''Driftwoods'' is a solo album by pianist
Ran Blake recorded in 2008 and released on the Tompkins Square label in 2009.
[Tompkins Square Records](_blank)
accessed October 24, 2014Ran Blake discography
accessed October 24, 2014
Reception
The Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars stating "Blake's sense of restraint, even in the most deliberate of his improvised readings such as on Lewis Allan's "Strange Fruit," Quincy Jones' theme from The Pawnbroker, Milton Nascimento's "Cançao do Sol," and even Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy," offers such distinctive readings of these tunes rhythmically, harmonically, and lyrically that it's difficult after a while to see where the body of the original composition ends and Blake begins".[Jurek, T]
Allmusic Review
accessed October 24, 2014
On All About Jazz Henry Smith noted "Blake's noir-like approach to the piano, with his open sense of harmony and time as well as the deep and beautiful melancholy which ingrains his playing, is present on all of the pieces here. Never once does a cliche emerge from his fingers as he infuses these works with a personal and carefully chosen character all his own".[Smith, H.]
All About Jazz Review
January 22, 2009
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
reviewer Steve Horowitz said "On the whole, the album is soft and lovely and begs to be heard when one seeks the quiet of solitude"[Horowitz, S.]
PopMatters Review
March 2, 2009
The JazzTimes review by Thomas Conrad felt "If you have read about Ran Blake but do not know his music, ''Driftwoods'' is a good place to discover him".[Conrad, T.]
JazzTimes Review
May 2009
Track listing
# "Driftwood" (Tommy Goodman (music), Peter Udell (lyrics)) - 4:24
# " Dancing in the Dark 2" (Howard Dietz
Howard Dietz (September 8, 1896 – July 30, 1983) was an American publicist, lyricist, and librettist, best remembered for his songwriting collaboration with Arthur Schwartz.
Biography
Dietz was born in New York City. He attended Columbia Colle ...
, Arthur Schwartz) - 4:19
# "Dancing in the Dark 1" (Dietz, Schwartz) - 2:24
# " Lost Highway" ( Leon Payne) - 2:03
# "Unforgettable
Unforgettable may refer to:
Film
* ''Unforgettable'' (1996 film), a thriller starring Ray Liotta
* ''Unforgettable'' (2014 film), a Bollywood film
* ''Unforgettable'' (2016 film), a South Korean film
* ''Unforgettable'' (2017 film), an America ...
" ( Irving Gordon) - 2:57
# "Cançao do Sol" ( Milton Nascimento) - 3:38
# "No More No More may refer to:
* No More (band), a German post-punk band
Songs
* "No More" (1944 song), written by Bob Russell and Toots Camarata; covered by Billie Holiday
* "No More" (1961 song), a version of "La Paloma" recorded by Elvis Presley an ...
" (Toots Camarata
Salvador "Tutti" Camarata (May 11, 1913 – April 13, 2005) was an American composer, arranger, trumpeter, and record producer. Also known as "Toots" Camarata.
Early life and career
Camarata, born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, United States, and s ...
, Bob Russell) - 3:08
# "I Loves You, Porgy
"I Loves You, Porgy" is a duet from the 1935 opera ''Porgy and Bess'' with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was performed in the opera's premiere in 1935 and on Broadway the same year by Anne Brown and Todd Duncan. They reco ...
" (George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
, Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...
) - 3:52
# "Strange Fruit
"Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black ...
" (Lewis Allan
Abel Meeropol (February 10, 1903 – October 29, 1986)Baker, Nancy Kovaleff, "Abel Meeropol (a.k.a. Lewis Allan): Political Commentator and Social Conscience," '' American Music'' 20/1 (2002), pp. 25–79, ; see especially note 3. was an Ameri ...
) - 2:16
# "Pawnbroker" ( Quincy Jones) - 2:51
# "There's Been a Change" (Hubert Powell) - 2:23
# "Portrait" (Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...
) - 3:01
# "I'm Going to Tell God" (W.A. McKinney) - 3:02
# " You Are My Sunshine" (Jimmie Davis
James Houston Davis (September 11, 1899 – November 5, 2000) was an American politician, singer and songwriter of both sacred and popular songs. Davis was elected for two nonconsecutive terms from 1944 to 1948 and from 1960 to 1964 as the ...
, Charles Mitchell Charles Mitchell may refer to:
* Charles Mitchell (footballer), British soccer player
* Charles Mitchell (academic) (born 1965), professor of law at University College, London
* Charles Mitchell (American football) (born 1989), American football pl ...
) - 1:23
Personnel
* Ran Blake - piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
References
{{Authority control
2009 albums
Ran Blake albums
Solo piano jazz albums