Portrait of Ran Blake: Celebrating 85 Years

Madrid

Madrid is a desperate attempt to illustrate the feeling of loss, while still being able to recognize the beauty and the film-scape of the situation and the aesthetic of the place you have arrived.
        Literally, the piece tells the story of Ran’s arrival in Madrid and having his bags stolen, then trying to come to grips with the loss while finding his way. While losing one’s luggage (or having it stolen) after a lengthy flight can be a cause for distress, we would like to highlight the emotions of this particular event in a more accepting yet desperate emotion. It means everything and nothing at the same time, all that matters is the energy and motion created by this event, which is hopefully attained through this performance.                                                
– Rihards Kolmanis and Shalun Li

Short Life of Barbara Monk

It is an honor to represent Ran Blake’s piece, Short Life of Barbara Monk.  This musical work tells the story of Barbara Monk, daughter of Jazz great, Thelonious Monk. Ran Blake's use of melody, dynamics, and sectional progressions masterfully depict Barbara's young life, lively teenage years, passionate dreams, and sad passing.  My arrangement for guitar and voice utilizes contrasting musical sections to portray her inspiring life, history, and legacy.                                                                     
– Emily Mitchell

Memphis

Ran has a semi-fictional narrative that his performances outline throughout the day that Martin Luther King was killed.  This performance uses the same form as a version Ran recorded with Ken Schaphorst and other students at the time: an introduction leads into the melody, and after completing the melody it repeats from the bridge through the latter half of the melody. The instrumentation was chosen to reflect Ran's frequent use of piano and tenor duos in his recordings. The narrative that I was working with while rehearsing with Anthony is one of an intergenerational performance: Ran uses this piece as a vehicle in his teaching to inform the following generations of musicians, Anthony’s and also mine. As a result, this is one of his more familiar pieces to me, and we use this performance as a medium to tie together the different generations of this department through the use of Ran's pedagogy and music. 
– Lyra Montoya                                                                                                                       

Wende (1977)

Ran Blake originally recorded his beautiful composition Wende in 1976 for the solo piano album of the same name, recorded in Jamaica Plain for the French label, Owl Records. The title Wende refers to Ran’s cousin. Although I did not get the chance to learn very much about Wende as a person, Ran’s melody for her is a profound tribute. This song features a long form, with a kind of “double bridge.” In other words, the second bridge is slightly different from the first and adds a feeling of completion to the form. In this performance, I just play the melody one time through with some added flourishes to explore the harmonies. This song spoke to me right away because of its powerful melody. It is one of those melodies that’s so strong and well-constructed that it can truly stand on its own.           
                I’d like to thank Eden MacAdam-Somer, Hankus Netsky, Anthony Coleman, all of my friends and classmates in CI, and Ran himself for the helpful coachings and advice as I developed this rendition of Wende.                                      
– Griffin Woodard

Delfina Cheb Terrab and Joey Van Leeuwen | Scene from "The Pawnbroker"

Ran's music often explores the world of devastating tragedy and struggling hope, full of rending, wrenching harmonies and piercing somber melodies that yet somehow contain the seed of salvation within them. In The Pawnbroker, Sol Nazerman ultimately succumbs to the haunting memories that he can't hold back. Like so many of our elders, his soul remained where his body had left far behind. Our first objective was then to bear witness to this.
        In the face of such devastation as the Holocaust, what can truly be said? Are we simply reporters of this tragic news or must we also ask what is to be done? Like links in an endless chain, we are bound to our humanity, our time and place, and can only hope to bridge the gap between our ancestors and our children, and from ourselves to ourselves. We're forever grateful for Ran for his assistance in this eternal process.                                                                
– Joseph Van Leeuwen and Delfina Cheb Terrab

Vanguard

Vanguard is a very freeing piece to perform; it’s a balancing act of maintaining the rich and varied harmonies that Ran created, while also letting the vocal nature of the melody come through. Ran’s original recording with Jeanne Lee gave me insight into how to imbue pure vowels with emotion as a singer and use the piece’s melody and harmonic language to tell a compelling story. The accordion lends a European flavor to the piece and the feeling of being able to soar with your voice above the harmonic safety-net that the accordion provides is awesome!                                  
– Matthew Shifrin

Realization of a Dream (1978) - arr. by Eden MacAdam-Somer

The album Realization of a Dream is a collage of images and memories, beginning with the rumblings of the ongoing civil rights struggle in America to more peaceful recollections of Ran’s time in Europe with the family of Countess Florence de Lannoy. The piece. Realization of a Dream, is the core of the album and is a commentary on two (anonymous) artists as seen through the eyes of four critics of the time, including the ascerbic John Simon, gentle Barbara Belgrave, militant Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka), and Susan Sontag, who “pursues the pair with a dream kit.” The piece eventually moves into a dream world, with both jubilant and nightmare moments, as the artist retreats into himself. I was drawn to this work because of its story as well as its soundscape – as artists we spend so much time listening to critique, from others as well as ourselves. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of constant criticism and to forget about that inner world, the most important source of our unique identities. In my opinion, Ran’s emphasis on personal style is one of the greatest facets of his legacy, and in arranging this piece, I asked students not only to study Ran’s performance attentively but to bring themselves into it as well, exploring the full range of sound and color in their instruments.                
– Eden MacAdam-Somer

CI Chamber Ensemble

Delfina Cheb Terrab, voice
Eden MacAdam-Somer, violin, coach
Lucy Little, violin
Lyra Montoya, baritone saxophone
Griffin Woodard, bass clarinet
Henry Wilson, vibraphone, soprano glockenspiel
Joey Van Leeuwen, drum set, concert bass drum

Thursday

While definitely being a challenging year due to the pandemic, I have been humbled and delighted to have had the opportunity to work with, as well as get to know, Ran and his music. It has been quite a pleasure, and I continue to learn constantly. Thursday was one of the first tunes that drew me to Ran's work, so I have prepared the piece for solo saxophone. I sincerely hope you enjoy it.                   
– Caleb Schmale

David Foster/Linda Thompson | I Have Nothing - George & Ira Gershwin | Nice Work If You Can Get It - Ran Blake | Isolation, from My Suite (2020)

A Note from Ran:
One of my greatest joys in life – besides knowing Jeanne Lee, Dorothy Wallace, Thelonious Monk, and Gunther Schuller – has been to collaborate with so many departments and ensembles at New England Conservatory, including Classical and Jazz Orchestras, and to be associated with the conservatory since 1967. I would like to thank the following people and departments affiliated with NEC during my many years here:

NEC OFFICES/DEPARTMENTS:

Alumni Office
Recording Performance and Technology Services
Development Office
Library
Public Relations
Office of Marketing

Lastly, thank you to anyone who may have been temporarily forgotten.