Ran Blake
Encyclopedia
Ran Blake is an American
pianist
and composer from Springfield, Massachusetts
. In a career that spans five decades, Blake has created a unique niche in improvised music as an artist and educator. With a characteristic mix of spontaneous solo
s, 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, as well as nearly 40 years as a groundbreaking educator at Boston
’s New England Conservatory.
’s The 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 18 viewings in 20 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 who would be come Blake’s most significant mentor and champion, Gunther Schuller
. The two began their 45-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
. 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 and modern classical music began here, and was forged by years of friendship, collaboration and innovation.
One of the only people in the music world who could see the potential of Blake’s unorthodox sounding musical style, Schuller invited Blake to study at the Lenox School of Jazz in the summers of 1959 and 1960. While in Lenox, also home to the classical music mecca at Tanglewood
in western Massachusetts
, Blake studied with the jazz giants who formed the faculty of this one-of-a-kind institution, Lewis, Oscar Peterson
, Bill Russo, and many others, and began formulating his style in earnest. He also studied in New York
with piano legends Mary Lou Williams
and Mal Waldron
.
A year after Schuller became president of Boston’s New England Conservatory in 1967, Blake joined his mentor and many one-time teachers and inspirations, including George Russell, as a faculty member at NEC, the first American conservatory to offer a jazz degree. In 1973, Blake became the first Chair of the Third Stream Department (now known as the Contemporary Improvisation Department), which he co-founded with Schuller at the school. He held the position until 2005.
Blake's teaching approach emphasizes what he calls "the primacy of the ear," as he believes music is traditionally taught by the wrong sense. His innovative ear and style development process elevates the listening process to the same status as the written score. This approach complements the stylistic synthesis of the original Third Stream concept, while also providing an open, broad-based learning environment that promotes the development of innovation and individuality. Musicians of note Don Byron
, Matthew Shipp
, John Medeski
and Yitzhak Yedid
have studied with Blake at NEC.
Although Blake’s teaching career would soon become the second half of his dual musical legacy, his career as an influential performer and wholly individual jazz artist is his main source of fame. Following Jeanne Lee’s departure to become one of the premier vocalists in the burgeoning avant-garde, Blake recorded the prototypical Ran Blake Plays Solo Piano (ESP
) in 1965. The recording showed a clear refinement of Blake’s style of reinventing popular standards by incorporating his other influences from film noir, gospel, his favorite pianist Thelonious Monk
, and composers like Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Messaien. His reputation as the major Third Stream pianist, and later an educator, soon followed, as he could improvise just as easily on a jazz chord progression as a twelve-tone row
.
From 1965 on, Blake worked primarily as a solo pianist on more than 30 albums. Although most of the music was primarily informed by his film noir perspective, many of his most acclaimed recordings are tributes to artists like Monk, Sarah Vaughan
, Horace Silver
, George Gershwin
, and Duke Ellington
. These tributes merged with his teaching career by inspiring an annual summer course he still teaches at NEC, thoroughly exploring the music of a single artist. He has also recorded with Jaki Byard
, Anthony Braxton
, Steve Lacy
, Houston Person
, Enrico Rava
, Clifford Jordan
, Ricky Ford
, Christine Correa, James Merenda, David "Knife" Fabris, and others, including a 1989 reunion with Jeanne Lee. 2001’s Sonic Temples (GM Recordings) featured Schuller’s two jazz musician sons, Ed (bass
) and George (drums) and was his first recording in the standard piano trio format. 2006's All That Is Tied (Tompkins Square), a solo recording, earned a crown in the Penguin Guide to Jazz and appeared on many critics' Best of 2006 lists.
Blake continues to teach at NEC and record and perform. In November and December 2007 he toured France, Germany and Italy. In January 2009, Tompkins Square released Driftwoods, an album of solo piano that pays tribute to vocalists such as Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson and Hank Williams. In December 2010 he toured Spain, Lithuania, Italy, and Portugal.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and composer from Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
. In a career that spans five decades, Blake has created a unique niche in improvised music as an artist and educator. With a characteristic mix of spontaneous solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
s, modern classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
tonalities
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
, the great American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
traditions, and themes from classic film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
, Blake's singular sound has earned a dedicated following all over the world. His dual musical legacy includes more than 30 albums, as well as nearly 40 years as a groundbreaking educator at Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
’s New England Conservatory.
Biography
Blake first discovered the dark, image-laden and complex character-driven films that would so influence his music at age 12 when he saw Robert SiodmakRobert Siodmak
Robert Siodmak was a German born American film director. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for the series of Hollywood film noirs he made in the 1940s.-Early life:...
’s The 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 18 viewings in 20 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
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
, 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
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
music he also discovered growing up in Suffield, Connecticut
Suffield, Connecticut
Suffield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It had once been within the boundaries of Massachusetts. The town is located in the Connecticut River Valley with the town of Enfield neighboring to the east. In 1900, 3,521 people lived in Suffield; and in 1910, 3,841. As of the...
, 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
Bard College
Bard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...
student and vocalist Jeanne Lee
Jeanne Lee
Jeanne Lee was an American jazz singer, poet and composer. Best known for a wide range of vocal styles she mastered, Lee collaborated with numerous distinguished composers and performers which included Gunter Hampel, Ran Blake, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Marion Brown, and many...
became a duo in the late 1950’s. Their partnership would create the landmark cult favorite The Newest Sound Around (RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
) 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
David Raksin
David Raksin was an American composer born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With over 100 film scores and 300 television scores to his credit, he became known as the "Grandfather of Film Music." One of his earliest film assignments was as assistant to Charlie Chaplin in the composition of the score...
’s title track from the movie Laura
Laura (1944 film)
Laura is a 1944 American film noir directed by Otto Preminger. It stars Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews and Clifton Webb. The screenplay by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Elizabeth Reinhardt is based on the 1943 novel of the same title by Vera Caspary....
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 who would be come Blake’s most significant mentor and champion, Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
. The two began their 45-year friendship at a chance meeting at Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
' New York studio in January 1959. Less than two years earlier, Schuller coined the term "Third Stream
Third stream
Third Stream is a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller, within a lecture at Brandeis University, to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz...
" at a lecture at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
. Schuller was recording on Atlantic, helping to define his term in musical practice with future jazz giants like John Lewis
John Lewis (pianist)
John Aaron Lewis was an American jazz pianist and composer best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.- Early life:...
, Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
, and Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
. 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
Chris Connor
Chris Connor was an American jazz singer.-Biography:She was born as Mary Loutsenhizer in Kansas City, Missouri to Clyde and Mabel Loutsenhizer. She studied and became proficient on the clarinet, having studied for 8 years throughout junior high and high school...
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, and Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
's famous Apollo Theater
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
. Blake's long association with Schuller and modern classical music began here, and was forged by years of friendship, collaboration and innovation.
One of the only people in the music world who could see the potential of Blake’s unorthodox sounding musical style, Schuller invited Blake to study at the Lenox School of Jazz in the summers of 1959 and 1960. While in Lenox, also home to the classical music mecca at Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
in western Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, Blake studied with the jazz giants who formed the faculty of this one-of-a-kind institution, Lewis, Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
, Bill Russo, and many others, and began formulating his style in earnest. He also studied in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with piano legends Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Williams wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements, and recorded more than one hundred records...
and Mal Waldron
Mal Waldron
Malcolm Earl Waldron was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.Like his contemporaries, Waldron's roots lie chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s; but with time, he gravitated more towards free jazz and composition...
.
A year after Schuller became president of Boston’s New England Conservatory in 1967, Blake joined his mentor and many one-time teachers and inspirations, including George Russell, as a faculty member at NEC, the first American conservatory to offer a jazz degree. In 1973, Blake became the first Chair of the Third Stream Department (now known as the Contemporary Improvisation Department), which he co-founded with Schuller at the school. He held the position until 2005.
Blake's teaching approach emphasizes what he calls "the primacy of the ear," as he believes music is traditionally taught by the wrong sense. His innovative ear and style development process elevates the listening process to the same status as the written score. This approach complements the stylistic synthesis of the original Third Stream concept, while also providing an open, broad-based learning environment that promotes the development of innovation and individuality. Musicians of note Don Byron
Don Byron
Don Byron is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet, but has also used bass clarinet and saxophones....
, Matthew Shipp
Matthew Shipp
Matthew Shipp is an American pianist, composer and bandleader.Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, and began playing piano at six years old. His mother was a friend of trumpeter Clifford Brown....
, John Medeski
John Medeski
Anthony John Medeski is an American jazz keyboards player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood...
and Yitzhak Yedid
Yitzhak Yedid
Yitzhak Yedid is an Israeli Australian composer of classical music and jazz pianist.-Biography:Yitzhak Yedid was born on September 29, 1971 in Jerusalem, Israel. His family immigrated from Syria. He studied at the Rubin Academy of Music and the New England Conservatory in Boston with Ran Blake...
have studied with Blake at NEC.
Although Blake’s teaching career would soon become the second half of his dual musical legacy, his career as an influential performer and wholly individual jazz artist is his main source of fame. Following Jeanne Lee’s departure to become one of the premier vocalists in the burgeoning avant-garde, Blake recorded the prototypical Ran Blake Plays Solo Piano (ESP
ESP-Disk
ESP-Disk is a New York-based record label, founded in 1964 by lawyer Bernard Stollman.From the beginning, the label's goal has been to provide its recording artists with complete artistic freedom, unimpeded by any record company interference or commercial expectations—a philosophy summed-up by the...
) in 1965. The recording showed a clear refinement of Blake’s style of reinventing popular standards by incorporating his other influences from film noir, gospel, his favorite pianist Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
, and composers like Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Messaien. His reputation as the major Third Stream pianist, and later an educator, soon followed, as he could improvise just as easily on a jazz chord progression as a twelve-tone row
Tone row
In music, a tone row or note row , also series and set, refers to a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets are sometimes found.-History and usage:Tone rows are the basis of...
.
From 1965 on, Blake worked primarily as a solo pianist on more than 30 albums. Although most of the music was primarily informed by his film noir perspective, many of his most acclaimed recordings are tributes to artists like Monk, Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
, Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
, George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, and Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
. These tributes merged with his teaching career by inspiring an annual summer course he still teaches at NEC, thoroughly exploring the music of a single artist. He has also recorded with Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard was an American jazz pianist and composer who also played trumpet and saxophone, among several other instruments. He was noteworthy for his eclectic style, incorporating everything from ragtime and stride to free jazz...
, Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
, Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York City, was a jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone....
, Houston Person
Houston Person
Houston Person is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. Person is also known for his distinctive sassy sound and his expressive style of playing...
, Enrico Rava
Enrico Rava
Enrico Rava , is a prolific jazz trumpeter and arguably one of the best known Italian jazz musicians. He originally played trombone, changing to the trumpet after hearing Miles Davis. His first commercial work was as a member of Gato Barbieri's Italian quintet in the mid-1960s; in the late 1960s...
, Clifford Jordan
Clifford Jordan
Clifford Laconia Jordan was a jazz saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He also recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny...
, Ricky Ford
Ricky Ford
Ricky Ford is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Ford was born in Boston and studied at the New England Conservatory. In 1974 he recorded with Gunther Schuller and then played in the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington from 1974 to 1976...
, Christine Correa, James Merenda, David "Knife" Fabris, and others, including a 1989 reunion with Jeanne Lee. 2001’s Sonic Temples (GM Recordings) featured Schuller’s two jazz musician sons, Ed (bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
) and George (drums) and was his first recording in the standard piano trio format. 2006's All That Is Tied (Tompkins Square), a solo recording, earned a crown in the Penguin Guide to Jazz and appeared on many critics' Best of 2006 lists.
Blake continues to teach at NEC and record and perform. In November and December 2007 he toured France, Germany and Italy. In January 2009, Tompkins Square released Driftwoods, an album of solo piano that pays tribute to vocalists such as Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson and Hank Williams. In December 2010 he toured Spain, Lithuania, Italy, and Portugal.
Discography
- 1962: The Newest Sound Around (with Jeanne LeeJeanne LeeJeanne Lee was an American jazz singer, poet and composer. Best known for a wide range of vocal styles she mastered, Lee collaborated with numerous distinguished composers and performers which included Gunter Hampel, Ran Blake, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Marion Brown, and many...
) - 1966: Ran Blake Plays Solo Piano
- 1969: Blue Potato & Other Outrages
- 1976: Breakthru (Improvising ArtistsImprovising Artists-Discography:...
) - 1977: Wende
- 1977: Open City (Horo RecordsHoro Records-HDP series:*HDP 1-2 Irio De Paula orchestra Casinha Branca*HDP 3-4 Sam Rivers trio Black Africa 1*HDP 5-6 Sam Rivers trio Black Africa 2*HDP 7-8 Ran Blake solo piano Open City*HDP 9-10 Max Roach quartet The Loadstar*HDP 11-12 Michael Smith duo Elvira Madigan...
) - 1977: Crystal Trip (Horo)
- 1978: Rapport (Novus RecordsNovus RecordsNovus Records Novus Records Novus Records (later Arista Novus and RCA Novus was a United States jazz and contemporary jazz record label. It was an Arista Records imprint focused on then-contemporary jazz artists...
) - 1978: Realization of a Dream
- 1978: Take Two
- 1978: Take One
- 1979: Third Stream Today
- 1980: Film Noir (Novus RecordsNovus RecordsNovus Records Novus Records Novus Records (later Arista Novus and RCA Novus was a United States jazz and contemporary jazz record label. It was an Arista Records imprint focused on then-contemporary jazz artists...
) - 1981: ImprovisationsImprovisations (Ran Blake & Jaki Byard album)-Track listing:# "On Green Dolphin Street" - 6:06# "Prelude" - 4:09# "Chromatics" - 8:28# "Wende" - 3:42# "Tea for Two" - 6:57# "Victoria" - 4:41...
(with Jaki ByardJaki ByardJaki Byard was an American jazz pianist and composer who also played trumpet and saxophone, among several other instruments. He was noteworthy for his eclectic style, incorporating everything from ragtime and stride to free jazz...
) - 1982: Duke DreamsDuke DreamsDuke Dreams Duke Dreams Duke Dreams (subtitled The Legacy of Strayhorn-Ellington is an album of solo piano performances of material written by or associated with Duke Ellington by the American jazz pianist Ran Blake recorded in 1981 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:The...
- 1982: Portfolio of Dr. Mabuse
- 1982: Third Stream Recompositions
- 1984: Suffield GothicSuffield GothicSuffield Gothic is an album by the American jazz pianist Ran Blake featuring saxophonist Houston Person recorded in 1983 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
(with Houston PersonHouston PersonHouston Person is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. Person is also known for his distinctive sassy sound and his expressive style of playing...
) - 1985: Vertigo
- 1986: Short Life of Barbara MonkShort Life of Barbara MonkShort Life of Barabara Monk is an album by the American jazz pianist Ran Blake featuring saxophonist Ricky Ford recorded in 1986 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
(with Ricky Ford) - 1987: Painted Rhythms: The Compleat Ran Blake Volume 1
- 1988: Painted Rhythms: The Compleat Ran Blake Volume 2
- 1989: You Stepped Out of A Cloud (with Jeanne LeeJeanne LeeJeanne Lee was an American jazz singer, poet and composer. Best known for a wide range of vocal styles she mastered, Lee collaborated with numerous distinguished composers and performers which included Gunter Hampel, Ran Blake, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Marion Brown, and many...
) - 1991: That Certain Feeling (with Steve LacySteve LacySteve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York City, was a jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone....
and Ricky FordRicky FordRicky Ford is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Ford was born in Boston and studied at the New England Conservatory. In 1974 he recorded with Gunther Schuller and then played in the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington from 1974 to 1976...
) - 1992: EpistrophyEpistrophy (Ran Blake album)Epistrophy is an album of solo piano performances of material written by, or associated with, Thelonious Monk by the American jazz pianist Ran Blake recorded in 1991 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
- 1994: Masters From Different Worlds (with Clifford JordanClifford JordanClifford Laconia Jordan was a jazz saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He also recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny...
) - 1994: Round About (with Christine Correa)
- 1997: A Memory of Vienna (with Anthony BraxtonAnthony BraxtonAnthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
) - 1997: Unmarked Van: A Tribute to Sarah VaughanUnmarked Van: A Tribute to Sarah VaughanUnmarked Van is an album of material associated with Sarah Vaughan by the American jazz pianist Ran Blake recorded in 1994 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
- 1999: Duo En Noir (with Enrico RavaEnrico RavaEnrico Rava , is a prolific jazz trumpeter and arguably one of the best known Italian jazz musicians. He originally played trombone, changing to the trumpet after hearing Miles Davis. His first commercial work was as a member of Gato Barbieri's Italian quintet in the mid-1960s; in the late 1960s...
) - 1999: Something To Live For
- 2001: Sonic Temples
- 2001: Horace Is Blue (with David Fabris and James Merenda)
- 2005: Indian Winter (with David Fabris)
- 2006: All That Is Tied
- 2009: Driftwoods
- 2010: Out Of The Shadows (Ran Blake & Christine Correa)
- 2010: Camera Obscura (Sara Serpa & Ran Blake)
- 2011: Grey December: Live in Rome (live)
- 2011: Whirlpool (Ran Blake & Dominique EadeDominique EadeDominique Eade is an American jazz singer and composer. She lives near Boston and is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory.-Discography:Source: Amazon* My Resistance is Low, 1994* The Ruby and the Pearl, 1994...
)