Lucian Ban & Alex Harding / DARK BLUE
Brooklyn, NY
Grant amount: $9,915
- An Die Musik. October 12, 2019. Baltimore MD
- Artlore Studio. October 14, 2019. Erie PA
- Filament. October 15, 2019. Columbus OH
- Milestones at JazzFresno. October 21, 2019. Fresno CA
- Bakersfield Jazz Workshop. October 22, 2019. Bakersfield CA
- Mr Musichead Gallery. October 23, 2019. Los Angeles CA
Lucian Ban was raised in a small village in northwest Transylvania, in the region where Bartok did his most extensive research and collecting of folk songs and grew up listening to both traditional and classical music. He studied composition at the Bucharest Music Academy while simultaneously leading his own jazz groups, and notes that his approach to improvisation has been influenced by the profound musical contributions of Romanian modern classical composers like Aurel Stroe, Anatol Vieru and of course Enesco.
Desire to get closer to the source of jazz brought him to the US, and since moving from Romania to New York in 1999 has been leading several projects creating music that reinvents the jazz idiom and collaborating with some of today’s most celebrated jazz musicians. His compositions are performed and recorded by other musicians and ensembles and he has released 15 albums under his name for labels such as ECM, Sunnyside, Clean Feed, CIMP, Jazzaway, all the while maintaining a worldwide touring schedule.
