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Jeff Ballard - Time's Tales gets NPR Music - 50 Favorite Albums Of 2014

The staff of NPR Music and thier member stations have once again gathered to collect thier' favorite albums of the year.' Out of the thousands of they listened to in 2014, they selected 50 that they feel helped define 2014. One of those was - Jeff Ballard - Time's Tales.

Jeff Ballard, the drummer of choice for plenty of major jazz figures, waited many years to release a true solo album. What he delivered impresses with its range, but truly astounds with its execution. With only guitarist Lionel Loueke and alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón - no true bass instrument - Ballard summons parades, ballads, intricate rhythmic games, free improv, West African and Latin American colors, even a distorted-guitar Queens of the Stone Age cover ("Hangin' Tree," in 5/4). But everyone here can staff multiple positions on the court, so the three-man team never lacks for players. It's a spare band with a full sound, pickpocketing ideas from far and wide and sprinting away with them. -Patrick Jarenwattananon