Alex Harding & Lucian Ban Present “Dark Blue”

Photo Credit: Cornel Brad

Detroit born baritone saxophonist Alex Harding and Transylvanian expat / New York City based pianist Lucian Ban have been at the forefront of contemporary jazz for more than two decades, collaborating and founding several groups together, releasing a handful of diverse albums for American and European labels, performing countless concerts and tours in the US and Europe all the while documenting an amazing body of music. 

Their relationship has been long and fruitful. Pianist Lucian Ban arrived in New York City from Romania in 1998. As he first began to immerse himself in the local scene, he was fortunate to hear baritone saxophonist Alex Harding. The two hit it off immediately and formed a fast friendship, leading to musical collaboration with Alex becoming an essential voice on Lucian’s recording debut on their co-led album, Somethin’ Holy (CIMP, 2002). It was Alex Harding’s unique voice that attracted Lucian Ban, one that had also captured the ears of many legendary collaborators, including Sun Ra, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Julius Hemphill. Alex’s heartfelt, blues-drenched baritone sax and experimental playing lent well to Lucian’s open-minded and improvisatory approach to music. Their combination of elements of improvised music has helped the pair develop a unique musical language that transcends the expectations of the jazz genre. 

With DARK BLUE, the two musicians celebrate their musical brotherhood with a unique amalgamation of original pieces and improvisations informed by traditions of jazz, blues, and European chamber music. From avant blues to spontaneous improv pieces, from ballads that recall Ben Webster, Archie Shepp, and Sun Ra, DARK BLUE represents a stunning document of two artists at their maturity, two old friends conversing in the language of modern jazz.

About the Artists:

Alex Harding was born in Detroit and studied music in his early years with Yusef Lateef, Beans Bows, and Herbie Williams, and had a chance to play with Wynton Marsalis and Donald Byrd while still in high school. Alex went on to win music scholarships to the University of Massachusetts and the Aspen School of Music. His first European engagement in 1990 was in Porgy and Bess. A year later, he went to Mexico for the Arts and Music Festival with percussionist Francisco Mora. After settling in New York in 1993 and a stint touring with Phatoms, a Haitian group, Alex joined Julius Hemphill’s Saxophone Sextet. He also began performing with Muhal Richard Abrams, Craig Harris, Lester Bowie, Frank Lacy, Oliver Lake, and David Murray’s Big Band. In 1996, Alex joined Hamiet Bluiett’s Baritone Group and appeared with the Mingus Big Band, Jayne Cortez Firespitters, and Lester Bowie’s Hip-Hop Philharmonic. He also recorded with Greg Osby, Frank Lowe, David Lee Roth, and Rodney Whittaker. The following year, Alex recorded At Doctor King’s Table with the Julius Hemphill Sextet, a CD with Hamiet Bluiett’s Baritone Group, and he made his debut with the Sun Ra Arkestra under Marshall Allen’s leadership. In 1998, Alex was part of the Sun Ra All-Star Project that premiered at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival. He has performed with the late Roy Hargrove Big Band and with Aretha Franklin. Critics have hailed him as “the new voice on baritone saxophone, the carrier of the great legacy of Harry Carney, Pepper Adams, and Hamiet Bluiett.” Alex Harding has released several albums as a leader, garnering glowing reviews, and has appeared as a guest on more than 40 albums. In the October 1997 issue of Jazz Times, the review of Hamiet Bluiett’s Baritone Band said that “Alex Harding attacked the music with steamroller momentum and uncommon ferocity…it was sheer fireworks.” 

Called “A name to watch” by The Guardian and ”one of the most gifted pianists to move to New York” (B. Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery), Lucian Ban is a Romanian born, NYC-based pianist and composer known for his amalgamations of Transylvanian folk with improvisation, for his mining of 20th Century European classical music with jazz, and for his pursuit of a modern chamber jazz ideal. His music has been described as “emotionally ravishing” (Nate Chinen, New York Times/WBGO), a “triumph of emotional and musical communication” (All About Jazz), “Unorthodox but mesmeringly beautiful” (The Guardian), and as holding an “alluring timelessness and strong life-force”(Downbeat Magazine). Lucian 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 studied composition at the Bucharest Music Academy while simultaneously leading his own jazz groups. Desire to get closer to the source of jazz brought him to the US, and since moving from Romania to New York in 1999, his ensembles have included many of New York’s finest players. His duet Transylvanian Concert with Mat Maneri was released by ECM Records in 2013 and won critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.  The Guardian noted the release had its “own kind of melancholy beauty and wayward exuberance,” and The New York Times called it “a lovely and restive new album that reveals their shared interest in enfolding mystery.” His albums investigating Romanian folk songs, or re-imagining the music of famed Romanian classical composer George Enescu, and his various duets with Mat Maneri (ECM), Alex Harding, and Abraham Burton (Sunnyside), have won critical praise and awards. More importantly, they have revealed a singular focus to strand the worlds of American jazz and European chamber music together with the freedom of improvisation. Lucian Ban has performed/recorded with, among many others: Abraham Burton, Nasheet Waits, John Surman, Mat Maneri, Billy Hart, Alex Harding, Barry Altschul, Louis Sclavis, and Gerald Cleaver. He recorded 20 albums as a leader for labels such as Sunnyside, ECM, Jazzaway, etc, all the while maintaining a worldwide touring schedule. 

Collaboration and community have been at the forefront of drummer Chad Taylor’s career, with notable collaborations including the Chicago Underground collective with Jeff Parker and Rob Mazurek; Grass Roots with Sean Conly, Alex Harding, and Darius Jones; Sticks and Stones with Josh Abrams and Matana Roberts; Br-an-ch with Angelica Sanchez and Brandon Ross; and Side A with Ken vandermark and Harvard Wiik. As a leader, Chad Taylor has recorded and performed with the quintet Active Ingredients, the Chad Taylor Trio, Circle Down, and the Chad Taylor Quintet.

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