Eugene Ball
Eugene Ball (born 1972) is an Australian jazz trumpeter, composer and arranger. His work ranges from original large-ensemble writing to small-group playing across standards and contemporary song.
He won the Best Australian Jazz Composition Award at the Australian Jazz Bell Awards in 2008 for Fool Poet’s Portion, a three-movement work inspired by Norse mythology and written for the Bennetts Lane Big Band, which he helped assemble as a vehicle for new large-ensemble music. He was a finalist in the Freedman Jazz Fellowship and placed second in the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz Awards, and he was an early force behind the Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival and the musician-run Lebowski’s concert series.
On Move he appears as arranger of Monk’s Hackensack on Mark Lockett’s hard-bop debut About Time (MCD 267), and as trumpeter on Emma Gilmartin’s Songe (MD 3298), where his playing has been singled out for its exceptional quality. He teaches trumpet, improvisation and composition and lectures in music at Melbourne Polytechnic.
Compositions by Eugene Ball appear on
About Time
Drummer Mark Lockett's debut About Time gathers a strong Melbourne jazz front line for modern standards and one original, telling fresh stories in the spirit of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.
Eugene Ball also appears on
Songe
Emma Gilmartin’s follow-up to her collaboration with Tony Gould, Tomorrow, just you wait and see, is a poised jazz vocal set: standards, two of her own songs, and a clear, understated delivery.