Jazz Articles about Ran Blake

About Ran Blake

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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 ...

Album Review

Ran Blake - Christine Correa: Streaming

Read "Streaming" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
September 6, 2019

Pianista raffinatissimo e di straordinaria esperienza, Ran Blake ha frequentato spesso i duetti con la voce, tanto che il suo primo disco, del 1962, è appunto in coppia con Jeanne Lee. Ultimo lavoro del genere in ordine di tempo è questo Streaming con la cantante Christine Correa, di origini indiane ma ormai da quarant'anni negli USA, che tra le molte collaborazione ne ha una proprio con Jeanne Lee. I due si cimentano su un repertorio perlopiù di standard, ma che ...

Album Review

Ran Blake & Jeanne Lee: The Newest Sound You Never Heard

Read "The Newest Sound You Never Heard" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
February 16, 2019

Pianist Ran Blake has developed a reputation over the years for recording duets with vocalists, including in recent times, Sara Serpa, Dominique Eade and Christine Correa. That began back in 1961 when he released The Newest Sound Around (RCA), a remarkable set of duets with singer Jeanne Lee. The duo toured together occasionally in subsequent years but never released another recording until You Stepped Out Of A Dream (Owl) in 1989. Now here comes a new and very welcome discovery, ...

Album Review

Ran Blake / Christine Correa: Streaming

Read "Streaming" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
October 24, 2018

Pianist Ran Blake has been known for his duo work with vocalists dating back to his 1962 collaboration with Jeanne Lee, The Newest Sound Around (RCA Victor). In recent years, he has been working with three individualistic singers, Sara Serpa, Dominique Eade and Christine Correa. The year 2017 brought a session of folk songs and soundtrack music with Eade, the excellent Town And Country (Sunnyside Records). This time it's Correa's turn in a program of mostly jazz and pop standards. ...

Album Review

Ran Blake & Christine Correa: Streaming

Read "Streaming" reviewed by Gareth Thompson

by Gareth Thompson
September 29, 2018

Back in 1946, Ran Blake watched The Spiral Staircase and was rather freaked. This classic chiller's opening scene shows a silent film flickering whilst a woman accompanies the visuals on piano. Blake later composed his own piano sketches for each character and wrote fan letters to the entire cast. His only reply came from Carlton, the housekeeper's sleepy bulldog, via a paw print autograph. Blake also claims a childhood interest in Irish ghost stories and church spirituals. Thus ...

Album Review

Ran Blake: Something To Live For

Read "Something To Live For" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
April 6, 2018

Con copertina diversa, torna a quasi diciannove anni dalla sua prima edizione (1999; incisione Boston, marzo '98) un album certamente prezioso (per quanto magari un po' discontinuo) di quel singolare pianista (e personaggio tout court) che è Ran Blake, oggi ottantatreenne. L'album si compone, adesso come allora, di diciannove brani, per lo più brevi o molto brevi (da quaranta secondi a sei minuti), di cui nove in piano solo e gli altri dieci equamente divisi fra duetti col clarinetto di ...

Album Review

Ran Blake: Chabrol Noir

Read "Chabrol Noir" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
May 23, 2016

Notoriamente appassionato di cinema, Ran Blake ci regala una delle sue opere più significative e appassionate esplorando l'universo di uno dei suoi grandi amori, Claude Chabrol, di cui fin dalla copertina, scopertamente hitchcockiana, il disco rievoca abilmente l'universo espressivo. L'album ha come persino scontato filo conduttore il pianoforte di Blake, senza accompagnamento alcuno (se non qualche effetto generato da lui stesso) in dieci dei diciassette brani totali (e in sette dei primi otto, e otto dei primi ...