With the holidays upon us, here’s an update of what’s available from ranblake.com:

For the first time, We have a small quantity of the remastered version of Duo En Noir for sale. This is a live set from 1999 with trumpeter Enrico Rava. Also, All That Is Tied is now back in stock.

The other available CDs are Camera Obscura (with Sara Serpa), Out of the Shadows (with Christine Correa), Driftwoods, That Certain Feeling, A Memory of Vienna, Indian Winter, Unmarked Van, Epistrophy, Short Life of Barbara Monk, Improvisations, and Suffield Gothic.

Speaking of That Certain Feeling, Ran’s 1991 tribute to George Gershwin which was recently reissued, this CD is featured among the Editor’s Picks in Downbeat’s November e-newsletter. Aaron Cohen writes: “It still stands out as one of the most original tributes to the classic songwriter. Rather than build improvisations from Gershwin’s familiar songs, his melodies offer suggestions for Blake’s more open-ended improvisations. And in so doing, he completely changes the expectations for how these standards should sound.”

In addition to CDs, don’t forget that The Primacy of the Ear, Ran’s new book on his philosophy of development of the ear, is available from lulu.

Ran is in Spain getting ready to kick off a series of concerts in Europe. The first show of the tour, which was originally scheduled for Dec. 2, was moved to Dec. 1 due to a scheduling conflict. So the tour now shapes up like this:

Dec. 1 – Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain, duo performance with guitarist David “Knife” Fabris

Dec. 4 – Siguenza Jazz Festival, Spain, duo with Knife

Dec. 10 – St. Catherin’s Church, Vilnius, Lithuania, duo with Knife

Dec. 16 - Casa Del Jazz, Rome, Italy, solo performance with appearances by Knife and tenor saxophonist Jacopo Jacopetti

Dec. 19 – Trem Azul Jazz Store, Lisbon, Portugal, duo performance with vocalist Sara Serpa

Last month we mentioned that the tour may produce live albums from the Vilnius and Rome shows. An additional bit of news is that a Lithuanian filmmaker who’s a big jazz fan plans to make a documentary about Ran’s visit and performance in Vilnius. We’ll keep you posted on these projects if and when they come to fruition.

As always, you can reach Ran directly at ran@ranblake.com, and you can read back issues here.

To learn more about studying at NEC’s Contemporary Improvisation Department, visit the department’s website or contact Department Chairperson Hankus Netsky.

We’ll see you in December.
–Steve

Vol. 6, No. 11