MY LIFE MATTERS

For Johnathan Blake, music has always been a family affair. The drummer and bandleader’s previous Blue Note album, Passage (2023), was an homage to his father and chief mentor, the late jazz violinist John Blake Jr. The album cover features a sepia-toned snapshot of father and son, taken by his godfather, Eugene Wood. On his label debut Homeward Bound (2021), Blake honored the memory of Ana Grace, daughter of his longtime friends, saxophonist Jimmy Greene and flautist Nelba Marquez-Greene, on the eponymous track, who succumbed during the Sandy Hook massacre.

Now, with My Life Matters, Blake delivers what may be his most personal effort yet. For his third Blue Note album, Blake assembled a group comprising his frequent collaborators — saxophonist Dayna Stephens, pianist Fabian Almazan, and Dezron Douglas on upright and electric bass, with the burgeoning new voice of Houston-native Jalen Baker on vibraphone. Co-produced by acclaimed bassist and labelmate Derrick Hodge, My Life Matters also enlists the talents of DJ Jahi Sundance, the son of venerated multi-reedist Oliver Lake, and childhood friend, GRAMMY Award-winning vocalist Bilal, to bring his vision to life.

 In 2017, Blake was awarded a commission from The Jazz Gallery. As part of their annual Fellowship program, it offers mid-career artists financial support and a two-week residency at The Pocantico Center in Tarrytown, NY.

“Right around that time when I was writing this music, it seemed like every other day I was watching or listening to the news, and it was another person of color — another Black and Brown person — being taken away from us at the hands of people that were supposed to serve and protect us,” says Blake. “I didn’t want to become numb to the things that were unfolding in front of me. I wanted to speak up through my music.”

 He also drew inspiration from the lessons his parents taught him. “When my sisters and I were growing up, my folks used to always say that if you see injustice happening and you do nothing, you are just as much the problem.”

What resulted are fourteen original compositions, many of them aptly titled by Rio Sakairi, Artistic Director of The Jazz Gallery, who heard the music at its inception. “All of the interludes, and most of the album’s songs, she came up with those titles. I allowed her to sit with the music, and she just understood what I was trying to convey.”

My Life Matters is a musical suite that often oscillates between two opposing forces: present and future, tragedy and hope, reality and conception. Known for pushing the boundaries musically, whether it is with groups like Robert Glasper Experiment or on numerous projects for film and television, Hodge’s hand in the production can be heard and felt throughout the album.

For the opening track, “Broken Drum Circle For The Forsaken,” Sundance injects sounds of a radio dial tuning with Blake’s drumming before we hear a familiar refrain: “We got pulled over for a busted taillight.” These were the words uttered by Diamond Reynolds, who live-streamed the aftermath of Philando Castile’s fatal shooting by police during an unwarranted traffic stop in Minnesota.

“Last Breath” is a nod to the late Eric Garner, who died after an officer placed him in an illegal chokehold. Baker’s command of the vibes is immediately apparent as he opens the track, before a tidal wave of contrasting sounds crashes in, notably the vigor of Stephens on EWI and Almazan’s piano. Much like Garner’s last words (“I can’t breathe”) helped define the Black Lives Matter movement, “Last Breath” reverberates that palpable rallying cry. That contrast is fully explored on the title track, as Douglas’ acoustic upright bass remains stalwart and steady, making a declarative statement that “My Life Matters,” amidst the vibrancy of electronica that charges through.

Each interlude (“A Prelude To An Unnecessary Yet Tragically Banal Oratorio,” “In A Brown Study,” “Can You Hear Me? (The Talking Drums Have Not Stopped),” “That Which Kills Us Makes Us What?” and “Lullaby For An Eternal Rest”) respectively provide a solo moment for each bandmember, lending ample room for them to expound musically in a way they haven’t before.

Perhaps the most vulnerable moments on My Life Matters are the two tracks “We’ll Never Know (They Didn’t Even Get To Try),” which features Blake’s son, Johna, who currently studies bass with Douglas, and “I Still Have A Dream,” a poem recited by his daughter Muna accompanied by Douglas on upright bass. Over a decade prior, Muna listed the names of those slain at the hands of police brutality on trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire’s Blue Note album, the imagined savior is far easier to paint.

While Blake never set out to make a protest album in the vein of Max Roach’s We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, he will gladly take up the charge established by his predecessors as part of this music’s continuum. “Those musicians set the bar very high for us to follow. If we’re not following their lead, then we are doing them a disservice.”