CURATION
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from this page:
by Matrix
Network Node
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Name:
Ron Blake
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City/Place:
New York City
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Country:
United States
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Hometown:
Virgin Islands
Life & Work
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Bio:
Multi-talented saxophonist Ron Blake inhabits many worlds, and nowhere is this more apparent than on his third release for Mack Avenue, Shayari (shy-ree). Produced by pianist Michael Cain (who also appears on the CD), Shayari (the meaning, in Urdu, a type of ancient poetry consisting of couplets and a highly stylized form of verse considered extremely beautiful) combines fertile ground from each of Blake’s worlds to create an extraordinary landscape of its own. Showcased here in an intimate, unplugged, trio setting, the CD also features performances by special guests drummer Jack DeJohnette, bassist Christian McBride, violinist Regina Carter and percussionist Gilmar Gomes.
Blake, a strikingly tall, Virgin Islands-born native, is based in New York City. He is a well-rounded musician and has recorded three CDs as a leader; in addition, his discography numbers more than 50 recordings as either a guest or sideman with leading artists. They include Roy Hargrove; Art Farmer; the Christian McBride Band; Spirit Music Jamia; Red, Hot + Riot; and the Grammy® nominated, Latin pop group, Yerba Buena; also, Blake has recorded soundtracks (most recently on El Cantante starring Marc Anthony/Jennifer Lopez). The multi-talented musician is entering his third season as a member of NBC’s Saturday Night Live Band. About the new recording, Shayari, Blake says, “This record is more introspective than earlier projects. It’s an acoustic collection of trios. Compositionally, it lends itself to some of the ideas introduced on my most recent recording, Sonic Tonic. I worked with Michael Cain to put this recording together; everything stemmed from us trying to find people to collaborate with to create a distinct, aural setting not unlike Sonic Tonic.”
That aural setting primarily features the tenor saxophone, the piano, drums and percussion. Blake’s broad, tenor tones irradiate all of the 13 tracks buoyed by Michael Cain’s florid and fluid piano; Gilmar Gomes’s sympathetic nuances, and Jack DeJohnette’s all-world drumming. Some of Shayari’s songs are reprises of Blake’s older material. The opener “Waltz For Gwen,” is a pleasing ode to his mother, previously recorded with Blake playing soprano sax on his first outing as a leader, Up Front and Personal, distributed by his (then) own Tahmun Records label. The foreboding piano ostinato drives “Atonement,” a previously un-recorded Blake composition in two sections, laced with DeJohnette’s dramatic fills and solo. Says Blake, “The groove on this lends itself to something I would connect with [songs/grooves on] Sonic Tonic [on this CD]; structurally, it’s a more improvisational approach.”
“Of Kindred Souls” is another original Blake composition. It was first recorded by Roy Hargrove in 1993 on the CD of the same name, but has been re-cast here with Regina Carter’s classic violin strains. Blake states, “I was looking for a melody that would lend itself to a duet for violin and tenor. Regina came and did what she does so well, adding a beautiful color and presence to the song.” Bassist Christian McBride, with whom Blake has worked for eight years, and who produced Lest We Forget, is featured on Bobby Hutcherson’s composition, “Teddy,” and also on the soulful “What Is Your Prayer For?” composed by Blake.
As a musician who is at-home with the jazz tradition, Blake also included some standards on the date. “Please Be Kind,” from the Sammy Cahn songbook, is rendered in telepathic reverence as a sax/piano duet. Blake, Cain, and the Brazilian percussionist Gomes add their own interpretation to Ivan Lins’ immortal composition, “The Island.” “This was a song Michael suggested,” says Blake. “All we had to do was let it play itself.” About “Remember The Rain,” the other sax/piano duet featured on Shayari and another original composition, he adds, “This song is related to ‘What Is Your Prayer For?’ It’s a chance to interpret melody without harmonic improvisation unlike other songs on the recording.”
Pianist Michael Cain’s influence on Shayari is also evident on his two contributions, the Latin-tinged “76” and “Come Sun,” a composition that highlights Blake’s classical lyricism. Other selections include “Hanuman,” named for the Hindu deity [from the Sanskrit epic Ramayan (Way of the Rama) of ancient India]. The track, “Abhaari”—another word from the sub-continent meaning “gratitude”—is a two-movement composition that, along with “Hanuman,” was composed collectively by Blake, Cain, and DeJohnette.
The origins of Ron Blake’s tradition-honed eclecticism can be traced back to the Virgin Islands where he was born and reared. At age 8, Blake took guitar lessons; then, two years later, he switched to the alto saxophone in his elementary school band. He loved playing calypso and other music from the region. He graduated from Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy, and later matriculated into Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where he received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Artistic and Academic Achievement. In 1987, Blake’s jazz career began in St. Thomas, where he taught in summer music programs. He was introduced by, and performed with jazz luminaries Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Hutcherson, and Gary Bartz at the first Virgin Islands Jazz Festival. Later, he won a National Endowment for the Arts Grant to study with Bartz.
After his graduation from Northwestern University, Blake worked extensively in the Chicago-area with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, performing behind such legends as Louis Bellson, Clark Terry, Nancy Wilson. He was mentored by many of the Windy City’s jazz statesmen, including Von Freeman, Willie Pickens, and Bunky Green.
In 1990, Blake moved to Tampa, FL, and began work as an Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of South Florida, and nurtured his classical interests by performing with the Florida Symphony Orchestra. Occasionally, he would fly to New York to sit-in with Branford Marsalis; Mulgrew Miller; and Kenny Kirkland. In 1992, Blake re-located to New York City and joined Roy Hargrove’s Quintet, a collaboration that spanned five years. During this period, Blake also worked with dozens of jazz greats including: Johnny Griffin, Art Farmer, Stanley Turrentine, Roy Haynes, Art Taylor, Benny Golson, Betty Carter, Shirley Horn, Abbey Lincoln, and Ray Brown. In 1998, Blake recorded 21st Century, a unique Caribbean-influenced jazz project, with drummer and fellow-Virgin Islander Dion Parson.
In addition to his 2000 debut as a leader on Up Front and Personal with special guest Johnny Griffin, Ron Blake released his first Mack Avenue recording, Lest We Forget in 2003, followed by Sonic Tonic in 2005. In 2005, he was featured in Meshell Ndegéocello’s group, Spirit Music Jamia (with Michael Cain), which released a critically acclaimed recording, Dance of the Infidel. Since the year 2000, Blake has been a member of the Christian McBride Band and is featured on McBride’s Live at Tonic. Blake also has guest appearances on several Mack Avenue recordings, including: Gerald Wilson, Sean Jones, and Tia Fuller. In 2005, he was invited to join NBC’s Saturday Night Live Band, where he plays the baritone saxophone and flute. In 2007, Blake was appointed to teach in the Jazz Studies program at the Juilliard School of Music. Currently, he is member of the faculty at both New York University and Nyack College (Manhattan campus).
Shayari is Ron Blake’s most comprehensive and compelling work to date. It is a recording that unveils all of the musical inventions and dimensions of this evolving artist who has inherited the wisdom of the masters, and has captured the attention of today’s young musicians
Contact Information
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Email:
[email protected]
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Management/Booking:
Michael Arthur Artist Management, Ltd.
Mike Florio
23623 N. Scottsdale Rd. Ste. D-3 #468
Scottsdale, Arizona USA 85255
(602)-690-7271
[email protected]
Maurice Montoya Music Agency
Maurice Montoya
1133 Broadway Ste. 1605
New York, NY USA 10010
(212) 229-9160 t.
(212) 229-9168 fx.
[email protected]
Mack Avenue Records
Don Lucoff or Steph Brown @dl media
tel: 610-667-0501
fax: 610-667-0502
email: [email protected]
www.jazzpublicity.com
Clips (more may be added)
I created this matrix so the world could discover elemental cultural genius here in Bahia: João do Boi (rest in power), Roberto Mendes, Raymundo Sodré and magisterial others. To make these artists discoverable worldwide though, there's a catch: The matrix must encompass so far as possible ALL CREATORS EVERYWHERE.
The Integrated Global Creative Economy, uncoiling from this sprawling Indigenous, African, Sephardic and then Ashkenazic, Arabic, European, Asian cultural matrix.
The mathematics of the small world phenomenon transforming the creative universe into a creative village wherein all are connected by short pathways to all.
Tap the crosses on somebody's Matrix Page to recommend that person for that category.
(Crosses visible when you are logged in)
The crosses will turn green.
That person/category will appear in your My Curation & Recommendations.
You will appear in that person's Incoming Curation and Recommendations.
You and the person you are recommending will be pulled by mathematical gravity to within DISCOVERABLE distance of EVERYBODY ELSE INSIDE the Matrix.
In a small world great things are possible.
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
Salvador is our base. If you plan to visit Bahia, there are some things you should probably know and you should first visit:
www.salvadorbahiabrazil.com
Conceived under a Spiritus Mundi ranging from the quilombos and senzalas of Cachoeira and Santo Amaro to Havana and the provinces of Cuba to the wards of New Orleans to the South Side of Chicago to the sidewalks of Harlem to the townships of South Africa to the villages of Ireland to the Roma camps of France and Belgium to the Vienna of Beethoven to the shtetls of Eastern Europe...*
Sodré
*...in conversation with Raymundo Sodré, who summed up the irony in this sequence by opining for the ages: "Where there's misery, there's music!" Hence A Massa, anthem for the trod-upon folk of Brazil, which blasted from every radio between the Amazon and Brazil's industrial south until Sodré was silenced, threatened with death and forced into exile...
And hence a platform whereupon all creators tend to accessible proximity to all other creators, irrespective of degree of fame, location, or the censor.
Matrix Ground Zero is the Recôncavo, bewitching and bewitched, contouring the resplendent Bay of All Saints (end of clip below, before credits), absolute center of terrestrial gravity for the disembarkation of enslaved human beings (and for the sublimity these people created), the bay presided over by Brazil's ineffable Black Rome (seat of the Integrated Global Creative Economy* and where Bule Bule is seated below, around the corner from where we built this matrix as an extension of our record shop).
Assis Valente's (of Santo Amaro, Bahia) "Brasil Pandeiro" filmed by Betão Aguiar
Betão Aguiar
("Black Rome" is an appellation per Caetano, via Mãe Aninha of Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá.)
*Darius Mans holds a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT, and lives between Washington D.C. and Salvador da Bahia.
Between 2000 and 2004 he served as the World Bank’s Country Director for Mozambique and Angola. In that capacity, Darius led a team which generated $150 million in annual lending to Mozambique, including support for public private partnerships in infrastructure which catalyzed over $1 billion in private investment.
Darius was an economist with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, where he worked closely with the U.S. Treasury and the IMF to establish a framework to avoid debt repudiation and to restructure private commercial debt in Brazil and Chile.
He taught Economics at the University of Maryland and was a consultant to KPMG on infrastructure projects in Latin America.
Replete with Brazilian greatness, but we listened to Miles Davis and Jimmy Cliff in there too; visitors are David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR/WXPN
I'm Pardal here in Brazil (that's "Sparrow" in English). The deep roots of this project are in Manhattan, where Allen Klein (managed the Beatles and The Rolling Stones) called me about royalties for the estate of Sam Cooke... where Jerry Ragovoy (co-wrote Time is On My Side, sung by the Stones; Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin of course; and Pata Pata, sung by the great Miriam Makeba) called me looking for unpaid royalties... where I did contract and licensing for Carlinhos Brown's participation on Bahia Black with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
...where I rescued unpaid royalties for Aretha Franklin (from Atlantic Records), Barbra Streisand (from CBS Records), Led Zeppelin, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Ray Barretto, Philip Glass, Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd for his interest in Bob Marley compositions, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam and others...
...where I worked with Earl "Speedo" Carroll of the Cadillacs (who went from doo-wopping as a kid on Harlem streetcorners to top of the charts to working as a janitor at P.S. 87 in Manhattan without ever losing what it was that made him special in the first place), and with Jake and Zeke Carey of The Flamingos (I Only Have Eyes for You)... stuff like that.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay (they paid).
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
Pardal/Sparrow
Ex Terra Brasilis
Wolfram MathWorld
UNIVERSAL
Alicia Svigals
Susan Rogers
Julian Lloyd Webber
Clarice Assad
Luciano Calazans
Kamasi Washington
Randy Brecker
Gustavo Caribé
J Velloso
Lázaro Ramos
Fernando Guerreiro
Maria Marighella
Russell Okung
Bule Bule
Caetano Veloso
RÁDIO MATRIX