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Jeff Ballard
Background information
Born	(1963-09-17) September 17, 1963 (age 55) Santa Cruz, California, U.S.
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Drums, Percussion
Labels	Okeh Edition Records
Associated acts	Brad Mehldau Trio, Fly
Website	www.jeffballard.com

Jeff Ballard is an American jazz drummer from Santa Cruz, California.^[1] He has played with Ray Charles and Pat Metheny and plays periodically with Chick Corea 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, Brad Mehldau, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Miguel Zenon and Eli Degibri. He has also played with the Joshua Redman Elastic Band.^[2]

He is a member of the Brad Mehldau Trio (since 2005) and co-leader of Fly, a collective trio with Mark Turner and Larry Grenadier^[3] and leads Jeff Ballard Trio and Jeff Ballard Fairgrounds.

Biography

Jeff Ballard was born 17 September 1963 in southern California but grew up and studied in Santa Cruz, California.^[1] 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.^[4] He met Larry Grenadier in 1982, with whom he plays in both Fly and Brad Mehldau Trio.^[1] At the age of 24 he went on the road with Ray Charles for eight months every year 1988-1990 playing in Charles' Big Band.^[1] He moved to New York in 1990, where he started collaborating with Ben Monder, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner and Ben Allison.^[5] Later on in New York he started to play with Avishai Cohen and Chick Corea.^[6] Ballard started the band Fly with Larry Grenadier and Mark Turner around the time Ballard was working with Corea.^[1]Brad Mehldau invited Ballard to play in his trio in 2005, with whom he has played ever since.^[5] He formed the Jeff Ballard Trio with Lionel Loueke and Miguel Zenon, releasing Time’s Tales (Okeh) as the recording debut for Ballard as leader in 2014.^[4] His second album as leader is Fairgrounds (Edition Records) released January 2019 with Lionel Loueke, Kevin Hays and Reid Anderson with guest appearances from Mark Turner and Chris Cheek.

Awards

• Best Debut Album, 2014, NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll, Time's Tales^[7]
  


• Best Instrumentalist / International Drums/Percussion, ECHO Jazz Awards 2015 Time's Tales^[8]
  

Gallery

Discography

As a leader or co-leader

• 
  Fairgrounds (Edition Records, 2019)

With Jeff Ballard Trio including Lionel Loueke & Miguel Zenón

• 
  Time's Tales (OKeh, 2014)

With Fly including Mark Turner & Larry Grenadier

• 
  Fly (Savoy Jazz, 2004)


• 
  Sky & Country (ECM, 2009)


• 
  Year of the Snake (ECM, 2012)

As a sideman

With Avishai Cohen

• 
  Adama (1998)


• 
  Devotion (1999)


• 
  Colors (2000)

With Chick Corea

• 
  Change (Rykodisk, 1998)


• 
  Concerto (Sony, 2000)


• 
  Originations (Stretch, 2000)


• 
  Past, Present & Future (Stretch, 2001)


• 
  Rendezvous in New York (Stretch, 2003)


• 
  5trios – 3. Chillin' in Chelan (Stretch, 2007)

With Brad Mehldau

• 
  Day Is Done (Nonesuch, 2005)


• 
  Metheny/Mehldau (Nonesuch, 2006)


• 
  Metheny Mehldau Quartet (Nonesuch, 2007)


• 
  Brad Mehldau Trio Live (Nonesuch, 2008)


• 
  Highway Rider (Nonesuch, 2010)


• 
  Ode (Nonesuch, 2012)


• 
  Where Do You Start (Nonesuch, 2012)


• 
  Blues and Ballads (Nonesuch, 2016)


• 
  Seymour Reads the Constitution! (Nonesuch, 2018)

With Pat Metheny

• 
  Metheny/Mehldau (Nonesuch, 2006)


• 
  Metheny Mehldau Quartet (Nonesuch, 2007)

With Ted Nash

• 
  Sidewalk Meeting (Arabesque, 2001)

With Joshua Redman

• 
  Momentum (Verve, 2005)

With Kurt Rosenwinkel

• 
  The Enemies of Energy (Verve, 2000)


• 
  The Next Step (Verve, 2001)


• 
  Heartcore (Verve, 2003)


• 
  Deep Song (Verve, 2005)

References

External links

• Official website


• AllAboutJazz