Jeff Ballard Trio serve up Californian jazz

One of the most exciting drummers in jazz today, Jeff Ballard, may be best known for being a member of piano phenom Brad Mehldau's Trio, but he also leads his own groups, and his newest, featuring Miguel Zenon on saxophone and Lionel Loueke on guitar, is coming to Jazz Dock to kick off their European tour.

"I love Prague," Ballard tells The Prague Post. "Not only for the beauty and the vibe of the place, but also for the vibes of the people I've met. I got the chance to teach there for a week a few years ago and met some very wonderful people at that seminar. I've played there maybe five or six times over the course of 20 years. Always a good time."

Ballard joined Mehldau's trio in 2005, debuting on the album Day Is Done and replacing original drummer Jorge Rossy, who wanted to spend more time back home in Spain.

With Rossy, the Brad Mehldau Trio had become one of the most interesting jazz groups of the early oughts, and yet, Ballard's addition still seemed to ignite the group's raw energy, inspiring an even more subversive selection of material. The trio's album Live (2008), features an epic 23-minute version of "Black Hole Sun," originally done by the Seattle grunge band Soundgarden - beginning as a traditional jazz ballad and ending up as a free-form tussle between tradition and modernity. Ballard's speed and tender fury on the drums in the apex of this complex track is stunning.

Ballard is also part of the Metheny-Mehldau Quartet - co-led by fusion guitar idol Pat Metheny - which until recently has been more active in the studio and for tours than Mehldau's trio. However, Ballard says the Mehldau trio has just finished a new recording, which should be out in early 2012.

Ballard grew up in Santa Cruz, California and studied music in high school as well as community college, all the while playing in big bands, and small groups. Instead of going on to Berklee College of Music or another prestigious music school, he got a remarkable break at the age of 25: an offer to play with the legendary pianist and rhythm and blues singer Ray Charles, whom Ballard toured with for eight months straight each year.

After three years with Ray Charles, Ballard moved to New York City, where he soon began to play with jazz giants including Eddie Harris, Bobby Hutcherson, Lou Donaldson, Danilo Perez and Chick Corea, as well as up-and-coming players closer to his age, including Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mehldau, Avishai Cohen, Larry Grenadier and Guillermo Klein. His newest trio, with Zenon and Loueke, comes from sessions with some of his closest collaborators.

"I met Miguel [Zenon] through playing in Guillermo Klein's band, and I met Lionel [Loueke] for the first time when we played in a group with Avishai Cohen, the trumpet player," Ballard says.

An alto saxophonist, Zenon is originally from Puerto Rico, and studied music in San Juan, then later in Boston at the Berklee College of Music. He has played as a sideman with Latin jazz legends Ray Baretto and David Sanchez, and is the founder of the San Francisco Jazz Collective, as well as a member of Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra and Guillermo Klein's Los Guachos.

Guitarist Lionel Loueke is originally from Benin, West Africa, and studied at the National Institute of Art in the Ivory Coast, the American School of Music in Paris, Berklee College of Music, and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Not surprisingly, his sound - or, as he would put it, his voice - is unlike other guitarists' in modern jazz. In 2008, he released Karibu with his own trio on Blue Note Records, a recording featuring jazz legends Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter as special guests.

Saxophone, guitar and drums is an unusual combination for a jazz group, though there is one outstanding trio led by drummer Paul Motian, with saxophonist Joe Lovano and guitarist Bill Frisell. But Ballard says they weren't an influence on his group.

"I put this trio together not thinking of Paul's trio, but afterwards, I have thought of it like a World Music-Paul Motian trio thing," he says. "They are both from cultures which are rich in the tradition of the drum, and this allows us to meet in a similar place musically."

While Ballard and his trio might meet in a similar place musically as Motian's trio, they journey to places far away from the usual musical fare. While Ballard is quick to complement the sound and skills of his fellow players, he also draws attention to the importance of his diverse drum kit - which contains drums from around the world with real skin heads - in the trio's sound. But above all, he says, it is the group's serious approach to music that sets them apart.

"For me, it's not good enough just to have ability. There must be a life energy to it with reasons and feelings and understanding as to why. Music is one of the highest things we have in life. We can be proud that it is a human invention," he says.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at
features@praguepost.com