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