Ron Blake - Scratch Band

[GA Russell]

Saxophonist Ron Blake Streamlines & Simplifies His Musical Delivery with "SCRATCH Band," Due August 8 on 7Tēn33 Productions Album Introduces an Intimate Trio Collaboration With Reuben Rogers on Bass, John Hadfield on Drums, & An Immediacy Drawn from the Music of Blake's Virgin Islands Upbringing   CD Release Show at Dizzy's, NYC; Wednesday, August 13   June 30, 2025 Ron Blake makes the case that less is more with the lean, uncluttered, direct sound of his SCRATCH Band, set for an August 8 release on his 7tēn33 Productions label. The debut of the tenor and baritone saxophonist’s eponymous ensemble is a more intimate affair than usual, placing Blake in a trio with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer John Hadfield, and applying that folklike sonic reduction to the rhythmic and melodic sensibilities that surrounded Blake growing up in the U.S. Virgin Islands. (In another unusual turn, Blake is on baritone saxophone—nominally his secondary axe—than his primary tenor.)   “There’s not a huge need to embellish with this music,” the leader says of his native quelbe music tradition. “It’s driven by the beauty of the melodies and good, danceable rhythms.” That philosophy stood Blake and SCRATCH Band well when they first convened to record in New York in the winter of 2021, during the pandemic, when quarantine and social distancing protocols were still in effect. Downscaled by necessity, the musicians duly focused on plainspoken, soulful tunes with immediate and obvious appeal, like “Bassman,” the calypso classic that wears its big dance groove right on the surface; the sensuous Cuban pseudo-lament “La Conga de Juana”; or the head-nodding island funk of “Appointment.” L. to r: Ron Blake, John Hadfield, Reuben Rogers. By no means, however, does the music on the album give the SCRATCH Band an easy way out. Groover though it is, the tenor-bass duet “Another Level” gives both Blake and Rogers a serious workout. Slow-burning closer “April’s Fool” is packed with tricky rhythmic nuances, and the elegant pair of “Body and Soul” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” dare the musicians to find something new to say with two of the most covered songs in the canon. (They deliver handsomely on both fronts, Blake finding fresh sweetness on the former while Rogers and Hadfield tap into waves of grace and dignity on the Black National Anthem.) The secret to the simplicity of SCRATCH Band is that it gives its artists more room for discovery, not less. Ron Blake was born September 7, 1965 in the Santurce district of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and grew up in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Blake’s father was an architect who loved jazz and Latin music, and passed that passion down to the youngest of his four children.   First trying his hand at guitar as an 8-year-old, Blake by 10 had settled on the saxophone, playing alto in the school band. By 14, he had come far enough on the instrument to attend Michigan’s famous Interlochen Arts Camp for three straight summers. His success in the Arts Camp led Blake to enroll at Interlochen’s Arts Academy, where he completed his last two years of high school before attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, then making the transition to the ever-fertile Chicago scene.   Aside from a brief return to St. Thomas, Blake remained in Chicago until 1990, when he took a position at the University of South Florida; two years after that, he made his way to New York and found himself in the quintet of the young trumpet prodigy Roy Hargrove. He also worked with Art Farmer, Meshell Ndegeocello, and the multicultural ensemble Yerba Buena, as well as releasing his debut album as a leader, Up Front & Personal, in 2000. (He made three more albums in the 2000s for the Mack Avenue label.) In 2005, sitting in with Steve Turre one night at Smoke led to an audition for the bari chair at Saturday Night Live, where Blake has been ever since, taking home multiple Emmys in the process.   In addition, Blake has earned three Grammys as a member of the Christian McBride Big Band; been a regular member of the Mingus Big Band and Love Rocks NYC House Band; taught for over 15 years at the Juilliard School; completed a master’s degree in jazz studies at NYU; founded the Caribbean Jazz Institute at the Snow Pond Center for the Arts in Sidney, Maine.   Ron Blake SCRATCH Band, with Reuben Rogers and John Hadfield, appears at Dizzy’s, Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC, on Wednesday 8/13, 9pm; and at Jimmy’s Jazz and Blues Club, Portsmouth, NH, Thursday 8/14, 7:30pm.         Photography: Spencer Cole Porter   

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