in residens 2012 at Moldejazz

Solo albums

 * 1998: Saturation (Jazzland/EmArcy)
 * 1998: Rotor (Curling Legs)
 * 2004: Diverted Travels (ECM)
 * 2007: Book of Velocities (ECM)
 * 2009: Siwan (ECM)
 * 2011: Say and Play (ECM)

As band leader

 * Within JøKleBa
 * 1991: On and ON (Odin)
 * 1993: JøKleBa! (Norsk Plateproduksjon)
 * 1996: JøKleBa Live (Curling Legs)


 * Within Magnetic North Orchestra
 * 1992: Further (ECM)
 * 1999: Solarized (Emarcy)
 * 2002: Kyanos (ECM)
 * 2004: Diverted travels (ECM)
 * 2012: Magnetic Works 1993-2001 (ECM), compilation


 * Within Batagraf
 * 2005: Statements (ECM)
 * 2011: Say And Play (ECM)

Collaborative works

 * With Radka Toneff
 * 1979: It Dont Come Easy (PolyGram)
 * 2008: Butterfly (Curling Legs), recorded 1976-77


 * Within Masqualero
 * 1983: Masqualero (Odin)
 * 1985: Bande a parte (ECM)


 * Within Oslo 13
 * 1983: Anti-Therapy (Odin)
 * 1987: Off Balance (Odin)
 * 1992: Nonsentration (ECM)
 * 1994: Oslo 13 live (Curling Legs)


 * With others
 * 1975: Clouds in My Head (ECM), with Arild Andersen Quartet
 * 1977: Hi-Fly (Compendium Records), with Karin Krog & Archie Shepp
 * 1978: Club 7 jubileumsplate (Club 7), with Kråbøl and E'olén
 * 1979: E'Olen (Mai), with E'Olen
 * 1986: A Hip Hop (Dragon Records), with Göran Klinghagen
 * 1991: Live at Rockefeller (Odin), with Jazzpunkensemblet
 * 2002: Joko (ACT), with Miki N'Doye Orchestra feat. Paolo Vinaccia, Bugge Wesseltoft & Cissokho
 * 2003: Trialogue (Imogena Records), with Lars Møller & Morten Lund - trio
 * 2007: The Door (ECM Records), with Mathias Eick
 * 2010: The Adventures Of A Polar Expedition (Cowbell Music), with Hans Ulrik, Benjamin Koppel, Palle Danielsson & Alex Riel