Ran Blake

Ran Blake (born April 20, 1935) is an American

pianist, composer, and educator. He is known for his Ran Blake
unique style that combines blues, gospel, classical, and
film noir influences into an innovative and dark jazz
sound. His career spans over 40 recording credits on
jazz albums along with more than 40 years of teaching
jazz at the New England Conservatory of Music, where
he started the Department of Third Stream (now called
the Department of Contemporary Improvisation) with
Gunther Schuller.
Ran Blake at Bach Dancing & Dynamite
Society, Half Moon Bay, California, June 14,
Early life 1987

Blake was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on April Background information

20, 1935.[1] He grew up in Suffield, Connecticut, and Born April 20, 1935
became fascinated by film noir after seeing Robert Springfield, Massachusetts,
Siodmak's Spiral Staircase as a twelve-year-old. He United States
began playing piano as a young child, and as a Genres Jazz
teenager studied with Ray Cassarino. In his teenage
Occupation(s) Musician, composer
years, he developed a love for gospel music and
studied the compositions of Béla Bartók and Claude Instrument Piano

Debussy.[2] After high school, he attended Bard Years active 1950s–present

College in New York, graduating in 1960 with a Website ranblake.com (http://ranblake.
Bachelor of Arts degree[1] in Jazz, a major that had not com)
previously existed at the school. At Bard he met Jeanne
Lee, with whom he performed for many years. He also
studied with John Lewis, Oscar Peterson, and Gunther Schuller[1] at the School of Jazz in Lenox,
Massachusetts.

Performing and studying

Beginning in the late 1950s, Blake was part of a duo with vocalist Jeanne Lee.[1] Together they recorded
his first album The Newest Sound Around, which was released on RCA in 1962, and the next year they
toured Europe together.[3] The album shows Blake's signature style beginning to develop, as they paid
homage to Blake's early influences with a tribute to David Raksin's "Laura" and a reworking of the gospel
standard, "The Church on Russell Street". Lee and Blake continued to play together throughout their
careers and released another album in 1989 entitled You Stepped out of a Cloud.
Blake met Gunther Schuller in a chance encounter at Atlantic Records in 1959.[3] Recognizing Blake's
talent, Schuller asked him to study at the School of Jazz in Lenox, Massachusetts. This was a summer
program that existed from 1957 to 1960. It was unique in that it brought together many of the world's
foremost jazz musicians of the time, including Dizzy Gillespie and William Russo, to teach students
about jazz for an intensive three weeks.[4] Blake attended the School in 1959 and 1960. During his
summers in Lenox, Blake began to develop his signature style. Schuller became a great friend and mentor
to Blake throughout his career. Schuller organized the recording of The Newest Sound Around for Blake
and Lee, and it was he who brought Blake to Atlantic Records, and later to the New England
Conservatory.

Blake met jazz pianist, composer, and arranger Mary Lou Williams during a performance at The
Composer, a New York nightclub. She later became a mentor and a significant influence on his work.
During his time as a student at Bard, Blake often travelled to see Williams perform and to take lessons
from her. Later, Williams and Blake worked together while she was a visiting faculty member at the
School of Jazz.

In 1966, Blake released his first record as a soloist, Ran Blake Plays Solo Piano, on New York-based
label ESP Disk.

Educator
In 1967, Schuller, president of the New England Conservatory, recruited Blake to fill a faculty position as
the Conservatory's Community Services Director.[3] In this position, Blake was responsible for putting on
concerts in prisons, retirement homes, and community centers. Blake remained in this role until 1973,
when he took on the chairmanship of the new Third Stream Department (now Contemporary
Improvisation) at the New England Conservatory, an initiative he started with Schuller.[5]

Schuller coined the phrase "Third Stream"[3] in 1957 during a talk at Brandeis University. According to
Schuller, Third Stream is "a new genre of music located about halfway between jazz and classical music".
This new genre was created, in Schuller's opinion, to combat purists in both the jazz world and the
classical world: to play Third Stream music one had to be proficient in both.

When Schuller met Blake, two years after creating Third Stream, Blake's blend of influences, from free
jazz and gospel music to classical composition and film noir soundtracks, appealed to him. When the two
of them created the department at the NEC, it was natural that Blake would be the chairman. He remained
in that position until 2005. He is a faculty member at the New England Conservatory.

Musicians Don Byron, Matthew Shipp, John Medeski, Frank London, Grayson Hugh, and Yitzhak Yedid
have studied with Blake at NEC. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for composition in 1982 and
a MacArthur Genius Grant six years later.[1]

Recording career
Blake has continued recording throughout his career as an educator and has amassed over forty recording
credits on jazz albums. His first album with Jeanne Lee won the RCA Album First Prize in Germany, the
1980 Prix Billie Holiday, and is part of the Académie du Jazz.[6]
After that album, he recorded primarily as a solo pianist, though many of his collaborative albums have
received critical acclaim. In 1981, Blake recorded an album of songs by, or associated with, Duke
Ellington, entitled Duke Dreams, which was awarded 4.5 stars by AllMusic, and a five-star rating in
Down Beat and the All Music Guide to Jazz.

In 1986, he recorded Short Life of Barbara Monk with saxophonist Ricky Ford, which was selected by
the Penguin Guide to Jazz to be part of their Core Collection. He has collaborated with a number of other
musicians, including Jaki Byard, Houston Person, Steve Lacy, Clifford Jordan and Christine Correa.

Educational philosophy
Blake's philosophy in teaching differs from that of many music educators, even in the jazz world. He calls
his approach "the primacy of the ear[7]". In 1977, he wrote an article for the Music Educator's Journal on
having a career as a "Pop/Rock/Jazz instrumentalist".[8] Blake also wrote Third Stream and the
Importance of the Ear (1981), which served as a guide to his educational style, as well as an explanation
and expansion upon the concept of Third Stream.[9]

In the article, he stressed that "the ear is and should be of primary importance." He discussed the more
practical aspects of a career in music and stressed the importance of luck and showmanship over
education and background. Blake's focus on improvisation and ear training, coupled with his diverse
influences, have made him one of the more innovative music educators of the jazz world. He invites the
reader to view Third Stream composition as any composition that bridges two distinct musical cultures,
not just classical-jazz fusion. He also stresses the importance of improvisation, and cites the need for
improvisational education as one of the reasons he and Schuller started the Third Stream Department at
the NEC. Blake argues that music is an aural art, and it must therefore be taught not by being
"preoccupied with playing Chopin preludes on the piano or the latest copy of The Real Book (a popular
jazz fake book) on the horn or guitar,"[9] but by dedicated listening, imitating, and improvising. He calls
for students to listen and sing along to melodies on tape until they can reproduce the melody without the
tape. It is essential, according to Blake, that a student do this before touching an instrument, as imitating
the mechanics of a performance alone does not develop one's ear.

In 2010, Ran Blake published a book with Jason Rogers entitled The Primacy of the Ear. In the 144-page
work, Blake details his thinking about the artistic process and distills his approach both to teaching and
playing. It explores the relationship between the ear and the mind, musical memory, ear training
exercises, and an approach to developing one's personal style.[7]

Discography
An asterisk (*) after the year indicates that it is the year of release.

As leader/co-leader

Year
Title Label Notes
recorded
The Newest Sound Duo, with Jeanne Lee (vocals); some tracks with
1961 RCA Victor
Around George Duvivier (bass)

Ran Blake Plays Solo

1965 ESP-Disk Solo piano
Piano

The Newest Sound

1966/1967 A-side Records Duo, with Jeanne Lee (vocals). Released in 2019.
You Never Heard
The Blue Potato and
1969 Milestone Solo piano
Other Outrages...

Improvising
1975 Breakthru Solo piano
Artists

1976 Wende Owl Solo piano

1977* Open City Horo Solo piano

1977 Crystal Trip Horo Solo piano

Third Stream
1977 Owl Solo piano
Recompositions
Some tracks solo piano; some tracks duo, with Ricky
Ford (tenor sax); one track trio, with Rufus Reid
(bass) added; one track duo with Anthony Braxton
1978 Rapport Novus
(alto sax); one track duo with Eleni Odoni (vocals);
one track quartet, with Jerome Thomas (guitar), Reid
(bass), Chris Connor (vocals)

1978* Realization of a Dream Owl Solo piano

1978* Take 1 Golden Crest Solo piano

1978* Take 2 Golden Crest Solo piano

With various, including Ricky Ford (tenor sax), Marty

1979* Third Stream Today Golden Crest Erlich (alto sax), Hubert Powell (organ), Cleve Pozar
(timbales)
With various, including Ted Curson, Spenser
1980* Film Noir Novus MacLeish, Frank London, Chris Pasin, Ingrid Monson
(trumpet)

1981 Improvisations Soul Note Duo, with Jaki Byard (piano)

1981 Duke Dreams Soul Note Solo piano

1982* Portfolio of Dr. Mabuse Owl With NEC Orchestra

Most tracks solo piano; some tracks duo, with

1983 Suffield Gothic Soul Note
Houston Person (tenor sax)

1985* Vertigo Owl Solo piano

Painted Rhythms: The
1985 Compleat Ran Blake, GM Solo piano
Volume 1

1985 Painted Rhythms: The GM Solo piano

Compleat Ran Blake,
 Volume 2

Short Life of Barbara Quartet, with Ricky Ford (tenor sax), Ed Felson
1986 Soul Note
Monk (bass), Jon Hazilla (drums)
1988 A Memory of Vienna hatOLOGY With Anthony Braxton (alto sax); released 1997

You Stepped Out of a Most tracks duo, with Jeanne Lee (vocals); some
1989 Owl
Cloud tracks trio, with George Duvivier (bass) added

One track solo piano; two tracks duo, with Clifford

Jordan (tenor sax, soprano sax); most other tracks
Masters from Different with Jordan and some of Julian Priester (trombone),
1989 Mapleshade
Worlds Windmill Saxophone Quartet, Steve Williams
(drums), Alfredo Mojica (congas), Claudia Polley
(vocals)
With Steve Lacy (soprano sax), Ricky Ford (tenor
1990 That Certain Feeling hatART
sax)

1991 Epistrophy Soul Note Solo piano

1994* Round About With Christine Correa (vocals)

Unmarked Van: A
Most tracks solo piano; some tracks duo, with
1994 Tribute to Sarah Soul Note
Tiziano Tononi (drums)
Vaughan

Most tracks duo, with Guillermo Gregorio (clarinet) or

1998 Something to Live For hatOLOGY
David Fabris (guitar)

Between the
1999* Duo En Noir With Enrico Rava
Lines
2000 Horace Is Blue hatOLOGY With David Fabris, James Merenda

With Nicole Kampgen Schuller (alto sax), Ed Schuller

2001 Sonic Temples GM
(bass), George Schuller (drums, percussion)

2005* Indian Winter Soul Note With David "Knife" Fabris (guitar)
Tompkins
2005 All That Is Tied Solo piano
Square

2006 Cinema Chatelet Sans Bruit Solo piano; promotional album

Tompkins
2008 Driftwoods Solo piano
Square
With Jon Hazilla (percussion), Kara D. Rusch
2009 Kaleidoscope CIMP
(keyboards, cymbals)

2010* Out of the Shadows Red Piano Duo, with Christine Correa (vocals)
Inner Circle
2010* Camera Obscura With Sara Serpa (vocals)
Music

Some tracks solo piano; some tracks ensemble; in

2010 Ghost Tones A-Side
concert; released 2015

Grey December: Live Tompkins

2011* Solo piano; in concert
in Rome Square
2011* Whirlpool Jazz Project With Dominique Eade (vocals)

Some tracks solo piano; some tracks duo, with David

2011* Vilnius Noir NoBusiness
"Knife" Fabris (guitar); one track Fabris (guitar) solo

2012* Aurora Clean Feed With Sara Serpa (vocals)

Tribute to Abbey
2012* Red Piano Duo, with Christine Correa (vocals)
Lincoln, Volume One
2013* Down Here Below Red piano With Christine Correa (vocals)
Cocktails at Dusk – A Most tracks solo piano; some tracks duo with Laïka
2014* Noir Tribute to Chris Impulse! Fatien (vocals); some tracks duo with Ricky Ford
Connor (tenor sax)

2013–14 Kitano Noir Sunnyside With Sara Serpa (vocals); in concert

Most tracks solo piano; some tracks duo with Ricky

2015* Chabrol Noir Impulse! Ford (tenor sax); one track duo with Dominique Eade
(vocals)
The Road Keeps
Winding: Tribute to
2015* Red piano With Christine Correa (vocals)
Abbey Lincoln, Volume
Two

2017* Town and Country Sunnyside Duo, with Dominique Eade (vocals)

The Dorothy Wallace ILK Music

2017* Duo, with Kresten Osgood (drums)
Suite Records
SteepleChase
2020* Northern Noir Duo, with Andrew Rathbun (tenor saxophone)
Records

References
1. Feather, Leonard; Gitler, Ira (1999) "The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz". Oxford
University Press.
2. Lyons, L. (1983) The Great Jazz Pianists, Speaking of their Lives and Music. New York, p.
194.
3. Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing.
p. 50. ISBN 0-85112-580-8.
4. Fitzgerald, Michael (November 1, 1993) "The Lenox School of Jazz" (http://www.jazzdiscogr
aphy.com/Lenox/lenhome.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20131029055227/htt
p://www.jazzdiscography.com/Lenox/lenhome.htm) 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine.
jazzdiscography.com
5. College Music Symposium, Vol. 21, No. 2, Fall, 1981, pp. 192–194.
6. "Ran Blake" (https://necmusic.edu/faculty/ran-blake). necmusic.edu. Archived (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20180910061047/https://necmusic.edu/faculty/ran-blake) from the original on
September 10, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
7. Blake, Ran (2010). Primacy of the ear : listening, memory and development of musical style
(https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/696146185). Jason, trombonist Rogers, Pat Donaher,
Gardiner Hartmann, David Fabris (1st ed.). [Brookline, Mass.]: Third Stream Associates.
ISBN 978-0-557-60912-3. OCLC 696146185 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/696146185).
8. Music Educators Journal, Vol. 63, No. 7, March, 1977, pp. 76–78.
9. Blake, Ran (1981) Third Stream and the Importance of the Ear.

External links
Ran Blake (https://www.ranblake.com) – official site
Ran Blake (https://www.discogs.com/artist/65706) discography at Discogs
Ran Blake (https://www.npr.org/artists/103362256/ran-blake) at NPR Music
 'Ep. 87: Ran Blake, pianist/composer/educator' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta5xr2c
Pyng&t=19s) Interview by Tigran Arakelyan

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