Michael Blake (musician)

Michael Blake (born May 19, 1964) is a Canadian born American saxophonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader.[1] He has worked with The Lounge Lizards, Slow Poke, Blake Tartare, Hellbent, Ben Allison, and Steven Bernstein.

Michael Blake
Michael Blake in Sao Paulo
Background information
Birth nameMichael Stephen Blake
Born (1964-05-19) May 19, 1964
Montreal, Canada
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
InstrumentsSaxophone, clarinet, flute, piano
Associated actsThe Lounge Lizards, Ben Allison, Slow Poke
Websitemichaelblake.net

Early life

Blake was born in Montreal, Canada. His mother Merle Stevens was a professional dancer when she met his father Patrick Blake in Montreal where he worked at the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. In 1969 his father was hired by the San Francisco Opera and moved his family to California. After divorcing in 1973 they resettled in Vancouver, Canada where Blake received music lessons on violin and piano. He started on the clarinet at the age of 14 and picked up the tenor saxophone in High School after reading the biography Chasin' the Trane[2] about saxophonist John Coltrane. In 1982 upon graduating Vancouver Technical High School, Blake received the Music Award. From 1982–1984 Blake attended the Vancouver Community College Music Program where he studied saxophone and clarinet with David Branter. In 1983 he received a scholarship from his college to attend the Courtney Music Camp.

Blake began his professional career in Vancouver, performing with local musicians Hugh Fraser, Phil Dwyer, Claude Ranger, John Korsrud, Bob Murphy, Jim Chivers, Ross Taggart, and Kate Hammett-Vaughan. From 1984–1985 he attended summer jazz workshops at The Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, studying saxophone with Steve Coleman and David Liebman. In 1986 Blake received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study in New York City with David Liebman.

Career

1990s

In the fall of 1989 Blake started working with John Lurie and The Lounge Lizards, and for that band he began playing soprano saxophone. He toured, recorded, and performed with the band from 1990–1999. He appeared on the albums Live in Berlin Vol 1 & 2 and Queen of All Ears. Blake also played saxophone and clarinet on Lurie's TV series Fishing with John and film scores for Get Shorty, Excess Baggage, and Box of Moonlight. He played a solo over the credits of the Get Shorty soundtrack which was nominated for a Grammy Award.

As well as his affiliation with The Lounge Lizards, Blake worked as a sideman in the 1990s with Jack McDuff, Charlie Persip, Gil Evans Orchestra, and singer Henry Fiol. He became a composer in residence for the Jazz Composers Collective in 1995. The collective presented original compositions at concerts in Greenwich Village, New York. Joining members Ben Allison, Frank Kimbrough, Ron Horton, and Ted Nash the collective also formed the Herbie Nichols Project devoted to the music of pianist Herbie Nichols.

In 1996 Blake signed with Intuition Music and released two albums. His debut album Kingdom of Champa (1997), a concept album about Vietnam, received critical acclaim.[3] Kingdom of Champa was engineered by Scott Harding and produced by Teo Macero.

In 1997 Blake formed a band with David Tronzo, Tony Scherr and Kenny Wollesen called Slow Poke. Between 1997–2001 Slow Poke recorded two albums: Slow Poke at Home[4](1998) and Redemption (1999) and toured in Canada, the US, and Europe.[5]

2000s

In 2001 Blake received Chamber Music America's: New Jazz Works Grant. The grant, provided by the Doris Duke Foundation, commissioned a suite of compositions inspired by Blake's fascination with 1970's TV show themes.

Blake recorded and released Elevated in 2002 on Knitting Factory Records. For their 2001–2002 season Sundance TV hired Blake to write the theme for their TV series Conversations in World Cinema and used selections from Elevated for their station ID bumpers.

In 2002 Blake assembled a band with Danish musicians Kresten Osgood, Soren Kjaergaard, and Jonas Westergaard in New York where they recorded their self produced album Blake Tartare[6] (2002). They were signed to the Danish jazz label Stunt Music for which they recorded two more albums. More Like Us[7] included Danish singer/songwriter Maria Laurette-Friss. The World Awakes,[8] (2008) a tribute to saxophonist Eli 'Lucky' Thompson, was produced by Danish Radio impresario Ib Skovgaard. Blake toured in Denmark in 2002 with Osgood's organ-driven band, Hammond Rens. With organist Lonnie Smith, the live album Hammond Rens was released by Ilk Music in 2002. Blake and Osgood reunited in New York City in 2008 to record Control This[9] for Clean Feed Records. This was the only album on which he plays alto saxophone.

Michael-blake DSC03376

After Blake caught the ear of the Portuguese avant-garde label Clean Feed Records he recorded Right Before Your Very Ears in 2005. His first trio album with bassist Ben Allison and drummer Jeff Ballard is a balancing act of both free jazz and original compositions.[10]

Blake played soprano saxophone for the theme to The Backyardigans, a children's TV program produced by Nick Jr that with music by Evan Lurie and Doug Wieselman. From 2004–2010 he performed with members of The Lounge Lizards on many Backyardigans episodes and composed the underscore for six episodes.

Blake assembled the band Hellbent in 2006 with Calvin G Weston, Steven Bernstein, and Marcus Rojas. Violinist Charlie Burnham also performed with the group. Blake released the live album Hellbent[11] in 2007.

In 2007 Blake began a series of Canadian-themed concept albums for the label Songlines in Vancouver.[12] His first album Amor de Cosmos[13] was dedicated to his grandfather, who died at the age of 101.

Blake served as Musical Director for the Neil Sedaka '50 Years of Hits' Celebration at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall on October 26th, 2007. Blake performed on saxophone and conducted the house band, backing up Sedaka and other artists who had hits by Sedaka including Connie Francis, The Captain and Tennille and Natalie Cole.

In 2008 Blake joined the band of Enrico Rava, substituting for saxophonist Mark Turner on Rava's promotional tour for New York Stories (ECM).

2010s

Blake was on faculty at Siena Jazz Summer Workshop in Italy from 2009–2014. He performed in faculty concerts with Enrico Rava, Greg Osby, Kenny Werner, Antonio Sánchez, Eric Harland and Ben Perowsky.

For his second album for Songlines, In the Grand Scheme of Things[14] (2012) Blake debuted the Variety Hour, a quartet with Dylan Van der Schyff, JP Carter and Chris Gestrin. The Variety Hour toured in Canada and was the closing act at the 2013 Vancouver International Jazz Festival.

In 2013 he was funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to write Contrasts in Individualism: The Innovations of Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. He recorded the music with Ben Allison, Frank Kimbrough and Rudy Royston and released the album Tiddy Boom[15] (2014) for Sunnyside.

In 2014 Blake wrote an analysis of his solo from the title track of Tiddy Boom for Downbeat.[16]

In 2015 Blake recorded Red Hook Soul[17] (2016) for Ropeadope with Tony Scherr, Erik Deutsch, Ari Blotnick, Moses Patrou and Tim Lüntzel.

Beginning in 2015, Blake joined the faculty of Jerry Granelli's Creative Music Workshop in Halifax, Canada. Four years later he formed the New Canadian Art Quartet with Jerry Granelli, Peggy Lee, and Chris Gestrin.

In 2017 he performed with the Charlie Hunter Trio on three US Tours and recorded Hunter's original music with drummer George Sluppick in Memphis, Tennessee.

Starting in 2018 Blake began writing profiles on musicians (Jay Rodrigues,[18] Marcus Rojas,[19] Gina Leishman[20]) published on All About Jazz.

In autumn of 2020 Blake recorded a new album of original music for strings featuring Brazilian percussionists Mauro Refosco and Rogerio Bocatto.

Michael Blake has performed with Steven Bernstein/Henry Butler and the Hot 9, Nicole Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Oliver Lake Big Band, Dafnis Prieto Big Band, Ray Lamontagne, Ricki Lee Jones, Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, Tricky, Catherine Russell and Pinetop Perkins.

Awards and honors

Blake's 2000 album Drift[21] (1999) was chosen as Album of the Year by the German music magazine Jazzthing.

Michael Blake was selected in 2002 by DownBeat magazine's Critics Poll (Talent Deserving Wider Recognition) Categories for Artist of the Year,[22] Tenor Saxophonist[23] and Soprano Saxophonist[24]

His 2014 album Tiddy Boom[25] was selected Album of the Year by DownBeat[26] critic James Hale.[27] The album is listed on several Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2014 lists including The Chicago Reader[28] and Lament for a Straight Line.[29]

Blake's third album for Songlines, 2016's Fulfillment[30] was selected Album of the Year by Bird is the Worm.[31] The album was funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and addresses the Komagata Maru incident.

In 2020 he received the Explore and Create Concept to Realization Grant from Canada Council of the Arts to compose and record Le Couer du Jardin (The Heart of the Garden) for strings and percussion.

Discography

As leader
  • 1997 Kingdom of Champa (Intuition Music)
  • 2000 Drift (Intuition Music)
  • 2002 Elevated (Knitting Factory Records)
  • 2005 Blake Tartare (Stunt Records)
  • 2005 Right Before Your Very Ears (Clean Feed Records)
  • 2006 More Like Us (Stunt Records)
  • 2007 Amor de Cosmos (Songlines Records)
  • 2008 The World Awakes/A Tribute to Lucky Thompson (Stunt Records)
  • 2010 Hellbent (Bandcamp)
  • 2012 In the Grand Scheme of Things (Songlines Records)
  • 2014 Tiddy Boom (Sunnyside Records)
  • 2016 Red Hook Soul (Ropeadope Records)
  • 2016 Fulfillment (Songlines Records)

As co-leader
  • 1998 Slow Poke, Slow Poke at Home (Bandcamp)
  • 1999 Slow Poke, Redemption (Intuition Music)
  • 2009 Michael Blake/Kresten Osgood, Control This, (Clean Feed Records)
  • 2011 Michael Blake/Tommaso Cappellato/Stefano Senni, Live in Pisa (Punto Rojo)
  • 2012 Michael Blake/Ben Allison/Rudy Royston, Union Square (A-Beat Records)
  • 2016 Michael Blake/Samuel Blaser/Michael Sarin, Transmissions (For Tune Records)

As sideman
  • 1991 The Lounge Lizards, Live in Berlin, Vol.1 (Intuition Music)
  • 1992 Justin Warfield, My Field Trip To Planet 9 (Warner Bros. )
  • 1993 Ben E. King, Shades of Blue (Halfnote)
  • 1993 Stereo MC's, Supernatural (G street)
  • 1993 The Lounge Lizards, Live in Berlin, Vol.2 (Intuition Music)
  • 1994 Rusty Cloud, Walkin' the Night (Moon Street)
  • 1995 The Repercussions, The Repercussions (Warner Bros.)
  • 1996 Soundtrack, Get Shorty (Verve)
  • 1996 Rosco Gordon, Let's Get it On (Studio One/Coxsone Music)
  • 1997 Rusty Cloud & S'killit, Blue Fever (Moon Street)
  • 1997 Joe Gallant's Illuminati, Blues for Allah (Knitting Factory Records)
  • 1997 London McDaniel, Anatural Aphrodisiaca (Nubile)
  • 1998 Ben Allison, Medicine Wheel (Palmetto Records)
  • 1998 The Lounge Lizards, Queen of all Ears (Strange and Beautiful Music)
  • 1998 Soundtrack, Excess Baggage (Prophesy)
  • 1998 Tricky, Angels with Dirty Faces (Island records)
  • 1998 Walter Thompson Orchestra, The Colonel (Nine Winds)
  • 1998 Tim Otto's Pink Noise Saxophone Quartet, The Jig is Up (Pink Tomato)
  • 1999 African Swim John Lurie (Strange and Beautiful Music)
  • 1999 John Lurie, Fishing with John (Strange and Beautiful Music)
  • 1999 Chris Brown/Kate Fenner, Geronimo (Wolfe Island records)
  • 1999 Steven Bernstein, Diaspora Soul (Tzadik Records)
  • 1999 Ben Allison, Third Eye (Palmetto Records)
  • 2000 John Lurie, The Legendary Recordings of Marvin Pontiac (Strange and Beautiful Music)
  • 2000 Richard Bliwas, Walk the Bike (Rising Rose Records)
  • 2000 The Herbie Nichols Project, Dr. Cyclops Dream (Soul Note Records)
  • 2000 Tony Scherr, Come Around (Smells Like Records)
  • 2001 The Herbie Nichols Project, Strange City (Palmetto Records)
  • 2001 Ben Allison, Riding the Nuclear Tiger (Palmetto Records)
  • 2001 Chris Brown/Kate Fenner, O' Witness (Wolfe Island Records)
  • 2001 Richard Bliwas, Compose Yourself - Ten Improvisations (Rising Rose Records)
  • 2002 Kresten Osgood feat.Lonnie Smith, Hammond Rens (ILK)
  • 2002 Ben Allison, Peace Pipe (Palmetto Records)
  • 2004 Ben Allison, Buzz (Palmetto)
  • 2006 Ray Lamontagne, Til' the Sun Turns Black (RCA Records)
  • 2008 Ben Allison, Small Things Run the World (Palmetto Records)
  • 2009 Tommaso Cappellato, Open (Elefante Rosso)
  • 2010 Peter Scherr, Son of August (1hr Music/CDBaby)
  • 2011 Ben Allison, Action/Refraction (Palmetto Records)
  • 2011 Giovanni Guidi, We Don't Live Here Anymore (CAM Jazz)
  • 2013 Scott Neumann, Blessed (Origin Records)
  • 2014 Henry Butler/Steven Bernstein and the Hot 9, Vipers Drag (Impulse! Records)
  • 2015 Michael Bates, Northern Spy (Stereoscopic)
  • 2018 Greg Cordez, Last Things Last (Bandcamp)
  • 2020 Allesandro Giachero/Franco Fabrini/Francesco Petreni, feat. Michael Blake, At the Fortress (Bandcamp)
  • 2020 Rusty Cloud, Big Apple Ball, (Independent)
  • 2020 Falkner Evans, Marbles (Consolidated Artists Productions)
  • 2020 Chris McCarthy, Still Time to Quit (Ropeadope Records)

References
  1. Chinen, Nate (November 2007). "Playlist". The New York Times.
  2. Thomas, JC. Chasin' the Trane. Da Capo.
  3. Blake, Michael. "Kingdom of Champa". Jazztimes. Jazztimes.
  4. Chinen, Nate (November 2007). "Playlist". The New York Times.
  5. Bennett, Bill (25 April 2019). "Michael Blake: Elevated". JazzTimes. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  6. Tartare, Blake (January 2007). "Best of 2006". Downbeat. 74 (1): 50.
  7. McCaw, Michael (November 2006). "Michael Blake's Blake Tartare: More Like Us". All About Jazz. All About Jazz.
  8. Blake, Michael. "The World Awakes". Jazztimes. Jazztimes.
  9. Collins, Troy (April 2009). "Michael Blake / Kresten Osgood: Control This". All About Jazz. All About Jazz.
  10. Ratliff, Ben (September 2005). "Playlist". The New York Times.
  11. Henkin, Andrey (January 2011). "Best of 2010" (PDF). Michael Blake. New York Jazz Record.
  12. Blake, Michael. "Michael Blake". Songlines. Songlines.
  13. Blake, Michael. "Amor de Cosmos". Jazztimes. Jazztimes.
  14. Blake, Michael. "In the Grand Scheme of Things". Jazztimes. Jazztimes.
  15. Boom, Tiddy. "Tiddy Boom". The Chicago Reader.
  16. Blake, Michael (August 2014). "Michael Blake's Tenor Saxophone Solo on Tiddy Boom". Downbeat Magazine. 81 (8): 94–95.
  17. Comandini, Maurizio. "Red Hook Soul". All About Jazz. All About Jazz.
  18. Rodrigues, Jay. "Jay Rodrigues". All About Jazz. All About Jazz.
  19. Rojas, Marcus. "Marcus Rojas". All About Jazz. All About Jazz.
  20. Leishman, Gina. "Gina Leishman". All About Jazz. All About Jazz.
  21. Blake, Michael. "Drift". Jazztimes. Jazztimes.
  22. Blake, Michael (August 2002). "Critic's Poll/Talent Deserving Wider Recognition". Downbeat Magazine. 69 (8): 36.
  23. Blake, Michael (August 2002). "Critic's Poll/Talent Deserving Wider Recognition". Downbeat Magazine. 69 (8): 42.
  24. Blake, Michael (August 2002). "Critic's Poll/Talent Deserving Wider Recognition". Downbeat Magazine. 69 (8): 43.
  25. Blake, Michael. "Tiddy Boom". Jazztimes. Jazztimes.
  26. Hale, James (February 2015). "Reviews". Downbeat Magazine.
  27. Hale, James. "Tiddy Boom". Jazz Chronicles. Downbeat.
  28. Margasak, Peter. "My Favorite Jazz Albums of 2014". The Chicago Reader. The Chicago Reader.
  29. Macnie, Jim. "Best Jazz Albums of 2014". Lament for a Straight Line. Lament for a Straight Line.
  30. Blake, Michael. "Fulfillment". Songlines. Songlines.
  31. Sumner, Dave. "Fulfillment". Bird is the Worm. Bird is the Worm.
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