Jon Balke

Born June 7, 1955 in Furnes, Norway, Jon Balke is a jazz pianist and leader of the Magnetic North Orchestra. His older brother is saxophonist Erik Balke. He began by playing classical piano but, at the age of 12, he switched to playing blues. He joined Norwegian jazz bassist Arild Andersen’s quartet at the age of 18. In the early 1980s, he played in several bands before he began to work on his own projects later that decade, becoming one of Norway’s jazz composers. His separate musical projects include JøKleBa (featuring Audun Kleive and Per Jørgensen), the Magnetic North Orchestra, and Batagraf. His releases include Further (1994), Rotor (1997), Solarized (1999/with Magnetic North Orchestra), Book of Velocities (2006), Siwan (2008), Magnetic Works (2012/with the Magnetic North Orchestra), and Discourses (2020).

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