(photo: Tony Kellers)
https://jazz.pt/criticas/live-amsterdam-2006
Google translate gives us this (for my non-Portugese reading friend!):
Dave Fabris had his first lesson with Ran Blake (b. 1935) in 1987, at the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music, in Boston. It was then that the pianist, composer and educator, with a career that now spans almost six decades, nicknamed the guitarist “Knife”, after he played the guitar with a knife. «Ran was so encouraging to my eclectic tastes and playing style that I began studying privately with him», explains Dave Fabris to jazz.pt. “The best thing about Ran as a teacher and friend is the level of respect he shows, even to a young musician who needs a lot of work,” he says. «He validated my various influences and I will always give him credit for helping me discover my voice as a musician.» “Live Amsterdam 2006” was recorded in April of that year at BIMhuis, at the beginning of their third joint international tour, and is stamped by First Visit, a label associated with the prestigious HatHut/Ezz-Thetic by Werner Uehlinger and dedicated to historical records. The night before they celebrated Blake's birthday, who was able to meet a niece who lives in Holland. As they prepared to leave, the room managers gave them a recording of the show, which they kept for the rest of the tour. It took a decade and a half for Knife to find the recording in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, and realize that it was the best they had ever recorded as a duo. In the first part of the show we hear Blake solo and in the second the duo shows the high levels of interaction they establish, finalizing each other's thoughts and creating a magical conversation. «This show was the first date of a whirlwind spring tour in 2006. As road manager, I spent much of my days on tour taking care of Ran's needs, but the BIMhuis people took care of everything for us, so I could concentrate on the music for this concert», remembers Fabris. «When I realized the quality of the performance, I had to try to get it produced and edited, luckily, Werner was interested.» At the time of this recording, Fabris had studied with Ran Blake for 13 years and collaborated for a further seven after that, so they knew each other's playing particularly well. "There are moments during our duets on this recording where it seems like everything is composed, but we were really improvising." Over the course of his long career, Ran Blake has developed a unique niche. Just like Don Byron, Matthew Shipp, John Medeski and Dominique Eade, the Portuguese singer and songwriter Sara Serpa was also his disciple, having recorded with her mentor albums such as “Camera Obscura” (Nischo, 2010) and “Aurora” (Clean Feed, 2012).
With an approach that brings together references from the classical tradition, the telluric charge of the blues, the spirituality of gospel or the atmosphere of film noir, Ran Blake's sonic idiosyncrasy has attracted many, both musicians and audiences, over the years. His legacy is reflected in almost fifty albums. Long before the invention of virtual reality, Blake began mentally placing himself inside the films and real-life settings that inspired his original compositions. The influence of Pentecostal church music, which he discovered when he was a teenager growing up in Suffield, Connecticut, combined with his musical immersion in what he himself calls 'a Film Noir world', laid the foundation for his musical universe. This early style would evolve when with fellow Bard College student and vocalist Jeanne Lee they created a duo in the late 1950s. The partnership led to the recording of “The Newest Sound Around” in 1962, introducing the world to their unique talents and the revolutionary approach to standards. This recording was informally supervised by his own mentor, Gunther Schuller, a major figure in the so-called “Third Stream” (an expression he coined) – a current that sought to combine the rigor of classical forms with the spontaneity and urgency of jazz –, someone who quickly realized Blake's potential. It was through Schuller's intervention that Blake studied at the Lenox School of Jazz in the summers of 1959 and 1960, where he studied with John Lewis, Oscar Peterson, Bill Russo and many others. He also studied in New York with Mary Lou Williams and Mal Waldron. During these years, he became close to Thelonious Monk and his family. Monk remains his favorite pianist. The teaching approach emphasizes what he calls “the primacy of the ear,” described in detail in his 2010 book of the same title, where he argues for elevating the listening process to the same status as the written score. This appetite for risk and enormous attention to detail, in a fluid and sometimes disconcerting style, along with the breadth and personal symbolism of his repertoire, sheds light on why Blake had few but special collaborators throughout his life. his career – and none for as long as Dave.
The album opens with “Vladiazi”, by the Greek Mikis Theodorakis, which soon emerges in Blake's mercurial pianism, from the sharpest chords to the most beautiful melodies in the blink of an eye. “This Will All Seem Funny” (by Steve Mardon, former student, another example of Blake's respect and support for inexperienced musicians) is a kind of anthem that is presented to us and then deconstructed. “Collaboration”, by Pete Rugolo, displays an elusive melody that cannot be tamed. Blake adds “Drop Me Off in Harlem” (by Duke Ellington) to “Night and Day” and gives us a glimpse of how Blake understands “tradition”, a vast source available for questioning. Cole Porter's old classic appears significantly transfigured, although the base melody is there, glorious as ever. In Monk’s telegraph “Hornin’n In,” thunderous notes alternate with beautiful passages. (It's surprising that they didn't play more Monk, but the reason soon arrives: «two days after this recording, we were going to Antwerp for a Monk festival, where we met Johnny Griffin», recalls Dave Fabris.) “All That is Tied” (by Jonah Kraut, another disciple) is slow and whispery and “Throw It Away”, by Abbey Lincoln, sails into very distant waters. “Paris”, originally by Blake, evokes the nocturnal beauty and unfathomable mystery of the French capital. The classic “Bye Bye Blackbird”, by Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon – recorded for the first time by Sam Lanin's dance orchestra in March 1926 – is explored to the core (it was the encore of this concert, so the noise of the present trying to return to their seats). “Machito” (another one by Rugolo/Kenton) appears coupled with the unexpected “Jammin” (by Stevie Wonder) – (Fabris says that Blake was teaching a student who loved reggae, so he thought about what it would be like to give this song a reggae beat) – bringing the guitarist into the equation in relaxed mode. “Vilna” is a short ballad with strange contours. Fabris, unaccompanied, delicately evokes the sinister ambience of “North by Northwest”, Bernard Herrmann’s classic for Alfred Hitchcock. “Nightcrawler”, original by Fabris, is a blues that enhances the dialogue between pianist and guitarist, in an accomplice regime, which continues in the frenetic reading of “Soulville”, by Horace Silver. “Sadness” (recorded by both, as well as “The Spiral Staircase” and “Merci Bom Dieu” on the 2005 album “Indian Winter”), is covered together with “Space Church” (two pieces by Ornette Coleman); a multimode electric guitar contrasts with the sparse notes of the piano, in a permanent challenge. Seminal for his future evolution as a composer “The Spiral Staircase”, by Roy Webb (soundtrack to the 1946 film by Robert Siodmak), serves a beneficial dose of dynamism and agitation, with an unusual exchange of roles (bass line versus chords). , a perfect example of the levels of complicity achieved by Blake and Fabris. A beautiful transfiguration of the second movement of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9 ends the journey. Of Ran Blake told Jason Moran recently: 'Ran is unlike anything else out there. I hope musicians listen and ask themselves, “Shouldn’t we be taking more risks?”» In times of normalizing asphyxiation, what continues is oxygen.
