#Ran Blake Plays Solo Piano

[jazzdailyblog]

Unraveling the Nuances of Ran Blake's "All That Is Tied"

Introduction: Ran Blake, a distinguished figure in the world of third-stream jazz, has left an indelible mark on the genre with his cerebral and evocative piano compositions. His album “All That Is Tied,” released in 2006 on the Tompkins Square label, stands as a testament to his unparalleled artistry and musical depth. In this blog post, we delve into the intricacies of this remarkable album,…

[historybetweenthepages]

1965

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[blake-belladonna-defence-force]

King of Nothing

This one is for the person who suggested King of Anything by Sara Bareilles for a prompt. They asked me to keep their name out of the post so I’m going to respect that request.

Hopefully... this band au came out okay.

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“Now introducing, our pianist Blake Belladonna for a solo song!”

Blake inhaled deeply, leaning into Yang’s side as the blonde drummer kissed her cheek, murmuring a quiet “good luck” into her ear. She stepped towards the stage, smiling when Weiss pulled her into a brief hug and playfully pushed her out on stage.

“There you are!” Ruby grinned up at her excitedly, silver eyes glinting with warmth. “Everyone’s so excited! Right, guys?” The question was met with a round of applause as Ruby pulled Blake into a hug spoke quietly. “We’re all so proud of you. Go show him what he lost.”

Blake laughed quietly into Ruby’s hair, feeling. A wave of affection for her girlfriend’s sister washed over her and she tightened her hold before she pulled back and took the mic, ruffling Ruby’s short and choppy hair as the grunge loving girl ran off to sit beside Weiss.

“Um… hi?” She said nervously. Usually, Blake had a far more confident stage presence but tonight her nerves were frayed. “How is everyone doing tonight?” She felt a small grin split her face as the crowd screamed.

“I’m gay!”

“Oh honey.” Blake laughed, taking a page from Yang’s book and winking in the general direction of the shout. “That’s a mood.” She let out a small laugh as the crowd cheered, slowly regaining some of her typical mojo. “So… as Ruby said, I will be singing and performing a solo song for you. As some of you may recall, I joined the band after my old manager became overpowering, controlling, manipulative and vindictive, leading me to finally make the decision to leave. That man was Adam Taurus. You’ve all seen the evidence so I won’t get into it. But to cut a long story short; I’m now the lead pianist in a band playing sold out shows and he’s probably sitting in a bar, drinking his misery away because he lost everything. Including me.” Blake inhaled shakily and walked over to the piano and put her mic in the stand and angled it toward her as she settled into the seat. “So… this one is for you, Adam; aka, the king of nothing.”

“Keep drinking coffee, stare me down across the table

While I look outside

So many things I'd say if only I were able

But I just keep quiet and count the cars that pass by”

Meetings where she sat in silence, trained to bite her tongue. How often had she sat and let him talk over her?

“You've got opinions, man

We're all entitled to 'em, but I never asked

So let me thank you for your time,

And try not to waste anymore of mine

And get out of here fast”

Her opinions had never mattered. It was always his way. But she was done listening to words of the past.

“I hate to break it to you babe, but I'm not drowning

There's no one here to save

Who cares if you disagree?

You are not me

Who made you king of anything?

So you dare tell me who to be?

Who died and made you king of anything?”

Adam had always had a hero complex. Claimed that he was responsible for Blake’s success. Tried to morph her to fit his vision. But no more.

“Who cares if you disagree?

You are not me

Who made you king of anything?

So you dare tell me who to be?

Who died and made you king of anything?

You sound so innocent, all full of good intent

Swear you know best

But you expect me to jump up on board with you

And ride off into your delusional sunset”

He was so convinced that he was some kind of hero. Made Blake think that he had her best intentions at heart. But he was delusional, desperately trying to make Blake his prize. But she refused.

“I'm not the one who's lost with no direction

But you'll never see

You're so busy making masks with my name on them in all caps

You got the talking down, just not the listening”

He was so lost in his own vision that he forgot what it was to be a person. He stopped seeing Blake as an individual and instead as his ticket to glory and success. Always talking, never listening.

It hurt to remember, Blake found, as she sang through the chorus again. The lies and manipulation. The isolation… but he was gone. She could be free. And she was letting everyone know.

“All my life I've tried to make everybody happy

While I just hurt and hide

Waiting for someone to tell me it's my turn to decide”

And that time had come and it was here to stay. She was making her own choices. Choices that existed in shades of silver, blue and lilac. Her band. Her friends. Her girlfriend. Her everything. And she wasn’t going back.

“Let me hold your crown, babe.” Blake finished, allowing a smirk to grow as she looked towards the audience, where she knew cameras would be filming. But her smirk turned to a touched smile, sentimental tears filling her eyes as their fans screamed and applauded.

He had been so wrong. She wasn’t nothing without him.

Not when she had the love of those close to her and the support of the people who celebrated her.

[dustedmagazine]

Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake — The Newest Sound You Never Heard (A-Side Records)

Whether you do or don’t already own a copy of Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake’s classic duos The Newest Sound Around, you’re in for a treat. Half a decade after that classic vocal/piano release, Lee and Blake recorded two Belgian gigs, one in late 1966 and the other in early 1967. It’s an absolute joy to have new music from this pair of originals. And there is very little as odd and yet immediately satisfying as the blend of Lee’s lush tone and unpredictable phrasing with Blake’s arch harmonic sensibility and mischievous arrangements. 

Blake is long been renowned not just for his singular approach to harmony but for his propensity to combine interesting emotional or even theatrical elements. Lee, a vocalist who remains woefully under-appreciated, knew just what to do in almost every circumstance. She might play it straight, following a rhythm or a phrase unvaryingly. Or she could just as easily draw things out to improbable length and duration, or invest a lyric with unexpected dimensions. That they do this with material that is so very conventional, and has so many firm expectations, makes their music even more challenging and beautiful.  

There are plenty of places to study Blake, and sometimes Lee, alone. On “Honeysuckle Rose,” Blake really turns the piano canon inside out, all space and odd phrasing. He plays spiky and abstract on “The Frog, The Fountain, and Aunt June, and more Monkishly on “Smoke After Smoke.” “God’s Image” is spindly and spacious, while “Birmingham, U.S.A.” moves through extreme contrasts in register and dynamics, from brashly noisy to tensely silent. Lee’s lone solo piece is a lovely, soulful “Billie’s Blues.”  

But the main ingredients are elsewhere. There are wonders everywhere, but a few tracks best capture the intensity and wonder of this duo’s music. Take the evergreen “Caravan,” for example. With one of the most familiar themes and tempos in all of jazz, it’s a tune that might seem resistant to much innovation. Not here. Lee and Blake manage to turn it into a tone poem, somehow without obliterating the unmistakable rhythmic language. Blake is sly with tempo and harmony, elliptical where “Caravan” is usually emphatic, and Lee just glides through marvelously, nailing the low end and always, always floating beyond the pulse. “Blue Monk” is given a spiky, mutated opening, and becomes further unpredictable from there: weirdly florid in places and loping in others, the one constant being Lee’s extraordinary vocalese. It’s like that with the standards. They find unexpected darkness in Leonard Bernstein’s “Something’s Coming.” They coax discordance and disorientation from “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.” There’s a riveting, elastic take on Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman.” And, perhaps wildest of all, they do a punishing version of the Beatles’ “Hard Day’s Night.” (They also do a fine “Mr. Tambourine Man.”)  

It is spacious music, but also contains depths. It is lithe and lyrical, except where it is arcane and harmonically arch. It is whisper-soft, then declamatory. And oh, Jeanne Lee, who can conjure darkness, playfulness, regret, and sass in a single note. Francis Bacon wrote, centuries ago, “There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.” Lee and Blake didn’t merely understand this; it was the substance of their glorious music.

Jason Bivins

[austencello]

My Name is Emiko Queen - Arrow Music Notes 7x10

Oliver discovers that the new Green Arrow is his half-sister Emiko as she pursues justice/revenge for her mother’s death. Since the mystery of who is under the hood is revealed, this episode establishes themes and instruments for Emiko both giving her own voice but closely tying it to Oliver as well.

Emiko Queen

While Emiko’s face was first revealed as the person under the Green Hood in 7x08, her theme was fully introduced in this episode now that the audience knows that she is related to Oliver Queen.  Her theme is made up of two repeated notes that are punctuated by rests in-between. The rhythm is an important aspect and helps distinguish it from Oliver’s Arrow theme which is slightly syncopated (often groups of 3,3,2) while hers is firmly in 2 or 4. One of the reasons this is important is because they share most of the same instruments: strings, brass, electronics, hammered dulcimer, electric guitar and even the drum kit which played during both of their voiceovers (reminiscent of Season 1 - “Setting Up the Lair”).  This helps establish the Green Arrow sound but also connects them as family, especially with the hammered dulcimer and electric guitar.  The hammered dulcimer was introduced with Emiko as she fought William Glenmorgan who she believed killed her mother.  Just as Oliver’s crusade was righting the wrongs for his father, Emiko’s was to bring justice for her mother.

A variation and introduction of her theme began in 7x08 as she ran away from Oliver, using the basic underline of notes and using rests in the brass as well as using drums (the tom-toms and tabla) that will be featured throughout the episode.  These drum patterns are an aspect that separate her from Oliver.  While it is a similar sound to many Nanda Parbat fighting scenes, there is a little finger action that sets it apart near the end of the episode. The tabla (an Indian hand drum) was used as she sought justice looking up information on the computer, attacking the house, and then as she fought alone, angry at the end that she had failed.  This unique color could be used to give a little non-Western sound to set her apart from Oliver or a hint to her training. Or Blake Neely thought it sounded cool. 

After Emiko is shot, she reveals her face and asks for help from Rene.  When she wakes up in his house and Rene offers to help her crusade, she responds that she doesn’t need help, despite that she turned to him after being shot. As they talk, a slow melody plays in an higher electronic instrument. The music is first introduced with the celeste (a bell-like keyboard) over an electric guitar sound used in sadder moments between Oliver and Felicity “Someone You Love” (3x12).  This melody returns later when she asks why Rene wants to help her and her cause.  He responded that he had found purpose through Oliver Queen’s team to channel his grief and anger into justice for the city and that he missed being a part of that as Wild Dog.  He wants to help make his city, especially the Glades, a safer place and he knows it is better to work as a team than solo.  This could be a melody just for this episode or for their talks as a team.  However, using the same instruments (and the same first three notes as “Someone You Love”) to lead into their theme (which is quite different) seems to imply that this is a team-up in many ways emulating Olicity.  The brooding GA who wants to work alone and the person she turned to after being shot determined to keep helping so that she is not alone, helping to make the city a better place seems quite familiar. The music seems to show that there is a partnership and trust that will grow between these two people.

Olicity and the discovery of more family secrets

Oliver gets a blood sample of the new Green Arrow and asks Felicity to analyze it help expedite the SPCD process. As she looks at the DNA, electronic music matching many of her hacking/Overwatch moments accompanies the score.

As Oliver processes the news that he has a sister from his father’s side, piano (Oliver’s instrument) plays his hero theme as he realizes there is yet another secret his family kept. This variation was used in 4x01 “The Ring and the Grave” as Oliver wrestled with the grief and loss of a close friend. In both cases, he is wrestling with emotions and information that affects him greatly but was not of his own making. Harp (Felicity’s instrument) plays as Felicity offers to help find answers. As she finds information about a hidden storage unit, electric bass and string patterns begin and then guitar harmonics (another instrument for Oliver) follow as they realize that it was hidden by his mother.

Oliver and Felicity find a letter written by Robert to Walter Steele about Emiko, asking Walter to take care of her, recognizing that had he failed her and her mother.  Oliver begins to read as hammered dulcimer and piano accompany him and then it switches to strings as Robert’s voice takes over following Emiko entering her lair, showing Rene her mother’s picture and murder board.

Oliver is quite upset to find his father had another family and abandoned that family.  As he processes this with Felicity, being quite hurt, the cellos begin a variation of “I forgot who I was” (1x05).  This theme accompanied many moments of Queen secrets including Thea’s parentage, the discovery of William and later sending him away. This variation has pauses between each three notes as Oliver talks about how hard he has tried to clear the family’s name after so many terrible things.  This is variation that played is used only in a handful of moments including “Never Without Me” (2x20) when Moira comforted Oliver in the Flashbacks about the loss of William as a baby, promising to be always with him and then the end theme in the piano played as Moira died, completely devastating her children in her loss.  The piano theme is also at the end of “Need to Know” (1x23) when Oliver confronts Moira about the Undertaking, telling her how Robert died for him. It is a theme that connects the death of his parents, the loss and the weight of guilt that their deaths placed on him. While he has moved past a lot of the guilt, reopening wounds and secrets bring much of the emotion back in his compassion for his sister, especially now that he is a father himself. Moira and Robert left behind a legacy of lies and abandonment, hiding Oliver’s son and the existence of Emiko, to preserve the Queen family, leaving those two abandoned by their fathers.

Later on, Oliver looks at over the balcony uncertain if he should reach out to his sister as their electronic background music is joined by strings.  Felicity urges him to right his Father’s wrongs by reaching out and reminding him that he is a better man than his father.

At the end, Oliver greets Emiko at their father’s grave as his hero theme plays.  Then his Arrow string pattern begins followed by his Arrow glissando which in turn is answered by Emiko’s theme in the brass.  The two Green Arrows, the two Queens, are finally meeting.

John Diggle and the Ghost Initiative

Oh John Diggle.  In trying to pursue Dante as well as cover their searching for him from the Deputy Director, he tells Director Bell that they are recruiting Diaz for a new version of the Suicide Squad.  Lyla is less than thrilled with this initiative as she had scrubbed the program never to be used again.  As she walks away saying “Nice job...Agent” the first two notes of Diggle’s theme is played but not the third.  The hero is in there but has also changed his tune a lot since his interaction with the suicide square in Seasons 2 and 3.  In a similar vein, this happens again when Lyla confronts him about this decision saying: “I thought I was the one in danger of becoming Amanda Waller.” 

As they put the bomb in Diaz’s head, the theme of the Suicide Squad begins “Forming a Squad” (2x12) followed by low strings, similar to Diaz’s music but not quite as he promises to come after her.

Extra Notes:

 - There was a very nice melody as Dinah talks to Rene about the Mark of Four in the future.  We shall see if that returns or was just for this episode.  It turned hopeful as she spoke of what it stood for, supporting each other but then took a minor turn as Rene refused to help.

- Wow, there was a shortage of gifs for this episode especially anything non-Olicity!

- I was hoping to get this done before the latest episode but I ran into technical difficulty connected to winter storms. Ah well!

@smoakmonster @ah-maa-zing @academyofshipping @herskirtsarentthatshort @mel-loves-all @jorahandal @almondblossomme @scu11y22 @dmichellewrites @green-arrows-of-karamel

[aion-rsa]

Who Was Ma Rainey’s Real Band?

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Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is one of those rare films with only one major setting: a Chicago recording studio in 1927. The entire film, and the play it was based on, tells the story of four backing musicians waiting for Madame “Ma” Rainey (Viola Davis) to arrive and cut some sides. According to the label on the 78, Rainey’s 1927 recording of “’Ma’ Rainey’s Black Bottom” and her remake of “Moonshine Blues” of that year was done by “Ma” Rainey and her Georgia Jazz Band.

The Musicians

There are no session notes on the musicians who played on the title song of the Netflix film. Indeed, when Den of Geek sat down with the cast of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom actor Glynn Turman told us, “We found photographs of her band members, but that was the closest and most detailed information that we had. Not so much as any particular story about any one of the band members, but we did see photographs of the groups, and the sometimes different groups.”

However, Ragtimedorianhenry.com does at least list three of the four musicians who backed Rainey on her ode to bootleg hooch. Albert Wynn played the tuba, which was translated into the upright bass for the film. The bassist in the film is named Slow Drag (Michael Potts), and according to a synopsis for the play it’s based on, Slow Drag got his name from a gig where he slow-danced with women for hours for money. Conversely, low register horn player Wynn fronted many of his own bands: Al Wynn And His Gutbucket Five, Al Wynn’s Gutbucket Seven, Albert Wynn’s Creole Jazz Band, as well as filling a seat with Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra. 

The clarinet player on the record is Artie Starks, a steady reedman who played with outfits like Albert Ammons and His Rhythm Kings, Preston Jackson’s Uptown Band, Richard Jones and His Jazz Wizards, and Starks Hot Five.

Levee (Chadwick Boseman) is the “talented and temperamental trumpet player” of the band, according to the playbill. He is the youngest, and is doing time playing in Rainey’s group until he can put together his own band. The cornet player on the actual recording is Shirley Clay.

Clay started playing when he was a teenager in St. Louis, Missouri, sometime around 1920. His early gigs included touring with John Williams’ Synco Jazzers. By the late 1920s and through the 1940s, he was a sought-out session player, backing artists like Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, and The Mills Brothers, and swinging with Benny Goodman. He led his own band from 1944 to 1951.

The piano player is listed as unknown. While Rainey also worked with pianists Claude Hopkins and Willie “the Lion” Smith in this period, based on the date of the recording sessions, the pianist was probably Lillian Hardaway Henderson, the wife of cornetist Fletcher Henderson, who became the leader of Rainey’s band. The play synopsis says guitar and trombone player Cutler (Colman Domingo) is the leader of all the other instrumentalists.

The film and play’s piano player is Toledo (Glynn Turman), who doubles as the band philosopher. He loves books and believes style and musicianship are the main contributors to performance. Rainey’s pianist also loved to read, and preferred musicians who could read notation.

Thomas A. Dorsey was also Ma’s manager, and musical arranger. He spotted the talent for Rainey’s touring ensemble, the Wild Cats Jazz Band. The musicians played blues, but also performed written sheet music for contemporary jazz numbers. Dorsey entered Rainey’s world in 1924. He left the touring band in 1926, but is credited in later sessions, including her last in 1928, for the songs “Black Eye Blues,” “Runaway Blues,” and “Sleep Talking Blues” with guitarist Hudson “Tampa Red” Whittaker.

“Georgia Tom” Dorsey is best known as “the father of Gospel music,” writing 3,000 songs, including “Peace in the Valley,” and working with legends like Mahalia Jackson.

Most of “Ma” Rainey’s songs were recorded under the name of “Ma” Rainey and her Georgia Jazz Band, which changed personnel frequently. It included such musicians as trombone players Wynn, Kid Ory, and Charlie Green and Al Wynn; reed players Don Redman, Buster Bailey, Coleman Hawkins, and Johnny Dodds. Rainey was also backed by pianist Jimmy Blythe and blues guitarist Blind Blake, as well as 12-string guitar player Miles Pruitt on the August 1924 eight-bar blues song “Shave ‘Em Dry.” Rainey was backed by trumpet players Tommy Ladnier, Artie Starks, Joe Smith, and Louis Armstrong.

Armstrong played cornet on her songs “Yonder Comes the Blues,” “Jelly Bean Blues,” “Moonshine Blues,” and “Countin’ the Blues.” When Rainey recorded her blues masterpiece “See See Rider Blues” in a New York studio in mid-October 1924, the lineup was Armstrong and Buster Bailey on cornet, Henderson on piano, Charlie Green on trombone,and Charlie Dixon on banjo. Armstrong never knifed anyone over a pair of shoes, but he kills on those songs.

The Studio

The sign outside the studio in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom says the label is Hot Rhythm Recordings, a play on a nickname for the “rhythm and blues” and jazz music of that era. In truth, however, Rainey recorded with Paramount Records between 1923 and 1928. Formerly known as Black Swan, the company was founded in 1920, and was the second Black-owned record label in history. It was bought out in January 1924, by M. A. Supper, changing it to a white-owned company. But its output throughout both eras was called “race records,” and they made bank.

“Ma” Rainey was immensely popular in the Southern theater circuit. She’d been a popular solo performer before she teamed with her husband William “Pa” Rainey, forming together the “Assassinators of the Blues.” In 1916, Rainey separated from her husband and toured with her own band, Madam Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Her Georgia Smart Sets. Her tent shows featured a chorus line, a Cotton Blossoms Show, and Donald McGregor’s Carnival Show. Talent scout and recording session supervisor Mayo “Ink” Williams brought her in for her first Paramount recordings in 1923, three years after the first blues singles were recorded by Mamie Smith.

Williams was the first Black producer at a major record label, and the most successful blues producer of his time. He earned his nickname because he was very successful getting African American musicians signed to recording contracts. He’d move on to Decca Records in 1934 where he produced or wrote songs for a wide range of artists and genres, including jump blues, which became rock and roll.

Rainey was 37 years old when she signed with Paramount in December 1923. Rainey wrote 38 of the 92 songs she recorded, and her first session was recorded with Lovie Austin and Her Blue Serenaders. She and Lovie also recorded with Louis Armstrong for the label.

Bigger genre labels like Okeh Records and Columbia Records, where Bessie Smith was signed, had much better studios. This complaint makes it into Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom several times, especially when a perfect performance never makes it through the needle because of a faulty microphone. Sound quality for most of Rainey’s recordings suffered at Paramount. The company went bankrupt in the 1930s.

While recording at Paramount, the studio did arrange a very successful promotional tour. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom includes scenes from Rainey’s run at the renowned Grand Theater on State Street in Chicago. Rainey was the first country-style blues artist to play the venerable room. This context is something the movie explores at length.

Read more

Culture

Ma Rainey’s Life and Reign as the Mother of the Blues

By Tony Sokol

Movies

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Ending Explained

By Tony Sokol

About that Windy City setting, Turman also tells us, “You got to remember, there had just been a race riot in Chicago [before the movie is set] because a young Black boy had gone swimming in the lake there. And there was a section that he was not supposed to cross as a result of the discrimination. And so they would not let him swim back to shore and he drowned… so we had to forge these characters with a certain amount of steel in their backbone, because these were guys who were going into an area that anything could happen to them at any time.”

Over a period of five years, Rainey performed and recorded with her Georgia Jazz Band, her Tub Jug Washboard Band, and female bandleader and jazz pianist Lovie Austin and the Blues Serenaders.

As the movie points out, Rainey never stopped performing live. “Ma” toured with her Wild Jazz Cats on the Theater Owners Booking Association circuit consistently. The recordings were secondary, after all the sessions. “Ma” Rainey stayed on the road until she retired, and even then, she ran two theaters.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom premieres on Netflix now.

*Additional reporting by Don Kaye.

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[budaallmusic]

Ran Blake ‎– Plays Solo Piano #espdisk 1965 🇺🇸 US (mono) Art Direction [Art Director] – #PaulFrick Design [Cover Design] – #SaulStollman Liner Notes – #GuntherSchuller Liner Notes [Liner Poem] – #Bob lMarius Photography By – #GeorgeKlabin Piano – #RanBlake https://www.instagram.com/p/ByNGX4gpBnE/?igshid=exgpwi1rq8g5