Note Production’s innovative Duo Series flipped its format for 2017. For this series, we have arguably the greatest jazz drummer of his generation collaborating with some of Ireland’s finest contemporary artists. Over three nights at the Fumbally Stables a series of creative encounters will generate a whole range new and exciting work.

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The Fumbally Stables, Dublin 8

Thursday 12th October 2017

Jeff Ballard is one of the standout jazz drummers of his generation, a humming engine of polyrhythm and an ace of earthy texture. He is best known for his work behind leaders like Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Joshua Redman, and Brad Mehldau.

"...one of the leading modern voices on his instrument"

- New York Times

Jeff Ballard grew up in Santa Cruz, California. He recalls when he was a child laying in bed listening to the music his father would play every weekend: Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Louie Armstrong, Sergio Mendez, Oscar Peterson, Milton Nascimento; how he loved the sound and the speed of Ed Thigpen’s brushes on the snare. “I remember feeling the power of a Basie big band shout chorus which would then suddenly disappear into some quiet dancing riff. It was the swing in it, which excited me the most. I also remember how it felt traveling through sounds of the jungle in a Milton Nascimento record. The drums, percussion, and voice, would sound as if they either came from the earth or were made of water. And I was so happy to hear the joy of Ella and Louie singing and playing together. I think that that early exposure has made me part of what I am today, especially in regards to my love for sound.”

Throughout my work , I seek to find the place where palpable emotion can be found within electronic and synthesizer music, something that is often thought to be reserved to those engaged in producing music with "real Instruments". This exploration into the changing perception of electronic music as a static or emotionally void platform is the driving force behind m y seeking to discover the relationship between the electronic pulse and our emotional impulse.

I understood that getting into the ring with such a renowned technical player, innovator and curious improvisor - I would need to develop an way for us  to communicate and to devise a system where we could engage each other. It is with Ableton Live, Max for Live and the utilisation of drum triggers and MIDI implementation, that such an interface was born. Jeff was my master clock and sequencer.  And while he set the pace, energy and swing, I had the facility to respond to him and compliment his playing in terms of creating the tone and shape  of what his curious playing had come to generate in my electronic world. I really look forward to collaborating with him again but I am very intrigued to see what other players might bring to the table and am committed to working with other drummers and percussionists and to archive our output