PENTAD

“Blake’s drumming is as bold as thunder and as subtle as the patter of rain. He recorded his most recent album, the impressive double disc “Trion,” over a couple nights last year at The Jazz Gallery. He returns to that club with Pentad, a new ensemble featuring some of New York’s finest young musicians. As you might have guessed, Trion was a trio, and Pentad is a quintet; it features Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, David Virelles on piano, Joel Ross on vibraphone and Dezron Douglas on bass.” - The New York Times

TRION

Trion, is an exhilarating chordless trio outing; an album captured live at New York City’s renowned The Jazz Gallery with fellow modern jazz greats Chris Potter and Linda May Han Oh.

Blake approached this trio date with the same sense of open camaraderie with which he enters into any musical situation – the collaborative spirit that makes him such a remarkable drummer. The album’s title is taken from a physics term that refers to three atoms combining to form a single unit, a concept that is deeply meaningful in the context of this highly attuned trio.

“I’m in awe of both Linda and Chris,” Blake says. “This was a really beautiful chance for us to make some honest music together and I really enjoyed the process. We all felt very comfortable in the chordless format; we really know how to fill up the space without getting in each other’s way, which gives each one of us the opportunity to have our shining moments.”

Blake’s double album is the second release from Jimmy Katz’s Giant Step Arts, a groundbreaking, artist-focused non-profit with a single mission: to help modern jazz innovators create their art free of commercial pressure

MY LIFE MATTERS

Commissioned by The Jazz Gallery‘s Fellowship Series, My Life Matters is a suite of songs that serves as a dual treatise on the importance of family values and the social imperative to stand up in the face of injustice.

The group features Blake on drums, Dayna Stephens on saxophones / EWI, Joel Ross on vibraphone, Fabian Almazan on piano, and Rashaan Carter on bass. 

“Around the time I started composing one of the pieces, a lot of brutality was happening to young African-American men and women. As a person of color, I thought, ‘Man, maybe I’m not speaking out enough, as my parents stressed for me to do.’ I started thinking about the ones who came before me, who spoke through their music. Max Roach with his “Freedom Now” suite, John Coltrane with “Alabama.” I asked myself, ‘How can I speak out through my music?’ That’s where the title comes about, “My Life Matters.” It’s not just about Black Lives Matter, it’s about us as a whole. We have to learn how to coexist. We spend so much time worrying about ourselves that we can forget to care about others, notice our differences and similarities. We all were created here to live in harmony with one another. These pieces will hopefully serve as a jumping point for open discussion on that.”