Lucian Ban (born 1969) is a Romanian-American jazz pianist.

Biography

Raised in the tiny farming village of

Teaca Teaca (,Tekendorf in Nordsiebenbürgen : Ortsmonographie; Ilse Schliessleder-Fronius, 1989 ) is a commune in Bistrița-Năsăud County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of six villages: Archiud (''Arkeden bei Bistriz'', ''Mezőerked''), Budurl ...

(

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

, Romania), Ban grew up listening to folk songs performed at weddings, birthdays, holidays, and other celebrations. At the age of seven, he moved to

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

, where he started classical piano and composition training. He studied composition at Bucharest Music Academy from 1992 to 1995. He established the group Jazz Unit in 1995 and released two albums as a leader for Green Records in Romania. In 1999 he moved to New York City, where he studied for two years at

New School University The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

. His American debut album, ''Somethin' Holy'', in duet with baritone saxophonist Alex Harding was followed by the albums ''Premonition'' (2003), ''Tuba Project'' (featuring Bob Stewart, 2006) and ''Playground'' (featuring Jorge Sylvester, 2006). The Lumination Ensemble, co-led with Alex Harding and featuring drummer

Barry Altschul Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, in New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea. Biography Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, ...

, was nominated one of the ten best shows of 2003 by ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

''. Ban has played with Pheeroan AkLaff, J. D. Allen,

Art Baron Arthur John Baron (born January 5, 1950) is an American jazz trombonist. He also plays didgeridoo, conch shell, penny-whistle, alto and bass recorder, and tuba. Career overview Baron is an alumnus of the Berklee College of Music. He joined ...

, Gerald Cleaver,

Curtis Fowlkes Curtis Fowlkes (March 19, 1950 – August 31, 2023) was an American jazz trombonist and singer. He was a founding member of The Jazz Passengers. He had a twin brother James May Fowlkes and his parents were James Ray and Rosa May Fowlkes. Caree ...

Mark Helias Mark Helias (born October 1, 1950) is an American double bass player and composer born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He started playing the double bass at the age of 20, and studied with Homer Mensch at Rutgers University from 1971 to 1974, then ...

, Ron Horton, Brad Jones,

Sam Newsome Sam Newsome (born April 28, 1965) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and educator. His music combines straight-ahead jazz, world music (drawing influences from North Africa and East Asia) and experimental jazz, which uses extended techniqu ...

Reggie Nicholson Reginald "Reggie" Nicholson (born July 17, 1957) is an American jazz drummer. Nicholson took a bachelor's degree in percussion performance at Chicago State University and became a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians ...

Damion Reid Damion Reid (born June 16, 1979) is an American drummer. Critics have praised his "controlled fury" and "microscopically complex beats." Biography Damion Reid was born June 16, 1979, in West Covina, California, east of Los Angeles, into a musica ...

, and

Nasheet Waits Nasheet Waits is an American jazz drummer. Early life and career Waits is a New York native who has been active on the jazz scene since early in his life. His father, percussionist Freddie Waits, died when Waits was 18. Before pursuing a mu ...

Awards and honors

* 1999 – ''From Now On'' wins Best Jazz Album of 1999 in Romania * 2000 – The theater show ''Azi ma Ubu'' after

Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (; ; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French Artistic symbol, symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896)'','' often cited as a forerunner of the Dada, Surrealism, Surrealist, and Futurism, Futurist ...

wins Great Prize at the Bucharest Humoror Theatre Festival in Bucharest, Romania * 2005 – Original score for the play ''Philosopher Fox'' nominated for Outstanding Sound Design and Best Score at the New York Innovative Theatre Awards * 2005–06 Music curator for Kavehaz Jazz Club, New York City * 2006 – Nominated for Best European Jazz Musician by the Hans Koller Foundation and the Austrian government

Discography

* ''Somethin' Holy'' with Alex Harding (

CIMP Creative Improvised Music Projects, usually abbreviated CIMP or C.I.M.P., is an American jazz record company and label. It is associated with ''Cadence'' magazine and Cadence Jazz Records. The label is noted for its minimal use of electronic pr ...

, 2002) * ''Premonition'' (CIMP, 2003) * ''Playground'' (

Jazzaway Jazzaway is a Norwegian record label founded by saxophonist Jon Klette in Oslo, Norway. He is also the main composer/leader in the band Jazzmob. Their CD ''Pathfinder'' (2003) was the first release from the label. The label includes artists ...

, 2006) * ''Enesco Re-Imagined'' with John Hebert ( Sunnyside, 2010) * ''Mystery'' (Sunnyside, 2013) * ''Transylvanian Concert'' with

Mat Maneri Mat Maneri (born October 4, 1969) is an American composer, violin, and viola player. He is the son of the saxophonist Joe Maneri and Sonja Maneri. Career Maneri has recorded with Cecil Taylor, Guerino Mazzola, Matthew Shipp, Joe Morris, G ...

(

ECM ECM may refer to the following: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Lenstra's Elliptic curve method for factor ...

, 2013) * ''Songs from Afar'' (Sunnyside, 2016) * ''Sounding Tears'' with Mat Maneri and

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

(

Clean Feed Clean may refer to: * Cleaning, the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment * Cleanliness, the state of being clean and free from dirt Arts and media Music Al ...

, 2017)

References

External links

Official site

Lucian Ban
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ban, Lucian Living people Mainstream jazz pianists Romanian jazz musicians Romanian musicians Romanian expatriates in the United States CIMP artists 1969 births 21st-century American pianists Sunnyside Records artists ECM Records artists Clean Feed Records artists Jazzaway Records artists