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Ran Blake

In a career that now spans five decades, pianist Ran Blake has created a unique niche in improvised music as an artist and educator. With a characteristic mix of spontaneous solos, modern classical tonalities, the great American blues and gospel traditions, and themes from classic Film Noir, Blake’s singular sound has earned a dedicated following all over the world. His dual musical legacy includes more than 30 albums on some of the world’s finest jazz labels, as well nearly 30 years as a groundbreaking educator at Boston’s New England Conservatory.

Blake first discovered the dark, image laden and complex character driven films that would so influence his music at age 12 when he first saw Robert Siodmak’s Spiral Staircase. "There were post World War II musical nuances that if occasionally banal and as clichéd as yesterday’s soap operas, were often so eerie, haunting and unforgettable," Blake would later write. "After more than eighteen viewings during a period of twenty days, plots, scenes, and melodic and harmonic surfaces intermingled, obtruding into my day life as well as my dreams."

Long before the invention of virtual reality, Blake began mentally placing himself inside the films and real life scenarios that inspired his original compositions like "Spiral Staircase", "Memphis" and "The Short Life of Barbara Monk". The influence of the Pentecostal church music he also discovered growing up in Suffield, Connecticut, combined with his musical immersion in what he terms "a Film Noir world," laid the groundwork for his earliest musical style.

That early style would become codified when he and fellow Bard College student and vocalist Jeanne Lee became a duo in the late 1950’s. Their partnership would create the landmark cult favorite The Newest Sound Around (RCA) in 1962, introducing the world to both their unique talents and their revolutionary approach to jazz standards. This debut recording would also show the advancing synthesis of Blake’s diverse influences with its haunting version of David Raksin’s title track from the movie Laura and his original tribute to his first experience with gospel music, "The Church on Russell Street".

The Newest Sound Around was initiated and informally supervised by the man that would be come Blake’s most significant mentor and champion, Gunther Schuller. The two began their forty-year friendship at a chance meeting at Atlantic Records' New York studio in January 1959. Less than two years earlier, Schuller coined the term "Third Stream" at a lecture at Brandeis University. Schuller was recording on Atlantic—helping to define his term in musical practice—with future jazz giants like John Lewis, Bill Evans, Eric Dolphy, and Ornette Coleman. Ran Blake came to the label to accept what he calls "a low level position" that allowed him to be near the music of inspirations like Chris Connor, Ray Charles, and Harlem's famous Apollo Theater. Blake's long association with Schuller, modern classical music, and Schuller's controversial term began here, and was forged by years of friendship, collaboration and innovation.

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Multiple Reviews

Ran Blake: Gray Moon, When Soft Rains Fall and Northern Noir

Read "Ran Blake: Gray Moon, When Soft Rains Fall and Northern Noir" reviewed by John Ephland


I'm a sucker for musical duets. Duets that make me feel like I'm in the same room with the two of them. Here we have three recent releases with the iconoclastic, legendary Ran Blake, now 83, in what is his most typical setting. Yes, to hear Blake paired up like this is to hear more of an artist completely at home by and with himself as well as with others, one at a time. In this ...

4
Album Review

Ran Blake / Christine Correa: When Soft Rains Fall

Read "When Soft Rains Fall" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Pianist Ran Blake and vocalist Christine Correa have recorded several duo albums together including two on the music of Abbey Lincoln. Here they turn to another iconic singer, Billie Holiday, concentrating on the contents of her final album, Lady In Satin (Columbia, 1958). Lady In Satin is known for its lush orchestral and choral arrangements by Ray Ellis. This 2020 version is stripped down to a bare bones pairing of voice and piano. Correa's singing is raw and ...

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Profile

The Very Singular Mr. Ran Blake

Read "The Very Singular Mr. Ran Blake" reviewed by Duncan Heining


There have been few American composers and musicians, with the ability to encapsulate their country's music in all its racial and ethnic complexity. We might perhaps point to Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives and perhaps, in their own distaff ways, Harry Partch and Steve Reich. In jazz, their number is fewer still--Duke Ellington and George Russell certainly and, at a stretch, Jelly Roll Morton. And then there's pianist and composer Ran Blake. Listening to any one of ...

Album Review

Ran Blake - Christine Correa: Streaming

Read "Streaming" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Pianista raffinatissimo e di straordinaria esperienza, Ran Blake ha frequentato spesso i duetti con la voce, tanto che il suo primo disco, del 1962, è appunto in coppia con Jeanne Lee. Ultimo lavoro del genere in ordine di tempo è questo Streaming con la cantante Christine Correa, di origini indiane ma ormai da quarant'anni negli USA, che tra le molte collaborazione ne ha una proprio con Jeanne Lee. I due si cimentano su un repertorio perlopiù di standard, ma che ...

5
Album Review

Ran Blake & Jeanne Lee: The Newest Sound You Never Heard

Read "The Newest Sound You Never Heard" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Pianist Ran Blake has developed a reputation over the years for recording duets with vocalists, including in recent times, Sara Serpa, Dominique Eade and Christine Correa. That began back in 1961 when he released The Newest Sound Around (RCA), a remarkable set of duets with singer Jeanne Lee. The duo toured together occasionally in subsequent years but never released another recording until You Stepped Out Of A Dream (Owl) in 1989. Now here comes a new and very welcome discovery, ...

5
Album Review

Ran Blake / Christine Correa: Streaming

Read "Streaming" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Pianist Ran Blake has been known for his duo work with vocalists dating back to his 1962 collaboration with Jeanne Lee, The Newest Sound Around (RCA Victor). In recent years, he has been working with three individualistic singers, Sara Serpa, Dominique Eade and Christine Correa. The year 2017 brought a session of folk songs and soundtrack music with Eade, the excellent Town And Country (Sunnyside Records). This time it's Correa's turn in a program of mostly jazz and pop standards. ...

2
Album Review

Ran Blake & Christine Correa: Streaming

Read "Streaming" reviewed by Gareth Thompson


Back in 1946, Ran Blake watched The Spiral Staircase and was rather freaked. This classic chiller's opening scene shows a silent film flickering whilst a woman accompanies the visuals on piano. Blake later composed his own piano sketches for each character and wrote fan letters to the entire cast. His only reply came from Carlton, the housekeeper's sleepy bulldog, via a paw print autograph. Blake also claims a childhood interest in Irish ghost stories and church spirituals. Thus ...

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Award / Grant

Iconic Pianist/Composer Ran Blake To Receive 2020 Jazz Journalists Association Boston Jazz Hero Award

Iconic Pianist/Composer Ran Blake To Receive 2020 Jazz Journalists Association Boston Jazz Hero Award

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications

Iconic pianist and composer Ran Blake is the 2020 recipient of the Boston Jazz Hero award from the Jazz Journalists Association. Blake is one of 27 jazz heroes in 23 cities across the country chosen as “activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz." The complete list of honorees, with photo portraits and biographies, is posted here. The Jazz Journalists Association, in partnership with New England Conservatory where Blake has taught for 52 years, will present the award to Blake ...

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Performance / Tour

New England Conservatory Presents Realization Of A Dream: An 80th Birthday Tribute To Ran Blake

New England Conservatory Presents  Realization Of A Dream: An 80th Birthday Tribute To Ran Blake

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications

New England Conservatory celebrates the artistic vision of NEC’s founding Contemporary Improvisation Department Chair Ran Blake, and the evolution of his music in Realization of a Dream: An 80th Birthday Tribute to Ran Blake at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, November 13. The concert takes place at NEC’s Jordan Hall, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston and is free and open to the public. NEC also hosts a symposium on Blake’s work on Sunday, November 15 at 11 a.m. at Pierce Hall. For ...

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Recording

Red Piano Records To Release The New Recording From: Pianist/Composer Ran Blake & Vocalist Christine Correa: The Road Keeps Winding

Red Piano Records To Release The New Recording From:  Pianist/Composer Ran Blake & Vocalist Christine Correa: The Road Keeps Winding

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

The Road Keeps Winding, the second volume in their ongoing tribute to Abbey Lincoln Available on April 21, 2015 Brooklyn-based Red Piano Records is proud to announce the release of The Road Keeps Winding from pianist/composer Ran Blake and vocalist Christine Correa. This album represents the second volume in the duo's ongoing, respectful and creative tribute to the late, great Abbey Lincoln. In addition to paying tribute to Lincoln, The Road Keeps Winding is the latest yield from Blake and ...

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Recording

CD Release Party - Dave Fabris And Friends With Special Guest, Ran Blake!

CD Release Party - Dave Fabris And Friends With Special Guest, Ran Blake!

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications

Guitarist and New England Conservatory alum Dave Knife Fabris celebrates the release of his latest CD Lettuce Prey with a concert at Spectrum, 121 Ludlow St. NYC on June 8th at 5pm. Fabris will be joined by his mentor from NEC - the great third stream pianist, Ran Blake. Also appearing will be pianist Geoffery Burleson, bassist Dave Phillips, vocalist Maria Tegzes, guitarist Gus Baxter, and drummer Steve Chaggaris. Lettuce Prey (Great Winds/Musea 3169) is music that possesses the guts ...

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Recording

New Release By Dave Knife Fabris with Ran Blake

New Release By Dave Knife Fabris with Ran Blake

Source: Dave Fabris

Lettuce Prey (Great Winds/Musea 3169) is music that is supported equally by the three legs of Rock, Jazz and Classical. It has the guts and glory of rock heroes like Jimi Hendrix (whose tune, Angel, is featured as a guitar solo on this CD). It possesses the surprise and intrigue of Jazz improvisation (like Ornette Coleman's Sadness - presented here in a jazz quintet format). Lastly, it exudes the intricacy and depth of contemporary Classical music - Ives, Prokofiev, and ...

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Performance / Tour

Brando Noir, Multi-Media Film Noir Extravaganza; Curated By Ran Blake And Aaron Hartley - Dedicated To The Work Of Actor Marlon Brando

Brando Noir, Multi-Media Film Noir Extravaganza; Curated By Ran Blake And Aaron Hartley - Dedicated To The Work Of Actor Marlon Brando

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications

Monday, October 29 at NEC Part of Yearlong 40th Anniversary Celebration for NEC’s Groundbreaking Contemporary Improvisation Department Blake Also To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award from NEC on Saturday Join pianist/composer/improviser Ran Blake and co-producer Aaron Hartley as they anticipate Halloween with specimens of that most haunting genre, film noir. Now an annual tradition, this year's concert switches from a director focus to the work of an actor who brought the word “brooding" into everyday speech: Marlon Brando. The event takes ...

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Performance / Tour

Free Halloween Concert at Boston's Jordan Hall on Monday, October 31

Free Halloween Concert at Boston's Jordan Hall on Monday, October 31

Source: MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts

Jazz pianist and composer Ran Blake and trombonist Aaron Harley are presenting their 7th annual Shadow of a Doubt Halloween Concert, at Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, on Monday, October 31, 2011, starting at 8:00 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public. Students and faculty of NEC's Contemporary Improvisation department—along with guests—perform in response to the plots, moods, scenes, spirit, and music of these two films as clips appear onscreen. Blake and Hartley coach a Storyboarding/Noir Ensemble ...

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Recording

Ran Blake Releases First-Ever Live Album

Ran Blake Releases First-Ever Live Album

Source: Tompkins Square

In a career spanning six decades, pianist/composer, writer and educator Ran Blake has released 36 albums for such labels as ESP, RCA, Arista and hatOLOGY. His 2006 album for Tompkins Square, All That Is Tied, earned 4 stars in Downbeat and top honors in the Penguin Jazz Guide 2007. Driftwoods, released in 2009, was Ran's salute to some of his favorite singers, including Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Mahalia Jackson and others. The album was featured on NPR's All Things ...

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Performance / Tour

Ran Blake Celebrates New CD with Concert at Cobi's Place (NYC)

Ran Blake Celebrates New CD with Concert at Cobi's Place (NYC)

Source: Tompkins Square

"Imagine the world's most profound cocktail pianist—wistful, yet utterly unsappy and given to quiet storms of weirdness—and you'll get a good idea of Ran Blake's sound. Tonight the 76-year-old stops by an off-the-beaten-path midtown venue to celebrate a new disc, Grey December—Live in Rome, and to honor the late, great Abbey Lincoln." —Time Out New York Sunday, May 15th 8pm Cobi's Place 158 W 48th St New York, NY About Grey December Grey December—Live ...

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Recording

Ran Blake with Ricky Ford & Steve Lacy: That Certain Feeling (George Gershwin Songbook), available September 2010

Ran Blake with Ricky Ford & Steve Lacy: That Certain Feeling (George Gershwin Songbook), available September 2010

Source: Werner Uehlinger

Songs—with or without lyrics—being no less than stories, and the best songs of George (and frequently Ira) Gershwin being stories of the first order, any number of these exhilarating moments are to be heard on this disc, a result of the material (Gershwin's) inspiring the imagination of the improviser, Ran Blake. Blake's art is wholly a product of his acute attention (to the stories, images, and utterances of his imagination) and integrity (in the formal process of making music, spontaneously). ...

Primary Instrument

Piano

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Credentials/Background

Ran Blake is available for private lessons in his Brookline, MA Studio (minutes away from downtown Boston via public tranpsortation). His areas of expertise and teaching include:

  • Ear Training
  • Jazz Instruments (Although a pianist, Ran Blake teaches the broad range of instruments used in jazz and other forms of popular/world music)
  • Jazz Piano
  • Accompaniment for other jazz/world music instruments
  • Development of personal musical style

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

When Soft Rains Fall

Red Piano Records
2020

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Northern Noir

SteepleChase Records
2020

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Gray Moon

Red Piano Records
2020

buy

The Newest Sound You...

A-side Records
2019

buy

Streaming

Red Piano Records
2018

buy

Something To Live For

Hat Hut Records
2017

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Misterioso

From: The Newest Sound You Never Heard
By Ran Blake

Love Dance

From: Streaming
By Ran Blake

Autumn in New York

From: Ghost Tones
By Ran Blake

All That Is Tied

From: All That Is Tied
By Ran Blake

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