Jazz Articles about Ran Blake

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Ran Blake - Sara Serpa: Camera Obscura

by AAJ Italy Staff
October 19, 2010

Negli ultimi anni la figura della cantante portoghese Sara Serpa ha iniziato a farsi apprezzare al di fuori della fervida (ma ancora poco nota) scena jazzistica di Lisbona. Il recente ingresso nel gruppo di Greg Osby (con cui ha inciso il recente 9 Levels) e la pubblicazione di quest'incontro con Ran Blake, inciso a Brooklyn nel dicembre 2009, incrementeranno di molto la sua notorietà. Trent'anni, viso e timbro vocale di adolescente, Sara ha acquisito doti espressive sofisticate in un decennio ...

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Ran Blake / Christine Correa: Out of the Shadows

by Raul d'Gama Rose
July 3, 2010

The spectacular second coupling of pianist Ran Blake and vocalist Christine Correa, Out of the Shadows is one of the most extraordinary albums of 2010. Both are wonderful storytellers in their own right. Music appears to flow and gush and foam through Blake's body, breaking in waves from his hands and fingertips as they flutter and fly and splash across the keyboard of the piano. As this happens, each note and phrase and metaphor tells a story like a film ...

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Ran Blake & Anthony Braxton: A Memory Of Vienna

by Troy Collins
January 31, 2010

On November 19, 1988, a few days before the Cool Noir music festival in Vienna, composer Franz Koglmann finished recording Orte Der Geometrie (Hatart) with his Pipetet a couple hours earlier than expected. A number of high profile artists and musicians were in attendance for the festival, so efforts were made to utilize the remaining pre-paid studio time. Pianist Ran Blake was on hand, as a special guest of the Pipetet, and composer/multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton had just stopped by the ...

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Ran Blake: Lurking in the Shadows

by Tod Smith
June 8, 2009

If you close your eyes while listening to Ran Blake's Driftwoods (Tompkins Square, 2009), you may find yourself transported into the grainy, low-key black and white world of a 1940s or '50s classic noir film. Try to leave the theater and something quietly, without much fanfare draws you back into the story. This is the music of Ran Blake. While the vaguely familiar exists, there's enough hidden in the shadows of Driftwoods to make each listen seem like a world ...

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Ran Blake: Driftwoods

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 25, 2009

Unico originale erede di Thelonius Monk, Ran Blake ne ha raccolto lo spirito e sviluppato il mondo espressivo, distanziandosi da quei colleghi che ne hanno reinterpretato i brani cercando un'improbabile connessione. Anche se esistono varie differenze col pianista di Rocky Mount (soprattutto il legame con la tradizione classica europea e la condivisione dell'estetica Third Stream) Blake ne condivide l'approccio “verticale," armonicamente dissonante e l'accentuazione dei contrasti timbrici e di volume. Altro punto di contatto - forse meno considerato - è ...

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Ran Blake: Driftwoods

by Henry Smith
January 22, 2009

Ever since pianist Ran Blake released his debut recordings on The Newest Sound Around (RCA, 1962) with vocalist Jeanne Lee, he has been a leading voice in the original interpretation of classic standards. With the solo outing Driftwoods, Blake dedicates an entire album to the interpretation of songs popularized by his favorite singers, a list which includes such divergent voices as Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, and Hank Williams.

Blake's noir-like approach to the piano, with his ...

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Ran Blake - David Fabbris: Indian Winter

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 27, 2007

Ventitre frammenti sonori, ventitre fotogrammi, non solo per la provenienza cinematografica di molti dei titoli presenti in Indian Winter, ma soprattutto per la capacità di evocare con poche pennellate di note, immagini e sensazioni di grande impatto emotivo. Il pianismo di Ran Blake è difficilmente etichettabile, rispettoso della tradizione, con riusciti omaggi, tra gli altri, a musicisti come Duke Ellington e Horace Silver, ma assolutamente originale nella sua concezione esecutiva, fatta di minimi impulsi, sequenze narrative accennate, dissolvenze incrociate e ...