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Brian Blade

"I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa's wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn't understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer, guitarist and songwriter: Mama Rosa is a revealing journey through thirteen songs about family, loved ones, travels and a sense that these things that shape and inspire us have to be shared with others to complete a circle. He has been writing and recording material with words for as long as he's been making music. In fact, Mama Rosa grew naturally from the four-track home demos that he's recorded over the years and several of the original performances from those tapes can be heard on this album. Initially, Blade felt that these songs would never be heard by anyone else, but after encouragement from longtime friend Daniel Lanois, these home recordings became the cornerstones for the album. There is an initial spark close to the moment of inspiration and that intimate vibe is felt throughout Mama Rosa. "For some time now, these songs have existed in the solitude of my room, and I got a lot of joy and satisfaction from just knowing that they existed," Blade says. "But at a certain point I questioned whether it was fear or selfishness that kept me quiet. Facing the music and the mirror, I began to ask if this was the end of the process? What does God expect of me? Maybe someone else might find some inspiration in the songs." The lyrical themes of home, memories and loved ones, and how they shape who we are, are reflected in Blade naming the album after his grandmother. Rosa is the subject of the album's vivid opening track "After The Revival." Sung from the perspective of his mother Dorothy Blade, expecting the birth of her first son, Brian's older brother, Brady, Jr. "After the Revival" also alludes to Blade's early years at the Zion Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana, where his father is pastor, and where Brian first started singing and playing the drums. The multi-talented young veteran is already widely respected in the jazz world as drummer/composer/leader of Brian Blade and The Fellowship Band, with whom he has released three albums.

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5
Album Review

Scott Colley, Edward Simon, Brian Blade: Three Visitors

Read "Three Visitors" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


There are the many moments to hold and savor on Three Visitors, the second trio offering from pianist Edward Simon, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade. Like their 2017 eponymous debut Steel House (Artist Share), Three Visitors is artful, understated, elegant and so soul deep. A late night disk to rest with and to reflect upon days in the distance and days ahead. Simon (SFJazz Collective), Colley (Andrew Hill and Herbie Hancock) and Blade are '90s post-boppers who have enjoyed each other's ...

12
Live Review

Detroit Jazz Festival 2024: The Year of Alice

Read "Detroit Jazz Festival 2024: The Year of Alice" reviewed by Paul Rauch


Detroit Jazz Festival 2024 Hart Plaza & Campus Martius Detroit, MI August 30-September 2, 2024 An annual pilgrimage to the Detroit Jazz Festival allows a jazz fan, or in this case, a jazz journalist, to reset to an internal default setting for what this music means to us on a very personal and spiritual level. The world's largest free jazz festival removes financial barriers of access and brings the music to the people, whether you ...

23
Album Review

Wayne Shorter: Celebration Volume 1

Read "Celebration Volume 1" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Wayne Shorter never rested on his or anyone's laurels. So when at the start of this perilous century he convened his great, late-stage quartet with pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade it wasn't to take the bandstand and placate audience and skeptics with greatest hits or refurbished takes on old standards. It was to create new and now again, just as he had with Art Blakey (1959-19630), Miles Davis (1964-1970), and Weather Report (1971-1986). In Shorter's expansionist ...

24
Album Review

Wayne Shorter: Celebration Volume 1

Read "Celebration Volume 1" reviewed by Chris May


In 2000, three years short of entering his eighth decade on this planet--a place of origin which at times seemed questionable, though he made less fuss about it than Sun Ra--Wayne Shorter finally did what he had resisted doing throughout his career. He formed his own band, not just for an album project but as an ongoing touring and recording unit. By the time Shorter passed in 2023, the Wayne Shorter Quartet had released four live albums and a studio ...

98
Album Review

Koppel, Blade, Koppel: Time Again

Read "Time Again" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


This multi-generational trio featuring the Danish father/son team of Benjamin Koppel (alto sax) and Anders Koppel (organ), alongside ace drummer Brian Blade, is a decidedly forward-looking affair. But it also pays homage to classic jazz's boundless joy and irreverent spirit with a sly wink and more than a few joyous surprises. Blade's often explosive, polyrhythmic cyclone meshes seamlessly with Anders' bubbling organ articulations. Benjamin's alto sax work deftly rides the grooves while jabbing in unexpected angular asides, creating ...

24
Album Review

Charles Lloyd: The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow

Read "The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow" reviewed by Chris May


Those of us who were going to jazz festivals in summer 1966, and were lucky enough to catch the Charles Lloyd Quartet, will likely have one tune in particular imprinted on our memories. That was because “Forest Flower" so precisely reflected the acid-drenched zeitgeist blossoming in Europe and the US. Lloyd, Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee and Jack DeJohnette recorded the piece at the Monterey festival in September 1966, and when Forest Flower was released in early 1967, it was the ...

31
Album Review

Charles Lloyd: The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow

Read "The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


For a long, grateful while now the music of Charles Lloyd has rippled out from that rarified space where the ego does not prevail. A pool of depth and wonder which culminates in one masterful artwork after another, for example Wild Man Dance (Blue Note, 2015) and 8: Kindred Spirits Live from the Lobero Theater (Blue Note, 2019). Lloyd's eleventh Blue Note album, the double disc set  The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow is also his first ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Brian Blade's birthday today!

“I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa's wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn't understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer, guitarist and songwriter: Mama Rosa is a revealing ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Brian Blade's birthday today!

“I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa's wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn't understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer, guitarist and songwriter: Mama Rosa is a revealing ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Brian Blade's birthday today!

“I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa's wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn't understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer, guitarist and songwriter: Mama Rosa is a revealing ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Brian Blade's birthday today!

“I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa's wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn't understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer, guitarist and songwriter: Mama Rosa is a revealing ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Brian Blade's birthday today!

“I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa\'s wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn\'t understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Brian Blade's birthday today!

“I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa\'s wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn\'t understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Brian Blade's birthday today!

“I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa\'s wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn\'t understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Brian Blade's birthday today!

“I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa\'s wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn\'t understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Brian Blade's birthday today! “I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa\'s wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn\'t understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer... Read more. Place our Musician of the Day ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brian Blade

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Brian Blade's birthday today! “I remember when I first read the words hanging in a frame on my grandma Rosa\'s wall. The serenity prayer was something I couldn\'t understand until almost thirty years later, but now after experiencing some peaks and valleys of life, those words ring in my ears with clarity." Brian Blade has set those words to music for his first recording as a singer... Read more. Place our Musician of the Day ...

"This is music that has heart, melody, and sophisticated and well-intentioned lyric poetry, and these songs are concerned with what it means to try and live alone and with others in the light each day..." ALL MUSIC GUIDE

Greg Diamond
guitar, electric
Martin Fabricius
vibraphone
Pepa Niebla
vocals
Niebla
vocals
Dave Tull
drums
Jesse Levit
saxophone
Daniel Villa Verde
guitar, acoustic
Vincent Houdijk
vibraphone
David Bode
saxophone
Lars Dieterich
clarinet, bass
Ash Luo
drums
Asa Nero
drums
Jacques Bailhé
keyboards
The Retrospective Quintet
band / ensemble / orchestra
Yogev Shetrit
composer / conductor
Jamie Pye
guitar

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Sky Will Still Be...

Blue Note Records
2024

buy

Eagle's Point

Edition Records
2024

buy

Time Again

Cowbell Music
2024

buy

Celebration Volume 1

Blue Note Records
2024

buy

Three Visitors

GroundUP Music
2024

buy

Fragments - Time Out...

Columbia Records
2023

buy

Amelia

From: Dance of the Elders
By Brian Blade

The End of Innocence

From: The Winds of Change
By Brian Blade

Little Scorpio

From: Pride and Joy
By Brian Blade

Daily Jubilee of Dancing Herbie D.

From: Finding Light
By Brian Blade

Song of A Solitary Crow

From: Between Two Worlds
By Brian Blade

When There Were Trains

From: Balancing Act
By Brian Blade

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