Jazz Articles about Ran Blake

About Ran Blake

Radio & Podcasts

Hewing to our promise made in oaths of blood and tears, the bastards talk about four more releases from this banner year of 2026. The bag, my friends, as you may well have guessed, is mixed. Mike and Pat have the same favorite from the episode (hint--the artist has been eligible for Social Security for decades) but after that, the feelings are as mixed as the bags. Playlist Discussion of Stefon Harris' album Legacy Dances (Motema) 2:43 Discussion ...

Album Review

Ran Blake & Dominique Eade: Roots & Byways

Read "Roots & Byways" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
July 12, 2026

For a pianist whose prodigious recorded legacy goes back to the 1960s, Ran Blake has only rarely deviated from his preferred settings: solo albums and duos with vocalists. While his Short Life of Barbara Monk (Soul Note, 1987) is arguably one of the finest quartet records of the 1980s, and his Sonic Temples (GM Recordings, 2001) is a superb later trio effort, he has for the most part been largely content to limit himself to more intimate contexts, especially with ...

Radio & Podcasts

Ran Blake, Tim Berne, Satoko Fujii & Clemens Kuratle

by Maurice Hogue
February 3, 2025

Another of those “found" albums is the highlight of this episode. In 2006 master pianist Ran Blake and guitarist Dave “Knife" Fabris were performing at The Bimhuis in Amsterdam. After the gig the club gave them a recording of their performance, and as often happens, that disappeared. It finally emerged during the pandemic when Fabris found it. Live In Amsterdam 2006 is now available and another addition to the Ran Blake legend. Dave Fabris got his name “Knife" because he ...

Album Review

Ran Blake / Dave Knife Fabris: Live Amsterdam 2006, First Visit

Read "Live Amsterdam 2006, First Visit" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
December 20, 2024

In 2006, pianist Ran Blake, in his seventh decade, is captured in concert at Amsterdam's Bimhaus with guitarist Dave Fabris. Their collaboration began first as mentor/mentee but had become more like partners after working together for over three decades. Together they can be heard on Blake's releases, two on hatOLOGY Something To Live For (1999) and Horace Is Blue: A Silver Noir (2000), and also on Vilnius Noir (NoBusiness, 2011), Indian Winter (Soul Note, 2005) and Ghost Tones (A-Side, 2015). ...

Multiple Reviews

Ran Blake: Gray Moon, When Soft Rains Fall and Northern Noir

by John Ephland
December 5, 2020

I'm a sucker for musical duets. Duets that make me feel like I'm in the same room with the two of them. Here we have three recent releases with the iconoclastic, legendary Ran Blake, now 83, in what is his most typical setting. Yes, to hear Blake paired up like this is to hear more of an artist completely at home by and with himself as well as with others, one at a time. In this ...

Album Review

Ran Blake / Christine Correa: When Soft Rains Fall

Read "When Soft Rains Fall" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
September 12, 2020

Pianist Ran Blake and vocalist Christine Correa have recorded several duo albums together including two on the music of Abbey Lincoln. Here they turn to another iconic singer, Billie Holiday, concentrating on the contents of her final album, Lady In Satin (Columbia, 1958). Lady In Satin is known for its lush orchestral and choral arrangements by Ray Ellis. This 2020 version is stripped down to a bare bones pairing of voice and piano. Correa's singing is raw and ...

Profile

The Very Singular Mr. Ran Blake

by Duncan Heining
January 23, 2020

There have been few American composers and musicians, with the ability to encapsulate their country's music in all its racial and ethnic complexity. We might perhaps point to Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives and perhaps, in their own distaff ways, Harry Partch and Steve Reich. In jazz, their number is fewer still--Duke Ellington and George Russell certainly and, at a stretch, Jelly Roll Morton. And then there's pianist and composer Ran Blake. Listening to any one of ...