Ran on All About Jazz -- Allaboutjazz.com posted a lengthy feature about Ran and his most recent album, Driftwoods, in June. Tod Smith's story, titled "Lurking in the Shadows," includes Ran's reflections on his career, film and many of the album's songs. An introductory excerpt follows:
"If you close your eyes while listening to Driftwoods, 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 premiere."
Ran on NPR's Fresh Air -- Jazz critic Kevin White reviewed Driftwoods on April 22 for NPR's Fresh Air. Read or listen here.
Ran on WGBH -- Ran's March 18 appearance on WGBH Radio's "Eric in the Evening" Wednesday is now available for streaming. You can download a printed program Ran prepared for the evening here.
Ran on Morning Edition -- NPR's Morning Edition aired an in-depth profile of Ran on April 13. Titled "Pianist Ran Blake Takes His Cues From Film Noir," the 7-minute piece featured interviews with Ran, New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff, and several students, as well as samples from Ran's new Driftwoods album. Andrea Shea, a reporter for NPR-affiliate WBUR in Boston, put together the segment, which does an outstanding job highlighting Ran's life and creative process, as well as capturing his personality. If you missed it, you can stream or download it here and read the text here.
Strong Reviews for Driftwoods -- Driftwoods is drawing rave reviews. Here are some excerpts:
Ben Ratliff, New York Times: "Blake seems to hear other people's music through a kind of creative seance; in the process it becomes transformed. On Driftwoods he takes a tightly written old pop song ... and reveals behind it a slow-moving fantasia, full of shuddering harmony played with the sustain pedal down ... He's been doing this for nearly 50 years, forming his own canon of composers and performers from across the best of midcentury jazz, gospel, soul and classical music, and he's still in great form." The full review is here.
Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe: "Next time you're up until quarter to 3 and looking for music to fit the hour, we suggest this set of film noir nocturnes for solo piano ... Blake is a stealth piano virtuoso, master of touch and timing, a flinty melodist who fills the spaces between the notes with lingering harmonics ... At the album's heart are two takes of 'Dancing in the Dark,' saluting Sarah Vaughan's definitive 1956 recording. In the shorter of the two, the dance is a faded memory; the longer presents a montage of moods, the dance holding its own with the dark ... Deliciously, the darkness dominates these 13 tunes tossed and transformed in the ocean of Blake's musical imagination." Full review
Henry Smith, AllAboutJazz.com: "Blake's noir-like approach to the piano, with his open sense of harmony and time as well as the deep and beautiful melancholy which ingrains his playing, is present on all of the pieces here. Never once does a cliche emerge from his fingers as he infuses these works with a personal and carefully chosen character all his own. ... Hank Williams' 'Lost Highway' is completely transformed from its country crooner roots into a work whose contrast between spacious detail and rural feel recasts it as a viable improvisational setting. ... The disc closes with 'You Are My Sunshine,' a summery rendition of the classic that fits in nicely with the entire feel of this beautiful album. Full review
Thom Jurek, AllMusic.com: "Blake's sense of restraint, even in the most deliberate of his improvised readings such as on Lewis Allan's 'Strange Fruit,' Quincy Jones' theme from The Pawnbroker, Milton Nascimento's 'Cançao do Sol,' and even Gershwin's 'I Loves You, Porgy,' offers such distinctive readings of these tunes rhythmically, harmonically, and lyrically that it's difficult after a while to see where the body of the original composition ends and Blake begins. ... Blake's achievement is that he simply re-inscribes their images in a new way, placing his lovingly individualistic stamp of musical recognition on them as sophisticated, singular moments in the history of song." Full review
You can find additional excerpts and links to full reviews in the March issue of Ran's monthly newsletter.
Driftwoods is available from ranblake.com, Amazon, Tompkins Square, and other retailers. You can also download it from iTunes.
January 27 -- Ran's new album, Driftwoods, was released by Tompkins Square Records on January 27 and is now available from ranblake.com and Amazon. The album of solo piano is Ran's tribute to his favorite singers, with interpretations of songs popularized by Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, Hank Williams, Nat King Cole, and others.
The track list is "Driftwood," "Dancing in the Dark," "Lost Highway," "Cancao do Sol," "No More," "I Loves You, Porgy," "Strange Fruit," "Pawnbroker," "There's Been a Change," "Portrait," "I'm Going to Tell God," and "You Are My Sunshine."
Jonah Kraut, Ran's longtime friend and former assistant at the New England Conservatory, produced the album, Ran's 36th since his 1961 debut. It includes liner notes by Brian Morton, editor of Jazz Review, UK and the Penguin Jazz Guide.
To see the cover and download a free song, check out the January issue of Ran's newsletter.
Ran Blake T-shirts -- Ran Blake T-shirts featuring Ran's "black bag" logo are now available from Ran's assistant Aaron Hartley. Here's a photo. The cotton jerseys come in small, medium, large and extra large. The cost is $15 per shirt. If you're in the Boston area, you can arrange to pick them up directly from Aaron at NEC or at Ran's Brookline apartment. If you order by mail, there's an additional $4 shipping charge. For more information or to arrange an order, please contact Aaron.
Two Upcoming Books -- As a long-awaited book on Ran's teaching philosophy nears completion, a second book on his life is now taking shape.
The music theory book, The Primacy of the Ear, presents Ran's practice of emphasizing the listening process to learn and develop a personal style instead of the traditional method of relying on written scores. It will include a CD of examples to help illustrate key points.
The book, which has been in the works for many years, is expected to be released later this year. Jason Rogers and Pat Donaher are major collaborators, and Alyssa Voorhis and many others have contributed to the editing.
The biography, meanwhile, is still in its early stages. Leo McFadden, a former NEC student, is the author. It's expected to cover the many chapters of Ran's life, including his childhood in Western Massachusetts, his college years at Bard, his many recordings and performances, his teaching at NEC, community involvement, etc. Work on the book, which has included hours of interviews and sifting through old photos and correspondence, has led Ran to revisit a lifetime of memories.
Leo is seeking stories, anecdotes or reflections from those who know Ran and/or witnessed extraordinary performances. Please send submissions (as Word attachments, in the body of an e-mail, or as MP3s) to leo.mcfadden@gmail.com.
Ran has performed at major jazz festivals, concert halls, jazz clubs, colleges and universities
throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America, and Mexico.
Appearances include Monterey Festival, Antibes Music Festival, Nancy
Jazz Festival, Third Stream Festival, Praxis Festival, Grenoble Jazz
Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Ottawa jazz Festival, Edmonton Jazz
Festival, Jazz and Blues Festival, Museum of Modern Art, Du Maurier
International Jazz festival.
Additional appearances on numerous radio and television programs.
Composition
and improvisation studies with Ray Cassarino, Willis Lawrence
James, Oscar Peterson, Bill Russo, Gunther Schuller, Mal Waldron, and
Mary Lou Williams
"Ran
Blake is so hip it hurts. At 66, he is still a pianist who
can
make you laugh at his wry humor one second and wring a tear
the next. His playing and composing is so richly idiosyncratic
and his interplay with the Schuller brothers - bassist Ed and
drummer George - so varied that Sonic Temples could have
been recorded at any time in the last 45 years."
-
James Hale,Down
Beat
(January 2002)
"This
is the sound of lives fully connected and committed. Everything
matters and nothing is taken for granted - what a fine way to
make music."
-Signal
To Noise: The Journal of Improvised & Experimental Music
(Winter 2002)
Top
10 Jazz Recordings of 2001 (#8)
"...indispensable...Blake in effect takes [jazz standards]
apart and puts them back together in exotic and alluring ways.
The standard tunes, therefore, simply become vehicles for tracing
the arcane and fantastically eccentric ways in which Blake thinks."
-Howard Reich, Chicago
Tribune
(December 11, 2001) Also
carried on the AP/Knight Ridder wire to other papers
"Sonic
Temples is a profusely elegant affair that shines forth with
the reverence of a coveted museum piece. Strongly recommended."
-AllAboutJazz.com
(November 2001)
"Original
voices are so hard to come by in jazz pianism that a two-CD
set such as this amounts to a signal event. To say that [Ran
Blake] alters the harmonies of 'Black Coffee' or brings interesting
colors to 'Stormy Weather' would be like contending that Michaelangelo
did a nice touch-up job on the Sistine Chapel."
"4
1/2 stars. Ran Blake has never been so powerful or so quiet,
the restraint and space here is almost mystical. This is in
many ways just the next chapter in an already wildly fruitful
and profound career...it is also a reinvention of the artist
in a portrait of himself."
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