Jeff Ballard (born 1963, Santa Cruz, California) is an American jazz drummer best known as the Brad Mehldau Trio's drummer since 2005. Before that he toured extensively with Ray Charles and played in groups led by Chick Corea and Joshua Redman. As a bandleader he heads the Jeff Ballard Trio and the electric-acoustic Fairgrounds septet, and co-leads the collective trio Fly with Mark Turner and Larry Grenadier.
Ballard performs on July 12, 2026 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam.
On July 9, 2026, Ballard plays at the Malta Jazz Festival in Valletta.
Ballard performed in May 2026 at the Torino Jazz Festival as part of the trio Lanzoni & Evangelista & Ballard with the program 'Vida'.
Ballard was seen at the Torino Jazz Festival 2026, which took place from April 22 to May 2, 2026 in Turin.
In December 2024, Ballard played with the Ballard-Zampini-Lanzoni-Scandroglio quartet at the Milestone Jazz Club in Piacenza.
