A Song To Wake the Senses

Photo: Newvelle Records

I first heard saxophonist Michael Blake in the 1990s as a member of New York City's Jazz Composers Collective, playing in bassist Ben Allison's Medicine Wheel, and with John Lurie's Lounge Lizards.  Over the decades, the tenor saxophonist (who also plays soprano sax, flute, alto flute, clarinet, and bass clarinet) has created and presented many different styles of music––he can be playful, thoughtful, solemn, with a full-bodied tone that has a streak of blues at times as well as a formidable edge.  What does stand out in his work is that Michael Blake always keeps growing and exploring.

He has a new album coming out in late May. "Dance of the Mystic Bliss" (P+M Records) finds Blake creating new sounds in a delightful mixture of jazz, folk, and World music.  Joining him on this adventure is Guilherme Monteiro (electric guitar), Skye Steele (violin, rabeka (a violin-bowed stringed instrument), and gonji (also a traditional bowed stringed instrument), Christopher Hoffman (cello), Michael Bates (acoustic bass), plus percussionists Mauro Refosco and Rogerio Boccatto. Blake had been creatively stymied by the passing of his mother, Merle Blake, in 2018 and then the pandemic hit.  Being shut in opened up his creative juices and the result is this delightful 10-song program. Blake has just issued a new video and a preview track to whet the listener's appetite.

The album opens with "Merle The Pearl": dedicated to his late mother who was a dancer and singer, that the saxophonist first recorded the piece for 2001's "Elevated" album; he played soprano on that version that features a quartet really pushing the music forward at a breakneck speed. Here, the piece dances in on an insistent guitar line, percussion, and plucked violin and cello. The song has such a vivacious melody, one that blends Caribbean, South American, and African elements. Blake's tenor solo reminds this listener of Arthur Blythe's joyous work on 1978's "Down San Diego Way"––while Blake doesn't imitate the late alto saxophonist's signature alto sax sound, he certainly does present the most joyous and dancing solo.  The exuberant phrases dance out of the speaker and takes one out of any funk they might be suffering from. Listen and watch below––I hope you agree.  

You can check out "Dance of the Mystic Bliss" by going to  https://michaelblake.bandcamp.com/album/dance-of-the-mystic-bliss. For more information about Michael Blake, go to www.michaelblake.net/. 

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