An I RECOMMEND artist matrix built as a small world ("6 degrees") network → ALL within degrees of ALL → unprecedentedly open access to artists from anywhere on planet earth! Viva!!!
I RECOMMEND
Ron Blake...
- RECOMMENDS 9 people/categories
- ↳ outgoing recommendations by the matrix
Who I Am & Where I Live:
- Name: Ron Blake
- City: New York City
- Country: United States
- Hometown: Virgin Islands
My Life
-
Biographical:
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
My Media
- Website: http://www.ronblakemusic.com
Listen on Spotify
- Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/12tXTK6kbaKtPxadMguZBK
- Spotify 2: http://open.spotify.com/album/2coGDgXn6Mt0Wr4Y2LI1Gl
- Spotify 3: http://open.spotify.com/album/7ElbgmRihzzsXMlOVhQFlW
- Spotify 4: http://open.spotify.com/album/2YbaiIUC7dKKa0b57bxM1N
- Spotify 5: http://open.spotify.com/album/4JXr2tIOrY6vfUh6I0xeeU
Contact Information
- Email: info@ronblakemusic.com
THE MATRIX IS MUSICIAN / ARTIST RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE MOST POWERFUL, SOPHISTICATED & SUBTLE SOFTWARE YET DEVISED:
⇒ the minds of other artists
IT'S BASED IN BAHIA, GROUND ZERO FOR BRAZIL'S SUN-CARONA VIBRANT AFRO-BRAZILIAN CULTURE
⇒ ...rooted in a region called the Recôncavo, analogous in Brazil to the Mississippi Delta in the United States.
THE MATRIX REACHES FROM BRAZIL TO CUBA TO BROOKLYN TO BERLIN TO TOKYO TO TIMBUKTU
⇒ To wherever people want to take it...
IT IS THE NEXT-STEP EVOLUTION OF A SPECIALTY RECORD SHOP
⇒ ...opened in Salvador to showcase magisterial musicians almost completely unknown to the world...many of them living in poverty or close to it and unable to avail themselves of traditional (and costly) means of publicizing.
PRE-BRAZIL — IN NEW YORK CITY — WE "RESCUED" UNPAID ROYALTIES FOR PERFORMERS & COMPOSERS INCLUDING:
⇒ Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Led Zeppelin, Philip Glass, Mongo Santamaria, Airto Moreira, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Jim Hall, Taj Mahal, Robb Royer of Bread, Speedo & the Cadillacs, and many more! With Speedo's (Earl Carroll) amazing story (kid singing on the streetcorners of Harlem to doo-wop fame to working as a beloved school janitor) I learned (as Quincy Jones had figured out decades before) that greatness and fame are completely independent. The wave repeated here in Brazil with Raimundo Sodré, who went from zero to national fame and back to zero.
HENCE A (and so far the world's only) SMALL WORLD CURATION NETWORK...
⇒ A wave of Exu's cyberwand opening pathways allowing ANY ARTIST — FAMOUS OR NOT — in ANY FIELD — in ANY PLACE in the world — to potentially be reached by ANYBODY from ANYWHERE. (Exu -- eh-SHOO -- is the Afro-Brazilian deity responsible for opening pathways.)
BY WHAT WIZARDRY?
⇒ We've all heard of six degrees of separation, more properly called a small world network. Within six or so steps we can move through a chain of people knowing other people to just about anybody on the planet.
SIMPLY CHANGE "KNOW" TO "RECOMMEND"
⇒ In exactly the same way, step by step we can move through chains of ARTISTS CURATING ARTISTS to to just about any artist on the planet.
LIKE THIS...
⇒ From Quincy Jones we access one of his protégés, stellar young Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez. From Alfredo Rodriguez we access a fabulous multinstrumentalist Alfredo plays with, Munir Hossn. Two more steps and we've reached the above-mentioned Raimundo Sodré, formerly virtually unreachable in Bahia...
Raimundo Sodré Now
Dengo
-
Add to my PlaylistSina de Cantador - Raimundo Sodré (6,525 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistMagnetismo - Raimundo Sodré (6,229 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistSacando a Cana - Raimundo Sodré (5,877 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistMêrêrê - Raimundo Sodré (5,402 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistA Massa - Raimundo Sodré (4,958 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistJardim do Amor - Raimundo Sodré (4,631 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistDebaixo do Céu - Raimundo Sodré (4,112 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistDesejo de Amar - Raimundo Sodré (3,823 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistOração pra Yá Oxum - Raimundo Sodré (3,701 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistYá África - Raimundo Sodré (3,472 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistMeu Rio, Cadê o Papel - Raimundo Sodré (3,148 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistCasa de Trois - Raimundo Sodré (2,868 plays)
-
Add to my PlaylistMulher é Laço que Prende o Coração do Va... (2,531 plays)
DICTATED SILENCE
⇒ Sodré's meteoric major-label career was crushed by the Brazilian dictatorship years ago and he was forced to flee Brazil under threat of death...into a 19 year exile. He became almost impossible to find and hear, even after returning to Brazil.
MUSIC FALLS LIKE RAIN
⇒ But now lines of everbranching interlinked recommendations rise from Bahia to form a (small world) network rounding the planet like the arboreal canopy of a vast Amazonian rainforest. When the dictatorship ground Sodré into the dust, they unwittingly planted a seed.
FROM SODRÉ, A WORLDLINE TO SPLENDID BULE BULE (LEATHER HAT) ABOVE... AND TO OTHERS IN THE CLIP...
⇒ "The time has arrived for these people of color to show their worth ... I want to see Uncle Sam play tambourine so the whole world can samba!"
AND FROM BULE ON...
⇒ ...tendrils twining through urban centers and beautiful backwaters... through New York boroughs, Burkina Faso... County Clare... Cape Town...
THROUGH ARTISTS ACROSS THE BOARD
⇒ ...writers, journalists, photographers, painters, illustrators, architects, choreographers, filmmakers...
IS THE MATRIX AN ALTERNATE REALITY?
⇒ Only if your reality has been defined by corporate mass media. The original meaning of "matrix" is "source", from "mater", Latin for "mother". We're real mothers for ya!
DOES THE MATRIX WATCH YOU?
⇒ Zero surreptitious tracking, data mining and data brokerage per Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, et al.
- 8 String Guitar 1
- Accordion 13
- Actress 1
- Africa 4
- African Guitar 1
- African Music 8
- Afro-Cuban Jazz 9
- Afro-Latin Percussion 1
- Afro-Mexican Music 1
- Afrobeat 2
- Alagoas 2
- Alto Flute 1
- Amazonas 1
- Ambient Music 1
- Americana 11
- Amsterdam 2
- App Developer 1
- Appalachian Music 2
- Arabic Jazz 1
- Arabic Music 2
- Arabic Percussion 1
- Architect 2
- Architectural Installations 1
- Argentina 3
- Armenia 2
- Armenian Folk Music 2
- Arranger 4
- Artist 3
- Audio Manipulation 1
- Austin 2
- Australia 1
- Author 17
- Avant-Garde Jazz 9
- Baghdad 1
- Bahia 77
- Bahrain 1
- Bali 1
- Balkan Music 4
- Bandleader 3
- Bandolim 5
- Banjo 7
- Bansuri 1
- Barcelona 4
- Baroque 1
- Baroque Cello 1
- Baroque Guitar 1
- Basel 1
- Bass 22
- Bass Clarinet 1
- Bass Flute 1
- Bass Lessons 1
- Bassoon 1
- Batá 1
- BBC 2
- Belo Horizonte 2
- Bendir 1
- Berklee College of Music Faculty 10
- Berlin 5
- Big Band 3
- Big Band Leader 2
- Bloco Afro 2
- Bluegrass 10
- Blues 13
- Bodhrán 1
- Bossa Nova 7
- Boston 2
- Brasília 1
- Brass Ensemble 1
- Brazil 141
- Brazilian Jazz 16
- Brazilian Music 3
- Broadcaster 1
- Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music Faculty 1
- Brooklyn, NY 16
- Bucharest 1
- Cachoeira 2
- Cajun Fiddle 1
- Cajun Music 5
- CalArts Music Faculty 1
- Cambridge, England 1
- Cameroon 1
- Canada 4
- Candomblé 11
- Cape Town 1
- Capoeira 1
- Capoeira Angola 1
- Caracas 1
- Caribbean Music 3
- Cavaquinho 2
- Ceará 1
- Cello 4
- Ceramic Artist 2
- Chamber Music 2
- Chicago 3
- Chicago, IL 1
- Chicano Music 1
- Chile 2
- Choral Works 1
- Choreographer 3
- Choro 23
- Chula 15
- Cinematographer 3
- Clarinet 6
- Classical Guitar 5
- Classical Music 24
- Classicalized Crossover 1
- Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music Faculty 1
- College of the Holy Cross Faculty 1
- Columbia University Faculty 1
- Comedy Writer 1
- Composer 196
- Concertina 3
- Conducter 1
- Conductor 1
- Congas 1
- Congo 1
- Congo-Brazzaville 1
- Conjunto 1
- Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College Faculty 1
- Contemporary Classical 17
- Cornet 1
- Cornish College of the Arts Faculty 1
- Countertenor 2
- Country 3
- County Clare 4
- County Kerry 1
- Cuatro 2
- Cuba 21
- Cuban Funk 1
- Culinary Historian 1
- Cultural Producer 1
- Curtis Institute of Music Faculty 1
- Czech Republic 1
- Daf 1
- Dancer 1
- Darbuka 1
- Deep House 1
- Delhi 1
- Delta Blues 2
- Delta State University Faculty 2
- Developer 1
- Director 3
- Director of Photography 1
- Divan-Saz 1
- DJ 10
- Documentary Filmmaker 2
- Donegal Fiddle 1
- Double Bass 3
- Doumbek 1
- Drum Lessons 2
- Drums 37
- Dublin 2
- Duduk 1
- Early Music 1
- East Los Angeles 1
- Edinburgh 1
- Editor 2
- EDM 2
- Edmonton 1
- Educational Consultant 1
- Educator 3
- Electronic Music 5
- England 8
- Entrepreneur 1
- Essayist 1
- Estonia 1
- Ethiopia 1
- Ethnomusicologist 6
- Euphonium 1
- Experimental Music 3
- Experimental Rock 1
- Federal University of Bahia Faculty 5
- Festival Director 1
- Fiddle 12
- Fife 1
- Film Director 4
- Film Producer 1
- Film Scores 16
- Filmmaker 5
- Finland 2
- Flugelhorn 2
- Flute 8
- Folk & Traditional 17
- Folk-Based 1
- Folklorist 2
- Food Writer 2
- Forró 8
- Found & Recycled 1
- France 2
- Frevo 3
- Funk 15
- Furniture 1
- Future Jazz 1
- Gamelan 1
- Germany 2
- Gettysburg College Faculty 1
- Glasgow 2
- Gospel 3
- Graphic Design 3
- Graphic Designer 1
- Griot 1
- Guitar 71
- Guitar Lessons 1
- Guitarra Baiana 2
- Gullah Geechee 2
- Gypsy Jazz 3
- Haiti 1
- Hammered Dulcimer 1
- Hardingfele 1
- Harmonica 1
- Harp 1
- Harvard University Faculty 1
- Havana 12
- Hawaii 1
- Hawaiian Music 1
- Helsinki 2
- Hindustani Classical Music 1
- Hip Hop 7
- Historian 1
- House 1
- Houston 1
- Humber College Music Faculty 1
- Iceland 1
- Illustrator 3
- India 2
- Indian Classical Music 4
- Indiana 2
- Indie Pop 1
- Indonesia 1
- Installation Artist 1
- Iran 2
- Iraq 1
- Ireland 9
- Irish Traditional Music 12
- Israel 1
- Istanbul 1
- Jamaica 2
- Japan 1
- Jazz 140
- Jerusalem 1
- Jewish Music 6
- Johannesburg 4
- Journalist 23
- Juilliard School Faculty 3
- Kabak Kemane 1
- Keyboards 6
- Klezmer 4
- Klezmer Fiddle 1
- Kora 2
- Kös 1
- Kudüm 1
- Latin American Classical Guitar 1
- Latin Jazz 5
- Latino Culture 1
- Latvia 1
- Linguist 1
- Live Looping 1
- London 8
- Los Angeles 3
- Louisiana 5
- Louisiana Creole Music 1
- Lute 2
- Luthier 1
- Lyras 1
- Lyricist 1
- Maceió 1
- Maculelê 1
- Magazine Publisher 1
- Mainz 1
- Mali 3
- Maloya 1
- Manaus 1
- Manchester 1
- Mandocello 1
- Mandolin 10
- Manhattan School of Music Faculty 5
- Manouche 3
- Maracas 1
- Maracatu 3
- Mardi Gras Indian 1
- Marimba 1
- Marketer 1
- Matanzas 1
- Mathematics 3
- Melodeon 1
- Mento 1
- Metal 1
- Metal Artist 1
- Mezzo-Soprano 1
- Michigan State University Faculty 1
- Middle Eastern Music 2
- Middle Eastern Percussion 1
- Milwaukee 1
- Minas Gerais 2
- Mississippi 5
- Mixed Media Art 1
- Mizik Rasin 1
- Monash University Faculty 1
- Montenegro 1
- Morocco 1
- Moscow 1
- Mountain Dulcimer 1
- Movie Director 1
- Movie Producer 2
- MPB 21
- MSU Denver Music Faculty 1
- Multi-Ethnic 33
- Multi-Instrumentalist 18
- Mumbai 1
- Muralist 1
- Music Critic 9
- Music Director 1
- Music Salon 1
- Musical Director 1
- Musical Theater 1
- Musicologist 5
- Nashville, Tennessee 2
- Netherlands 1
- New England Conservatory of Music Faculty 1
- New Orleans 26
- New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music Faculty 3
- New School's Mannes School of Music Faculty 1
- New York City 84
- Nicaragua 1
- Niger 2
- Nigeria 1
- North African Music 1
- North African Percussion 1
- North Carolina 1
- Norway 1
- Novelist 1
- NYU Faculty 1
- NYU Tisch School of the Arts Faculty 1
- Old-Time Music 2
- Opera 6
- Orchestrator 1
- Organ 1
- Oslo 1
- Oud 4
- Painter 3
- Pan-Africana 2
- Panama 1
- Pandeiro 3
- Paris 9
- Parranda 1
- Parson's School of Design Faculty 1
- Percussion 35
- Pernambuco 3
- Persian Music 1
- Philadelphia 1
- Photographer 12
- Physics 1
- Piano 58
- Piccolo Trumpet 1
- Pífano 3
- Pife 2
- Playwright 2
- Poet 4
- Poland 2
- Pop Culture Reporter 1
- Port-au-Prince 1
- Portugal 1
- Prague 1
- Producer 4
- Prog Rock 1
- Psych Pop 1
- Public Speaker 1
- Publisher 2
- Puerto Rico 4
- Quilts 1
- R&B 17
- Rababa 1
- Rabeca 1
- Radio Director 1
- Radio Presenter 5
- Radio Producer 1
- Rapper 4
- Recife 3
- Record Label Owner 12
- Record Producer 41
- Reggae 5
- Repente 2
- Repique 1
- Reporter 1
- Réunion 1
- Reykjavik 1
- Ring Shouts 1
- Rio de Janeiro 37
- Riq 1
- Ritmista 1
- Rocksteady 1
- Romania 1
- Rumba 2
- Russia 2
- Salsa 1
- Salvador 59
- Samba 48
- Samba de Roda 21
- Samba de Viola 1
- Samba Rural 3
- San Francisco 5
- San Francisco State University Faculty 1
- Santeria 4
- Santiago 1
- Santiago de Chile 1
- Santiago do Iguape 1
- Santo Amaro 3
- São Braz 1
- São Paulo 10
- Sarah Lawrence College Faculty 1
- Saxophone 24
- Saxophone Lessons 1
- Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Faculty 1
- Scotland 3
- Scottish Traditional Music 3
- Screenwriter 2
- Sculptor 1
- Sculpture 1
- Seattle 2
- Second Line 4
- Semba 1
- Senegal 1
- Serbia 1
- Set Designer 1
- Sheffield 1
- Short Story Writer 1
- Singer 60
- Singer-Songwriter 59
- Sitar 1
- Ska 1
- Slack Key Guitar 1
- Software Engineer 2
- Somalia 1
- Son Jarocho 1
- Songwriter 25
- Soprano 3
- Soul 9
- Sound Designer 1
- South Africa 5
- South Carolina 1
- Spain 2
- Spirituals 1
- Spoken Word 1
- Steel Drums 1
- Steel Guitar 1
- String Quartet 4
- Sweden 1
- Switzerland 1
- Sydney 1
- Synthesizers 1
- Synthpop 1
- Tabla 4
- Talent Management 1
- Tallinn 1
- Tambor 1
- Tanbur 2
- Tango 1
- Tech Writer 3
- Techno 2
- Tehran 2
- Tejano 1
- Tel Aviv 1
- Television Producer 2
- Television Scores 3
- Television Writer 1
- Tende 1
- Terra Nova 1
- Tex-Mex 2
- Texas 2
- Theater 1
- Theater Composer 4
- Theater Critic 1
- Theater Director 1
- Timba 1
- Timple 1
- Tokyo 1
- Toronto 3
- Translator 1
- Trinidad 2
- Trombone 7
- Trumpet 20
- Tuareg Music 2
- Tunis 1
- Tunisia 1
- Turkey 1
- Turkish Music 1
- UCLA Faculty 1
- Ud 1
- Udu 1
- Uilleann Pipes 2
- University of Cambridge Faculty 1
- University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Faculty 1
- University of Florida Faculty 1
- University of Miami Frost School of Music Faculty 2
- University of Michigan Faculty 1
- University of Texas in Austin Faculty 1
- UNLV School of Music Faculty 1
- USC Thornton School of Music Faculty 1
- Utrecht 1
- Venezuela 4
- Vibraphone 5
- Video Director 1
- Video Producer 1
- Vihuela 1
- Viola 1
- Viola Caipira 5
- Viola da Gamba 1
- Viola de Sete 4
- Viola Machete 4
- Violin 12
- Vocalist 1
- Vocoder 1
- Wales 1
- Warsaw 2
- Washington, D.C. 5
- Wassoulou 1
- Waterford 1
- Welsh Traditional Music 1
- Wesleyan University Faculty 1
- West Virginia 1
- Western Swing 1
- Wet Plate Photography 1
- World Music 4
- Writer 49
- Yale School of Music 1
- Yerevan 1
- Yerevan State Conservatory Faculty 1
- Yiddish Folk Songs 1
- YouTuber 8
- Zydeco 5
