Ran will accompany vocalist Dominique Eade on several songs at her faculty recital Monday, November 17 at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. Also performing with Ran will be John Lockwood (bass), Tim Ray (piano), Yoron Israel (percussion), John Wheatley (guitar) and Aryeh Kobrinsky (bass).

The 8 p.m. concert is free and open to the public.

Photos #1 and #2 and the shot of Ran wearing a fez are from "Buffet Noir," a party Ran organized October 29 as a warm-up to his Bunny Lake is Missing-inspired Halloween concert at NEC (which went very well by the way). The pre-show soiree was at one of Ran's favorite restaurants, Khao Sarn in Brookline. Chris Stueart took the photos, and you can see more pictures of the evening on Flicker.

Ran joins New York Times' jazz critic Ben Ratliff at Brookline Booksmith Thursday, November 20 for an event promoting Ben's new book, The Jazz Ear.

For the book, Ratliff sat down with 15 jazz luminaries (including Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman and Hank Jones) to discuss compositions that strongly influenced them and how they listen to music. The bookstore event will follow a similar format, with Ben and Ran listening to and discussing four or five key compositions in Ran's life, possibly accompanied by clips from Ran's favorite films.

The event, which is free, goes from 7 to 8:30. The store is at 279 Harvard St., and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Thanks for reading. You can reach Ran directly at ran@ranblake.com, and you can read back issues here.

We'll see you in December.
--Steve
Vol. 4, No.11