Sound Advice

By Joseph Blake

Sky Dance
Jon Ballantyne Trio featuring
Joe Henderson (Justin Time)

Ballantyne’s rhythm section of drummer Jerry Fuller and Oak Bay’s Neil Swainson on bass provides solid support for the leader and his famous friend on tenor sax, and Swainson’s concise solo on Oh What I’ve Been Thru is one of the album’s highlights.

Ballantyne’s compositions are steeped in the tradition, and he and his trio produce performances that display both exquisite technique and breathtaking empathy. These musicians are listeners!

Then there’s Joe Henderson’s long lines on tenor sax. The veteran hornman’s robust blowing obviously inspires his bandmates and provides Ballantyne with a glorious second solo voce for his tunes.
Henderson’s poignant solo on the title track is surprisingly sensitive record highlight. A beauty.

JAZZTIMES
December 1989

Jon Ballantyne Trio
Skydance
Justin Time JUST-30-1

Joe Henderson, tenor saxophone; Neil Swainson, bass; Jerry Fuller, drums; Jon Ballantyne, piano.

Oh What I’ve Been Trough; Skydance; You and The Night and The Music; Opus IV; BYO Blues.

The saxophonist on Canadian pianist John Ballantyne’s Skydance is Joe Henderson, who transcends the role of Yankee ringer, inspired by the leader’s knotty, hard-swinging compositions, and prodded on by the flinty work of Ballantyne, Neil Swainson and Jerry Fuller. That is some of Henderson’s best work in years and is sufficient endorsement for Skydance, but his contribution remains just part of the story. Ballantyne is the find! He is an exceptional pianist, whose dazzling technique is matched by a well-versed slant on tradition; his compositions, ranging from the Monkish BYO Blues to the Hillish Oh What I’ve Been Through, are consistently engaging. Henderson may be the draw for Skydance, but it’s Ballantyne’s date, which even cursory listening will confirm.

Coda Magazine

By Benjamin Franklin III

October 1989

Not before listening to Sky Dance (Justin Time 30-1) had I heard of Jon Ballantyne, pianist, composer and leader of a first-rate trio. Not only does he create engaging melodies, but their quality inspires superior improvisation, primary from the composer and the trio’s quest, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson. But do not assume that because Henderson here plays with musicians not widely known that he condescends to humour the provincialists. Rather, the group seems more a quartet than trio plus visiting famous player. Clearly Henderson is inspired by the compositions and his fellow musicians, who include bassist Neil Swainson and drummer Jerry Fuller.

Each of the five performances on this album delights, from the up tempo ‘Oh What I’ve Been Thru’ to the angular ‘Opus IV’ to the slightly whimsical ‘BYO Blues’ (with Henderson at his most Rollins-like) to the title tune, which is a beautiful ballad. On the only non-Ballantyne composition, the quartet romps through ‘You And The Night and The Music’ so deftly and with such passion that one marvels that this is not a regular working group while wishing that it were. Although lack of liner notes leaves me wondering about the circumstances surrounding this recording, I assume that Henderson was playing in Montreal in December 1988 with a local rhythm section (Ballantyne’s) and, because of the quality music they made, someone decided to record them. But whatever led to this recording, the contents of Sky Dance will surprise and please all lovers of improvised music.

All of the releases reviewed here offer something worth while, although most of them are predictable in their general lack of adventurousness. Of them, Jon Ballantyne’s “Sky Dance” and Chiasson and Wayne’s Point Counterpoint” are most likely to be listened to seriously ten years from now.