Jazz Articles about Brian Blade

About Brian Blade

Radio & Podcasts

Give the Drummer (More Than) Some! Part 4

by Ludovico Granvassu
May 8, 2020

The final (for now) installment of this series dedicated to drummers features Rudy Royston, John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet +1, Ted Poor, Brian Blade Fellowship, TOTM -Tivoli of the Mind, Louis Moholo, Ginger Baker, Go: Organic Orchestra & Brooklyn Raga Massive. Happy listening! PlaylistBen Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Rudy Royston “Bobblehead" Flatbed Buggy (Greenleaf) 0:16 Host talks 6:03 The Claudia Quintet +1 “Showtime -23rd Street Runs Into Heaven" What is ...

Album Review

Wolfgang Muthspiel: Angular Blues

Read "Angular Blues" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
April 11, 2020

So much of Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel's music materializes before you like Mr. Spock and company on Star Trek. The music beamed in always airy and on the verge of evaporation. But before it does either manifest or vanish it leads you along a slippery slope, through brave structures where only the guitarist knows where the footings are hidden. Long time collaborator drummer Brian Blade knows the above characteristics well. So he becomes the center of gravity around ...

Album Review

Wolfgang Muthspiel: Angular Blues

Read "Angular Blues" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
March 18, 2020

Austrian jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel's previous two ECM albums have been quintets: Where The River Goes (ECM, 2018) and Rising Grace (ECM, 2016). This trio date is a call back to his ECM leader debut, Driftwood (ECM, 2014), with Brian Blade returning on drums but Scott Colley replacing Larry Grenadier on double bass. The music is mostly Muthspiel originals, but this time the program also includes two standards. Muthspiel opens the set on classical guitar, which he stays ...

Album Review

Wolfgang Muthspiel: Angular Blues

Read "Angular Blues" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 11, 2020

Guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel's fourth leader date for ECM Records--and his second trio outing for that storied imprint, following Driftwood (ECM Records, 2014)--is a marvel of ingenious interplay, musical sensitivity and absolute sincerity. Joining forces with drummer Brian Blade, a longtime band mate, and bassist Scott Colley, a playing partner from the '90s, Muthspiel delves into the deepest recesses of his mind and sound, delivering a program which is as absorbing as it is refreshing. Recorded in Tokyo after ...

Album Review

Jeff Denson, Romain Pilon, Brian Blade: Between Two Worlds

Read "Between Two Worlds" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
November 19, 2019

American bassist Jeff Denson and French guitarist Romain Pilon not only became professional acquaintances, but also great friends, when they began their studies at the much-revered Boston Berklee College of Music at the end of the last century. On Between Two Worlds the two celebrate their twenty years of on-and-off collaborating, with leading drum wizard Brian Blade completing the trio. In a set of mostly clear structures and highly melodic interplay between all involved, a crunchy guitar effect paired with ...

Album Review

Wayne Shorter: Emanon

by Mike Jurkovic
September 27, 2018

With his most trusted cohorts standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him--pianist Danilo Perez, ever-ready bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade--Wayne Shorter knows, beyond instinct, that any music he envisions will come to life. And inspire. And amaze. And so we have Emanon, a three-CD set whose first disc--four sweeping orchestral works recorded with the quartet and the 34-piece, player-conducted, innovative and expansive Orpheus Chamber Quartet--serves, in a rather loose way, as the cinematic soundtrack to the Shorter/Monica Sly-penned, Randy ...

Album Review

Wayne Shorter: Emanon

by Mark Sullivan
September 14, 2018

Saxophonist/composer Wayne Shorter is a living jazz legend--his career includes stints with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, with trumpeter Miles Davis (including his last great quintet, as well as foundational fusion albums), and with fusion icon Weather Report--any one of which would be enough to give him a significant place in the history of the music. Throughout his career he has also produced influential work as a leader, going back to hard bop standards for Blue Note Records. So it is ...