Iain Ballamy

Iain Mark Ballamy ( born February 20, 1964 in Guildford ) is a British jazz saxophonist ( alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, composition).

Life and work

Ballamy, whose father is a pianist, first learned the piano and with 14 years of self-taught alto saxophone. He founded in 1983 the quartet Iain (with whom he at Ronnie Scott's occurred ), but at the same time also played in a big formation by Graham Collier, from 1984 emerged the Loose Tubes, for he, as well as co-head of Django Bates interspersed with humorous quotes works composed. He continued to play in Bill Bruford's fusion group Earthworks. Then he had his own groups (starting with Dave Barlow, Mario Castronari, Steve Argüelles ). He worked with Billy Jenkins, John Taylor, Stan Sulzmann, John Stevens, Gil Evans, George Coleman, Linda Sharrock, Mike Gibbs, Django Bates, Ray Russell, Hermeto Pascoal, Cedar Walton, Michiel Braam or McCoy Tyner. In 1995 he formed with pianist Richard Fairhurst " The Hungry Ants".

In 1999, Ballamy own record label Feral Records, for their own albums such as " Pepper Street Interludes " (with Norma Winstone, 1999) or "Organic And GM food" originated. The Norwegian accordionist Stian Carstensen he joined in 2004 at the Berlin Jazz Festival. He also wrote for theater, ballet and film scores ( MirrorMask ).

After Martin Kunzler Ballamy is the " next most important British saxophonist Courtney Pine of the younger generation." He taught at the conservatories in Birmingham and Copenhagen and at the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College of Music in London.

Prizes and awards

As early as 1985 Ballamy was awarded the John Dankworth Cup awarded best soloist. In 2001 he received the Jazz Innovation Award at the BBC. The album Quercus, together with June Tabor and Huw Warren, was awarded the German Record Critics' Award in 2013.

Quote

" Improvisation is not a question of security. While you can certainly improvise if you want, but the performance comes from the risky improvisation. "

Lexigraphic Article

  • Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, & Brian Priestley: Jazz Rough Guide, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999
  • Martin Kunzler, Jazz Encyclopedia, Volume 1, Reinbek 2002
Jazz fusion John Taylor (jazz) John Stevens (drummer) Michael Gibbs (composer) Ray Russell (musician) Integrated Authority File
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