Description
From Allmusic.com: “There are few pianists — or jazz musicians, period — who straddle the line between form and free playing better than Ran Blake. As both composer and an interpreter of the canon, Blake dances with grace and aplomb. This set with George Schuller on drums and percussion and Ed Schuller on bass is a double CD that celebrates Blake in a rare trio setting. Usually he is heard either solo or duo, and rarely with a rhythm section of any kind.”
“Over two CDs the music of 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, and in some ways, it is also a reinvention of the artist in a portrait of himself.”
Once again being produced by his mentor Gunther Schuller, who discovered him in 1957, Ran Blake is finally captured in a piano trio setting for the first time in his 40-year recording career. This 2-CD set features trio recastings of Blake’s most beloved music, as well as group originals, the music of Film Noir, jazz standards, and selections from the classic American popular song book.
”“In my vast experiences working with, accompanying (in classical concertos), coaching, listening over the years, to thousands of pianists, world famous or little known, I have never encountered anyone who can do some of the things that Ran can do with the utmost ease and naturalness.”
—Gunther Schuller
PERFORMERS
Ran Blake, piano; Ed Schuller, bass; George Schuller, drums & bells.
Nicole Kämpgen, alto saxophone (disc 1, trks 5,11 and disc 2, trk 5).
PROGRAM
Disc 1
1. “Tangerine” (Schertzinger, Mercer) 4:12
2. “Nature Boy” (Ahbez) 6:46
3. “Black Coffee” (Hoffman, Goodhart, Sigler) 2:53
4. “The Short Life of Barbara Monk” (Blake) 4:37
5. “Dra-Kumba” (Ed Schuller) 7:07
6. “I Can’t Get Started” (Ellington) 3:50
7. “Spiral Staircase” (Blake) 4:51
8. “Skylark” (Carmichael) 5:10
9. “The Only Painting” (Blake, Ed Schuller, George Schuller) 3:47
10. “Memphis” (Blake) 7:07
11. “MBS” (George Schuller) 10:13
12. “How High the Moon” (Lewis, Hamilton) 4:38
Disc 2
1. “Stormy Weather” (Arlen, Koehler) 7:24
2. “Nothing or All” (Blake, Ed Schuller, George Schuller) 3:23
3. “Horace Is Blue” (Blake) 8:29
4. “Laura” (Raskin)* 2:07
5. “You Don’t Know What Love Is” (De Paul, Raye) 9:18
6. “It Don’t Mean a Thing” (Ellington, Mills) 3:57
7. “My Man’s Gone Now” (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Heyward) 5:52
8. “New Moon” (Blake, Ed Schuller, George Schuller) 6:06
9. “Wende” (Blake) 3:26
10. “Night Music” (Gunther Schuller) 3:47
11. “Arline” (Blake) 4:59
Recorded Jan 3-4, July 7, 2000 and March 25, 2001 at The Sonic Temple in Roslindale, MA, except Laura* recorded 18 May 1998 at the Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill, MA
Producer: Gunther Schuller
ALSO AVAILABLE
Also available for downloads on Amazon as well as other digital sites.
