RAN BLAKE - Suffied Gothic (1983)

On four of the nine selections of this otherwise solo piano set, Ran Blake duets with the warm and soulful tenor of Houston Person. Rather than playing some blues or standards (all of the solo pieces are well-known), Person and Blake surprisingly explore four of the pianist's quirky originals, and the unusual matchup turns out quite well. Other highlights include Blake's transformations of "Pete Kelly's Blues,""Old Man River" and "Stars and Stripes Forever," plus a medley of tunes played in tribute to Mahalia Jackson. No Ran Blake record is ever dull.  -  Scott Yanow


Ran Blake once said of Horace Silver, "... the energy with which [he] erupts is often greater than the content of his ideas." As author Robert Doerschuk has observed, exactly the opposite is true of Mr Blake - and that's certainly true of his performance in "Suffield Gothic."

I doubt that I have ever read a review of one of Mr Blake's records that did not describe him as "unique." And he is. No other jazz pianist sounds even remotely like Mr Blake - stripped down, spare, single notes - Mr Blake is as concerned about the silence between notes as he is with the notes themselves. And yet, for all of its austerity, Mr Blake's music is deepy evocative and emotional.

"Suffield Gothic" gives you four of Mr Blake's darkly elegant original songs, a couple of standards, and, God help me, John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever." On four of these cuts, he is joined by Houston Person. This pairing works surprisingly well, (much better than Mr Blake's match-up with Clifford Jordan on "Masters From Different Worlds"). Mr Person's warm, mellow tenor sax is the perfect accompaniment to Mr Blake's piano.  -  Gary L. Connely


Tracks
1. Curtis (Ran Blake)
2. Pete Kelly's Blues (Sammy Cahn/Ray Heindorf)
3. There's Been a Change in My Life (Hubert Powell)
4. Vanguard (Ran Blake)
5. Old Man River (O. Hammerstein/J. Kern)
6. Tribute To Mahalia (Ran Blake)
7. Indian Winter (Ran Blake)
8. Stars And Stripes Forever (John Phillip Sousa)
9. Midnight local To Tate County (Ran Blake)

RAN BLAKE  piano
HOUSTON PERSON  tenor saxophone

Recorded September 28-29, 1983 at Vanguard Studios, NY
Soul Note SN 1077 CD