Home » Jazz Articles » Brian Blade
Jazz Articles about Brian Blade
Charles Lloyd: The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
by Chris May
Those of us who were going to jazz festivals in summer 1966, and were lucky enough to catch the Charles Lloyd Quartet, will likely have one tune in particular imprinted on our memories. That was because Forest Flower" so precisely reflected the acid-drenched zeitgeist blossoming in Europe and the US. Lloyd, Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee and Jack DeJohnette recorded the piece at the Monterey festival in September 1966, and when Forest Flower was released in early 1967, it was the ...
read moreCharles Lloyd: The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
by Mike Jurkovic
For a long, grateful while now the music of Charles Lloyd has rippled out from that rarified space where the ego does not prevail. A pool of depth and wonder which culminates in one masterful artwork after another, for example Wild Man Dance (Blue Note, 2015) and 8: Kindred Spirits Live from the Lobero Theater (Blue Note, 2019). Lloyd's eleventh Blue Note album, the double disc set The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow is also his first ...
read moreChris Potter: Eagle's Point
by Chris May
The question that comes to mind after listening to Eagle's Point is this: why have the four musicians, who have known each other since the 1990s, never recorded together before? For the combination of Chris Potter, Brad Mehldau, John Patitucci and Brian Blade is a real meeting of minds; the stars are in perfect alignment. Potter's previous release, Got The Keys To The Kingdom (Edition, 2023), was a live set, recorded at New York's Village Vanguard, and ...
read moreJoshua Redman: Where Are We
by Dave Linn
After graduating from Berkeley High School in 1986, Joshua Redman (son of jazz legend Dewey Redman) won a full scholarship to Harvard, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1991. He was accepted at Yale Law School to become a lawyer. Instead, he embarked on a musical career which quickly turned luminous. He won the Thelonious Monk Institute's prestigious jazz saxophone competition in 1991, before moving to Brooklyn, becoming part of the thriving scene there. His debut album, Joshua Redman ...
read moreBrian Blade & The Fellowship Band: Kings Highway
by Cary Tenenbaum
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines fellowship as community of interest, activity, feeling, or experience," which seems to state well what Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band have been doing, cultivating a certain sound for over 25 years. The community is drummer Brian Blade, pianist Jon Cowherd, saxophonist Melvin Butler, saxophonist and clarinetist Myron Walden, bassist and synthesizer player Christopher Thomas and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. The interest and activity these folks share is playing music, specifically jazz music. Finally, the feeling or ...
read moreBilly Childs: The Winds of Change
by Neil Duggan
Billy Childs, one of the most critically acclaimed pianists in modern jazz, is in high demand as a modern classical composer. He has played and composed music ranging from orchestral to chamber works to contemporary small ensemble jazz. This has brought him five Grammy awards to date. Starting as a pianist in his native Los Angeles, he then spent six years with Freddie Hubbard's band before becoming a leader in his own right. He has performed with a ...
read moreRedman / Mehldau / McBride / Blade: Long Gone
by Scott Gudell
The mid-1990s saw the first recorded and officially preserved union of four up-and-coming jazz newcomers--Joshua Redman (saxophone,) Christian McBride (bass,) Brad Mehldau (piano) and Brian Blade (drums.) All four were dedicated followers of classic jazz and came together, but soon scattered and began charting their own individual courses. There was a long delay before they reunited for a second quartet recording in 2020. By then, each and every one of them had earned the respect of their peers and risen ...
read more