myjazzjourneys.blogspot.com: The Ran Blake Interview

myjazzjourneys.blogspot.com: The Ran Blake Interview: MYJAZZJOURNEYS.BLOGSPOT.COM (MJJ) The MJJ Interview: Third Stream Music - Catching Up with Ran Blake - 50 Years Later (transcrib...

The Ran Blake Interview

MYJAZZJOURNEYS.BLOGSPOT.COM (MJJ)

The MJJ Interview:

Third Stream Music - Catching Up with Ran Blake - 50 Years Later

(transcribed)

Ken Grady

Earlier this year I met iconic pianist, author and educator Ran Blake, whose music I first heard almost 50 years ago.

Professor Blake has been mentoring aspiring musicians at Boston's New England Conservatory (NEC) for over 40 years. He is a practitioner of Gunther Schuller’s Third Stream genre in music. The Third Stream genre has been described as being “…halfway between Jazz and Classical Music”. It can also include influences of song, film noire, literature, and other music. Or, something totally different that enters the mind during the creative process that has an effect on the music.

Ran Blake has 30 albums to his credit. His 2017 release, Town & Country, features French vocalist Domonique Eade. His latest literary work, Primacy of the Ear, was published in (201o).

MJJ: I began by asking Ran Blake to elaborate on his definition of Third Stream music, in which he includes many influences. Among them, Billy Holiday’s voice, John Coltrane on sax, the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe and Film Noire, preferably that of French Filmmaker Claude Ghabrol.

RB: It's always been a blend to me. Like Beethoven would blend Royal music with music of the fields. But, I guess I love people like Hungarian composer Bartok Ives, Mahalia Jackson, Marian Williams and Ray Charles. I love Charlie Parker, but his root is not in me. I love Billie Holiday, and all the great singers.

So, I guess it’s a bigger switch. Does Ray Charles

myjazzjourneys.blogspot.com: Revisions to this Blog Site are Currently Underway...

myjazzjourneys.blogspot.com: Revisions to this Blog Site are Currently Underway...: The myjazzjourneys.blogspot.com site is current being revised to provide more features such as video, streaming Jazz, interviews, and much more.

JazzJourneysWorldwide: Miles Davis Parts the Res Sea - Sort Of Part 2

JazzJourneysWorldwide: Miles Davis Parts the Res Sea - Sort Of Part 2

Los Leones Jovenes del Jazz de Panama (The Young Lions of Jazz of Panama)

Whether you call them phenomes, or progedies, young musicians have always been at the forefront of their art. In Jazz, we call them, the young lions. That’s nothing new. Cats like Coltrane, Miles, Herbie Hancock, and others, were playing with established bands by age 20. And, many of them attracted the attention of legends who became their mentors.

Panama has a very promising crop of young Jazz talent, Aquiles Navarro Jahaziel Arrocha, both 25, are the real deal. But, don’t take my word for it. Ask sax legend Carlos Garnett, who tutors both, and can’t say enough about his young students. 

At the 2007 Panama Jazz Festival Arrocha auditioned for admission to Berklee College of Music, and was accepted. He was also given a

Eric Dolphy, One of Panama’s Gifts to the World of Jazz

                        Eric Dolphy

In this modern era of Jazz Carlos Garnett and Danilo Perez are the most popular names among Jazz aficionados in Panama. But,  Panama’s past boasted a rich Jazz history as well. Sadly, local Jazz heads have said that many of their countrymen are not familiar with that history. Further, while some Panamanians have heard of a some great Jazz artists, they don’t know that many are actually from Panama.

One such example of this is the great, multi-talented reed player, Eric Dolphy. Dolphy’s parents migrated from Panama to the US in the late 1920’s, as did many Panamians. This was just before Eric was born. His music career began at the age of 6.

I've never seen him perform live. But, I’ve found Dolphy's sound to be provocative and sophisticated. I was introduced to cats like Eric Dolphy by John Coltrane’s’ music. Releases like Ole, and Spirtual, captured me with Dolphy’s stellar work flute, alto sax and bass clarinet.

By the time I entered the world of Jazz radio I was fully aware of who Dolphy was. He was a regular in my playlist. My love of his work lead me to others like, Archie Shepp, and Anthony Braxton. Both of  whom I have seen in live performance. With that in mind , the details of Dolphy's sudden death in 1964 intrigued me.

Here is my summary of how his time was spent just days

The Berlin Wall, and All That Jazz

In 1964, in the middle of the cold war, Dr. Martin Luther King was invited to speak at the '64 Berlin Jazz Festival. Her is an excerpt from his speech:

"...and now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in a particular struggle of the Negro in America, there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy, Everybody longs for faith. 

In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all these."

In December of 1986 I made a trip to West Berlin, in W. Germany. Just the name, Berlin, created cloak & dagger images in my head. Too many spy novels and movies. On the morning I left, I arrived at Heathrow Airport, just outside London, and even the Lufthansa Airlines ticket counter staff looked suspicious. Or, at least I thought they did. 

I was going to Berlin to visit a friend. He met me at the airport, and showed me the town. Berlin is a very cosmopolitan city, but all the trappings of the cold war were still in place in 1986. Berlin was a divided city, east and west. The Berlin Wall was still standing. West Berlin, itself, was still divided into American, British, and French sectors, just as it was at the end WWII.

After seeing the sightseeing, and dinner, I wanted to hear some live Jazz.

Germans have an unabashed love for American Jazz, even though Hitler's propaganda machine took several measures to prevent