NDR Bigband / Jeff Ballard Trio

The great jazz pianist Brad Mehldau once said about Jeff Ballard that he was more a musician than just a percussionist. In the trio that they were both members of, he always contributed something extra, skilfully toeing the line between superior expertise and spontaneous creativity. Thanks to his feeling for timbre and musical structure, Jeff Ballard is a musician who knows how to point the ensemble he is playing in in a new direction at any time. He has been working with the NDR Bigband and its conductor Geir Lysne for some years. They now appear together at a premiere in the Fabrik: this time, Ballard’s own trio is on stage as well. The programme features Jeff Ballard’s own compositions, which the Argentine jazz musician Guillermo Klein has arranged for orchestra especially for this occasion.