MUSIC YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT - Michael Blake

MB - From north to south

One of my favorite musicians and saxophonists, grew up in Vancouver and migrated south to New York City. I first heard of him through a group lead by him called Slowpoke and the reason I heard of him there is because the rhythm section was the same as Sex Mob which I was really into that time. Not too long after I discovered Steven Bernstein the slide trumpet player (also a member of Sex Mob) and his Millennial Orchestra which is a loosely conducted group of incredible improvisers that took the Downtown Scene by storm in the 90's. Well Michael Blake was also at the helm of a Composers Collective with peers such as Ben Allison and Frank Kimbrough which was quite an incredible entity at the time... a lot of great music was put together as a result of that. 

Michael Blake has embraced the jazz saxophone tradition, not afraid to look far back at the roots and reinvent them in his own way. He has recordings that sound more modern and recordings that sound old, likt they have been around for a while and that's one of my favorite things about him.

A great little Trio clip:

Here he is with Ben Allison's group:

And one more just because Michael plays a groovy solo here:

http://www.michaelblake.net/