John Blake (violinist)

John Blake, Jr. (born July 3, 1947 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † August 15, 2014 there ) was an American jazz violinist .

Live and act

Blake began playing the classical violin as a child. He studied at West Virginia University and perfected his playing in Montreux and the East Indies, where he learned Indian fingering techniques on his instrument. However, he often played in groups where simpler things were asked, for example in the bands of Grover Washington, Jr. (1976-1979) or McCoy Tyner (1979-1984), in which he was first known. Blake then led his own groups, but also recorded an impressive album in 1986 with Michał Urbaniak and Didier Lockwood . He also played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and with James Newton , Tyrone Brown , Sumi Tonooka and Avery Sharpe . With Gayle and Akua Dixon he belonged to the Quartet Indigo . He also worked with the Turtle Island String Quartet and was a member of the groups of Steve Turre and Billy Taylor . In the field of jazz he was involved in 81 recording sessions between 1972 and 2012, including a. with Muhal Richard Abrams , Archie Shepp , Carmen McRae , James Blood Ulmer and Buster Williams .

Blake has taught at the Philadelphia Art School and since 1987 at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. The drummer Johnathan Blake is his son. Blake died in mid-August 2014 in Philadelphia, the city of his birth, of complications from multiple myeloma .

Discographic notes

• Maiden Dance ( Gramavision , 1983), et al. a. with Kenny Barron , McCoy Tyner, Cecil McBee , Wilby Fletcher
• Twinkling of an Eye (Gramavision, 1985), et al. a. with Onaje Allan Gumbs , Sid Simmons , Michael Raye , Avery Sharpe, Gerald Veasley , Wilby Fletcher
• John Blake / Didier Lockwood / Michael Urbaniak Rhythm & Blu (Gramavision, 1986), u. a. with Marcus Miller , Lenny White
• Adventures of the Heart (Gramavision, 1987), et al. a. Onaje Allan Gumbs, Tony Prendatt , Roberto Rizzo , Jef Lee Johnson
• A New Beginning (Gramavision, 1988), with Sumi Tonooka, Sid Simmons, Gerald Veasley, Leon Jordan, Leonard "Doc" Gibbs
• Quest (Sunnyside, 1992), with Joe Ford, Grover Washington, Jr., Joey Calderazzo , Charles Fambrough , Ben Riley , Omar Hill
• Motherless Child (2009), et al. a. with Howard University Jazz Choir, Mulgrew Miller , Sumi Tonooka

Lexical entry

• Richard Cook : Jazz Encyclopedia. Penguin, London 2007 ISBN 978-0-141-02646-6 .

Web links

• Literature by and about John Blake in the catalog of the German National Library
• John Blake, Jr. web presence
• Interview (English)
• Obituary in The Telegraph

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (accessed online August 17, 2014).
2. ↑ Nate Chinen: John Blake Jr., Versatile Jazz Violinist, Dies at 67. Obituary in The New York Times, August 19, 2014 (accessed August 20, 2014).
3. ↑ Jeff Tamarkin: Violinist John Blake Jr. Dead at 67. ( Memento of the original from August 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Obituary in JazzTimes on August 15, 2014 (accessed August 20, 2014).