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Johnathan Blake

Johnathan Blake, one of the most accomplished drummers of his generation, has also proven himself a complete and endlessly versatile musician. Blake’s gift for composition and band leading reflects years of live and studio experience across the aesthetic spectrum. Heralded by NPR Music as “the ultimate modernist,” he has collaborated with Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Tom Harrell, Hans Glawischnig, Avishai Cohen, Donny McCaslin, Linda May Han Oh, Jaleel Shaw, Chris Potter, Maria Schneider, Alex Sipiagin, Kris Davis and countless other distinctive voices. DownBeat once wrote, “It’s a testament to Blake’s abilities that he makes his presence felt in any context.” A frequent presence on Blue Note records over the past several years, Blake has contributed his strong, limber pulse and airy precision to multiple leader releases from Blue Note artists including Dr. Lonnie Smith’s Breathe (2021), All in My Mind (2018) and Evolution (2016) and Kenny Barron’s Concentric Circles (2018), the latter whose trio Blake has been a vital member for nearly 15 years.

Born in Philadelphia in 1976, Blake is the son of renowned jazz violinist John Blake, Jr. — himself a stylistic chameleon and an important ongoing influence. After beginning on drums at age 10, Johnathan gained his first performing experience with the Lovett Hines Youth Ensemble, led by the renowned Philly jazz educator. It was during this period, at Hines’s urging, that Blake began to compose his own music. Later he worked with saxophonist Robert Landham in a youth jazz ensemble at Settlement Music School. Blake graduated from George Washington High School and went on to attend the highly respected jazz program at William Paterson University, where he studied with Rufus Reid, John Riley, Steve Wilson and Horace Arnold. At this time Blake also began working professionally with the Oliver Lake Big Band, Roy Hargrove and David Sanchez. In 2006 he was recognized with an ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award, and in 2007 he earned his Masters from Rutgers University, focusing on composition. He studied with the likes of Ralph Bowen, Conrad Herwig and Stanley Cowell. Deeply aware of Philadelphia’s role as a historical nerve center of American music, Blake has immersed himself in the city’s storied legacy — not just jazz but also soul, R&B and hip-hop. In many ways he’s an heir to Philadelphia drum masters such as Philly Joe Jones, Bobby Durham, Mickey Roker and Edgar Bateman, not to mention younger mentors including Byron Landham, Leon Jordan and Ralph Peterson, Jr..

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5
Album Review

Terell Stafford: Between Two Worlds

Read "Between Two Worlds" reviewed by Neil Duggan


Family is a major theme on Terell Stafford's Between Two Worlds, with compositions dedicated to his daughter, mother and wife. His band has been playing with him so long they must feel like family too. They include tenor and soprano saxophonist Tim Warfield, pianist Bruce Barth, drummer Johnathan Blake and bassist David Wong. In fact, Wong plays with Stafford every week as part of the renowned Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Percussionist Alex Acuña is the new member of the family.

4
Album Review

Johnathan Blake: Passage

Read "Passage" reviewed by Dave Linn


The drummer Johnathan Blake was born in Philadelphia in 1976. His father was the esteemed jazz violinist and educator John Blake Jr. who played in many diverse settings, (most notably Archie Shepp and McCoy Tyner), before releasing seven albums under his name. He died in 2014. Blake (the son) began studying music at a young age, later attending William Paterson University studying with Rufus Reid and Steve Wilson. He eventually received a master's in composition at Rutgers University where he ...

16
Liner Notes

Tom Harrell: Number Five

Read "Tom Harrell: Number Five" reviewed by John Kelman


"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," they say, and since coming to HighNote in 2007, trumpeter Tom Harrell has lived by that old adage, utilizing the same quintet for its auspicious debut, Light On, and three subsequent recordings, culminating in 2011's outstanding Time of the Sun. Number Five continues Harrell's winning streak with the same line-up, but if each successive recording has reflected the ongoing growth of one of today's most compelling small groups--the chemistry deeper and the interaction ...

6
Liner Notes

Marshall Gilkes: Cyclic Journey

Read "Marshall Gilkes: Cyclic Journey" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Wonders never cease with Marshall Gilkes. Having previously reached extraordinary heights as a leader on a breakout quartet set, two standout quintet dates, a pair of essential releases with the WDR Big Band and one stunning trio album, this celebrated trombonist and composer now moves beyond known borders. Directing and fronting a sui generis assemblage merging a top-shelf rhythm combo with a brilliant brass ensemble, he uncovers and explores the conventions of his own cyclic journey. “I wrote the music ...

Album Review

Harry Skoler: Living in Sound - The Music of Charles Mingus

Read "Living in Sound - The Music of Charles Mingus" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Tra i vari tributi alle composizioni di Charles Mingus, pubblicati nell'anno del centenario della nascita, questo di Harry Skoler conferma la plasticità di quei temi, articolati e mutevoli, frutto della sua complessa personalità. L'autore e primo solista di questo progetto è un clarinettista--già allievo di Jimmy Giuffre al New England Conservatory e da anni professore al Berklee College--la cui vita è stata radicalmente influenzata dalla passione per l'opera di Mingus. In collaborazione col sassofonista ...

Album Review

Oded Tzur: Isabela

Read "Isabela" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


A due anni di distanza dall'eccellente disco di esordio su ECM Here Be Dragons, preceduto da due CD pubblicati per Enja, che aveva sollevato lodi sperticate da parte di un po' tutta la critica, il sassofonista israeliano (ma basato a New York) Oded Tzur prova a bissarne il successo e non fallisce. Il nuovo lavoro ribadisce in pieno l'ottima impressione suscitata dall'album precedente e conferma il sassofonista come uno dei più interessanti tra gli astri nascenti del nuovo jazz internazionale. ...

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Album Review

Jason Palmer: Live From Summit Rock In Seneca Village

Read "Live From Summit Rock In Seneca Village" reviewed by Jack Bowers


With Covid-19 generally having had its way in recent years, shuttering many venues at which jazz musicians were accustomed to performing, it is a pleasure to hear an actual concert with a real live audience--even if the group is a piano-less quartet striving to hold its listeners' interest through five extended numbers whose collective playing time is over an hour. Trumpeter Jason Palmer's ensemble was recorded outdoors in May 2021 at the historic Seneca Village site in New York City's ...

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Performance / Tour

World-Renowned Smoke Jazz Club Announces August Line-Up Including Johnathan Blake’s Latest Blue Note Album, Performances By Special Guests Brad Mehldau, Lenny White, Emmet Cohen, And More

World-Renowned Smoke Jazz Club Announces August Line-Up Including Johnathan Blake’s Latest Blue Note Album, Performances By Special Guests Brad Mehldau, Lenny White, Emmet Cohen, And More

Source: AMT Public Relations

Rated the #1 Jazz Club in New York City (Secret NYC), Smoke Jazz Club welcomes some of today’s leading artists to the stage during the month of August. SMOKE is thrilled to welcome back its former Hammond B-3 organist-in-residence Emmet Cohen this time welcoming beloved saxophonist Houston Person for one-night only Aug 23. Johnathan Blake, one of the most accomplished drummers of his generation, celebrates his sophomore Blue Note album in a four-night run Aug 24-27. For the most updated ...

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Recording

Drummer/Composer Johnathan Blake Releases Debut CD as a Leader Titled "The Eleventh Hour" on Sunnyside Records

Drummer/Composer Johnathan Blake Releases Debut CD as a Leader Titled "The Eleventh Hour" on Sunnyside Records

Source: Two for the Show Media

A professional jazz musician's life is a busy life. Traveling from country to country and performing nightly with a multitude of different groups takes up a large amount of time and energy. It isn't easy for one to pursue his or her own musical projects or develop an ensemble. Rarely does a musician stick with a project long enough to create something extremely special. Johnathan Blake is an exception to the rule. Drummer/composer Blake has been an integral part of ...

“Johnathan Blake is without peer among young drummers for clarity of his beat and incisiveness of his swing.” ~~ Brian Lynch, Grammy Award Winning Jazz Trumpeter.

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Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Truth to Power

HighNote Records
2024

buy

Mr. Inevitable

MEII Enterprises
2024

buy

Mel's Vision

Criss Cross
2023

buy

On A Misty Night

Sounderscore
2023

buy

Between Two Worlds

Le Coq Records
2023

buy

Passage

Blue Note Records
2023

buy

Bedrum

From: Trion
By Johnathan Blake

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