Rabble Without A Cause
Wednesday November 19th, 2014 with Bernard Stepien
Pianist Jon Ballantyne not so standard Avenue Standard CD

New York living, Saskatchewan born Jon Ballantyne has left no stone unturned in the endless exploration of the Jazz idiom. His style is defined often as combining the known to the unknown that is beyond the usual concept of fusion of different styles. The roots of this style are of course exposure to many of these different styles with an impressive array of well-established musicians, from Joe Henderson to Cecil Taylor, most of them practicing the art of wandering out of established styles. One of his latest CDs, Avenue Standard, is an extreme case. Jazz standards are normally comfortable well-known territory both for the listener and musicians. Instead, here, Ballantyne transforms them using both harmonic and rhythmic radical alterations. A couple of his originals on this recording reveals the depth of his approach. Ballantyne was featured in the Improv’ Series of the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival last summer.