Twice nominated in 2005 & 2006 for prestigious Hans Koller “Best European Jazz Musician Preis“Award, pianist, bandleader, composer & arranger LUCIAN BAN is originally from Cluj, Transylvania, Romania. He currently lives in New York City where is part of the next generation of performers & composers at the forefront of contemporary modern jazz. He leads several projects and writes innovative music that reinvents the idiom of jazz music. His compositions are performed & recorded by other musicians and ensembles. Mr. Ban leads the super group ELEVATION featuring world renowned tenor sax Abraham Burton, Nasheet Waits on drums and bassist John Hebert, the ASYMMETRY Quartet feat. Jorge Sylvester (alto sax), Brad Jones (bass) and Derrek Phillips or Gene Jackson (drums), and The TUBA PROJECT a group featuring the famous Bob Stewart on (tuba), Alex Harding (bari sax), Bruce Williams (alto sax) and Derrek Phillips (drums). He co-leads with soprano sax great Sam Newsome “The Romanian-American Jazz Suite” group, a project that presents Romanian Folk music from a jazz perspective. In 2008 their CD bearing the same name was released to critical acclaim to both US and European audiences, followed by successful tours on both sides of the Atlantic. He also co-leads with bari sax extraordinaire Alex Harding the LUMINATION Ensemble a group that performs since 2002 featuring special guests such as: Sam Newsome, Art Baron, Jorge Sylvester, Josh Roseman, Bruce Williams and many more. In 2003 the Lumination Ensemble featuring drum legend Barry Altschul was voted “One of the best shows of 2003 ” by the All About Jazz Magazine NYC along with Cecil Taylor and Joe Lovano groups. Mr. Ban has released 7 critically acclaimed albums as a leader for US and European based labels. He performs and tours regularly with his projects and as a sideman in New York jazz clubs and Europe Festivals and between 2002 -2005 was a member of The BMI Composers Jazz Workshop. He also writes & arranges for Machito Orchestra and was commissioned by them to write a piece for their opening concert at Super Bowl 2002. Lucian Ban also wrote music for more than 20 theater productions, film and ballet and for NYC Symphony Orchestra and in June 2001 he composed original music for the Theater/Dance Company MINUS. His original music for the theatre play “Philosopher Fox” produced by East River Comedia was nominated twice for the prestigious IT Awards in NYC. His last theatre score was for Saviana’s Stanescu ‘Waxing West” production at La Mama Theater in NY. Lucian Ban has received his degree in Contemporary Jazz Composition and Arranging from New School University in NYC. He also holds a degree in Philosophy from Bucharest University from bio at artist’s site
