BaLoNi est l’histoire d’une rencontre entre trois musiciens d’horizons géographiques différentes : la Belgique, la France et l’Allemagne. En 2008 à Brooklyn, New York, Joachim Badenhorst (clarinettes, sax ténor), Frantz Loriot (violon alto) et Pascal Niggenkemper (contrebasse) se réunissent par hasard et une amitié surgit, les parcours et les visions musicales différentes de chacun s’unissent et les trois compères donnent naissance à BaLoNi. Ils choisissent alors comme terrain d’entente, l’improvisation. Ces musiciens chevronnés participent chacun à de nombreux projets annexes ou se croisent Tyshawn Sorey, Simon Nabatov et Gerald Cleaver, Thomas Heberer, Han Bennink, John Hollenbeck, Ralph Alessi, Joëlle Léandre, the David S. Ware String Ensemble, Anthony Braxton & the Walter Thompson Orchestra, Mikko Innanen, Franck Vigroux, Michael Formanek, Andrea Parkins, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Alexei Borisov…
Leur musique raconte une histoire profonde et subtile, pleine de poésie et de surprise.

The music of baloni offers something truly unique in the world of improvised music, and their album, Fremdenzimmer, shows the trio at their finest. Their explorations of sonic landscapes unfold with all the quiet and foreboding of a gathering storm. Tattered moments of melancholic chamber music filter its way through texture and noise. Fremdenzimmer captures the very pathos of our time. This debut album from the New York based trio grips the listener with a precision that is as refreshing as it is bold. Clarinetist Joachim Badenhorst (Han Bennink’s trio, Tony Malaby’s Novela, Thomas Heberer’s Clarino) cuts through vapor with melodies that straddle the boundary of the earthly and the incorporeal. The viola playing of Frantz Loriot (Joëlle Léandre, Barre Phillips, David S.Ware) blends a stoic mournfulness with a calm unease, as though a pattern of smoke which dissipates right as it is coming into formation. Bassist Pascal Niggenkemper (Tyshawn Sorey, Simon Nabatov, Gerald Cleaver, Frank Gratkowski, Joe Hertenstein, Thomas Heberer’s Clarino) conjures up voices of contemplative frenzy and passionate resolution from the depths of the lower registers. The music of baloni blends all musical disparities into a unified whole. It contains the perfect balance of improvisation with composed material. The intensity of the trio’s focus never once obstructs their spontaneity. The lush instrumentation provides a rich sound even as they move farther and farther beyond the traditional techniques of clarinet, viola, and bass playing. This is music for the listener who is tired of insipid genre and convention; this is music for the listener who is seeking the universal. – text by Sean Ali