Brian Blade
Encyclopedia
Brian Blade in Shreveport
, Louisiana
is an American
jazz drummer, composer
, session musician
, and singer-songwriter
.
in which he frequently heard Gospel music
and soul music
. In elementary school, his music appreciation classes furthered this musical upbringing, and at age nine he began playing the violin
; he continued to do so until age thirteen, when he, inspired by his brother, Brady Blade, Jr.
, became a drummer.
During highschool Brian began listening to the music of John Coltrane
, Charlie Parker
, Miles Davis
, Art Blakey
, Thelonious Monk
, Elvin Jones
, and Joni Mitchell
.
By the age of eighteen, Brian moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola University. During this period, he was able to study and play with most of the master musicians living in New Orleans, such as: John Vidacovich, Ellis Marsalis
, Steve Masakowski, Bill Huntington, Mike Pellera, John Mahoney, George French, Germaine Bazzle, David Lee, Jr., Alvin Red Tyler, Tony Dagradi and Harold Battiste
.
Blade made his first recorded appearances as a sideman
with Kenny Garrett
and Joshua Redman
and continued to work in that capacity with other musicians.
for 1999's Perceptual
. Easley then departed before 2008's Season of Changes
, which was released under the name Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band.
While continuing to work with the Fellowship Band, Blade has been a member of Wayne Shorter
's most recent quartet. He has continued working as a studio musician and has recorded with Joni Mitchell
, Bill Frisell
, Ellis Marsalis
, Norah Jones
, Emmylou Harris
, Bob Dylan
, Dorothy Scott, Billy Childs, Chris Potter
and David Binney
. He has also played with Herbie Hancock
and has been involved with guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel
in the duo Friendly Travelers, who released their self-titled debut album in 2007. Recently, he has teamed up with Trixie Whitley (daughter of Chris Whitley
), Daniel Lanois
, and others in the band Black Dub.
and many of his bandmates from the Fellowship Band.
With Wayne Shorter
With others
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz drummer, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, and singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
.
Early years
As a young boy, Blade grew up in a home in Shreveport, LouisianaShreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
in which he frequently heard Gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
and soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
. In elementary school, his music appreciation classes furthered this musical upbringing, and at age nine he began playing the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
; he continued to do so until age thirteen, when he, inspired by his brother, Brady Blade, Jr.
Brady Blade
Brady L Blade Jr. is an American rock, pop and country drummer, record producer and composer, who currently resides in Stockholm, Sweden....
, became a drummer.
During highschool Brian began listening to the music of John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
, Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
, Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
, and Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
.
By the age of eighteen, Brian moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola University. During this period, he was able to study and play with most of the master musicians living in New Orleans, such as: John Vidacovich, Ellis Marsalis
Ellis Marsalis, Jr.
Ellis Marsalis is an American musician. He can usually be seen performing on Fridays at Snug Harbor jazz bistro in New Orleans.- Life and career :...
, Steve Masakowski, Bill Huntington, Mike Pellera, John Mahoney, George French, Germaine Bazzle, David Lee, Jr., Alvin Red Tyler, Tony Dagradi and Harold Battiste
Harold Battiste
Harold Raymond Battiste, Jr. , is an American music composer, arranger, performer and teacher.He attended New Orleans' Dillard University, earning a B.S. in music in 1953. His first success as a studio arranger was with Sam Cooke’s "You Send Me" in 1957...
.
Blade made his first recorded appearances as a sideman
Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
with Kenny Garrett
Kenny Garrett
Kenny Garrett is a Grammy Award-winning American post bop jazz saxophonist and flautist who gained fame in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and of Miles Davis's band. He has since pursued a critically acclaimed solo career...
and Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who records for Nonesuch Records. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991.-Biography:...
and continued to work in that capacity with other musicians.
Fellowship Band, Friendly Travelers and sideman work
In 1998, Brian Blade formed Brian Blade Fellowship with pianist Jon Cowherd. Also joining the group were saxophonists Myron Walden and Melvin Butler, pedal steel Guitarist Dave Easley, and bassist Chris Thomas. This group released their self-titled debut album before adding guitarist Kurt RosenwinkelKurt Rosenwinkel
Kurt Rosenwinkel is an American jazz guitarist and keyboardist who came to prominence in the 1990s.-Biography:He attended the Berklee School of Music for two and a half years before leaving in his junior year to tour with Gary Burton, the dean of the school at the time...
for 1999's Perceptual
Perceptual (album)
-Track listing: All tracks composed by Brian Blade; except where indicated# "Perceptual" – 6:28# "Evinrude-Fifty " – 7:56# "Reconciliation" – 6:44# "Crooked Creek" – 9:10# "Patron Saint of Girls" – 2:40...
. Easley then departed before 2008's Season of Changes
Season of Changes
Season of Changes is a studio album by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band. While the name has been changed from the original name, Brian Blade Fellowship, the group still remains essentially the same, minus founding member Dave Easley.-Track listing:...
, which was released under the name Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band.
While continuing to work with the Fellowship Band, Blade has been a member of Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
's most recent quartet. He has continued working as a studio musician and has recorded with Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, Bill Frisell
Bill Frisell
William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
, Ellis Marsalis
Ellis Marsalis, Jr.
Ellis Marsalis is an American musician. He can usually be seen performing on Fridays at Snug Harbor jazz bistro in New Orleans.- Life and career :...
, Norah Jones
Norah Jones
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Dorothy Scott, Billy Childs, Chris Potter
Chris Potter (jazz saxophonist)
Chris Potter is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Potter spent most of his childhood in Columbia, South Carolina where his mother taught psychology at the University of South Carolina...
and David Binney
David Binney
David Binney is an American alto saxophonist and composer living in New York City.-Biography:David was born in Miami, Florida and raised in Southern California. His parents were jazz fans, and introduced Binney to jazz musicians such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bobby Hutcherson and Wayne Shorter...
. He has also played with Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
and has been involved with guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel
Wolfgang Muthspiel
Wolfgang Muthspiel is an Austrian guitarist and composer most associated with jazz and brother of the trombonist and pianist Christian Muthspiel....
in the duo Friendly Travelers, who released their self-titled debut album in 2007. Recently, he has teamed up with Trixie Whitley (daughter of Chris Whitley
Chris Whitley
Christopher Becker Whitley was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Whitley changed his sound frequently, and achieved modest mainstream success while maintaining a small but devoted following...
), Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
, and others in the band Black Dub.
Singer-songwriter work
In 2009, Blade released his first album as a singer-songwriter, Mama Rosa. The album features Daniel LanoisDaniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
and many of his bandmates from the Fellowship Band.
Equipment
Blade primarily uses vintage Gretsch drums, but has been known to tour with a Canopus Club Kit in Japan.As leader
- Brian Blade FellowshipBrian Blade Fellowship (album)Brian Blade Fellowship is an album by Brian Blade Fellowship. -Track listing: All tracks composed by Brian Blade; except where indicated# "Red River Revel" - 9:29# "The Undertow" - 7:26# "Folklore" – 11:05# "In Spite of Everything" - 4:20...
(1998) - PerceptualPerceptual (album)-Track listing: All tracks composed by Brian Blade; except where indicated# "Perceptual" – 6:28# "Evinrude-Fifty " – 7:56# "Reconciliation" – 6:44# "Crooked Creek" – 9:10# "Patron Saint of Girls" – 2:40...
(2000) - Friendly Travelers (Material Records) with Wolfgang MuthspielWolfgang MuthspielWolfgang Muthspiel is an Austrian guitarist and composer most associated with jazz and brother of the trombonist and pianist Christian Muthspiel....
(2007) - Season of ChangesSeason of ChangesSeason of Changes is a studio album by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band. While the name has been changed from the original name, Brian Blade Fellowship, the group still remains essentially the same, minus founding member Dave Easley.-Track listing:...
(2008) - Real Book Stories
- Mama Rosa (2009)
As sideman
With Joshua RedmanJoshua Redman
Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who records for Nonesuch Records. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991.-Biography:...
- CompassCompassA compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
- Back EastBack East- Track listing :# "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" # "East of the Sun " # "Zarafah" # "Indian Song" # "I'm an Old Cowhand" # "Wagon Wheels"...
- Mood SwingMoodswing (Joshua Redman album)Moodswing is a 1994 album by jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman. All compositions on this album were original.-Track listing:# "Sweet Sorrow"# "Chill"# "Rejoice"# "Faith"# "Alone in the Morning"# "Mischief"# "Dialogue"# "The Oneness of Two "...
- Freedom in the GrooveFreedom in the GrooveFreedom in the Groove is a 1996 album by jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman. All songs on the album were original compositions.-Track listing:# "Hide and Seek"# "One Shining Soul"# "Streams of Consciousness"# "When the Sun Comes Down"# "Home Fries...
- Spirit of the Moment - Live at the Village VanguardSpirit of the Moment - Live at the Village VanguardSpirit of the Moment – Live at the Village Vanguard is a 1995 live album by jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman.-Track listing:# "Jig-a-Jug"# "My One and Only Love"# "Second Snow"# "Remember"# "Dialogue"# "St. Thomas"# "Herbs and Roots"...
- Timeless Tales for Changing TimesTimeless Tales for Changing TimesTimeless Tales for Changing Times is a 1998 album by jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman. Many of the tracks featured pay tribute to the composers listed in parenthesis.-Track listing:# "Summertime" # "Interlude 1"...
- ElasticElastic (album)Elastic is a 2002 album by jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman. All songs were original compositions.-Track listing:# "Molten Soul"# "Jazz Crimes"# "The Long Way Home"# "Oumou"# "Still Pushin' That Rock"# "Can a Good Thing Last Forever"# "Boogielastic"...
(with Joshua Redman Elastic Band) - MomentumMomentum (Joshua Redman album)Momentum is a 2005 album by jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman. All compositions are original works unless otherwise noted.-Track listing:# "Soundcheck"# "Sweet Nasty"# "Just a Moment"# "Shut Your Mouth"# "The Crunge"...
- Yaya3
With Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
- Footprints Live!Footprints Live!Footprints Live! is a live album by saxophonist Wayne Shorter released on Verve Records in 2002. It was Shorter's first official live album released under his own name and the first album to feature the 'Footprints Quartet' of Shorter, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade.-Reception:The...
- AlegriaAlegría (Wayne Shorter album)Alegría is an album by saxophonist Wayne Shorter released on Verve Records in 2003. It the second album to feature the 'Footprints Quartet' of Shorter, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade....
- Beyond the Sound BarrierBeyond the Sound BarrierBeyond the Sound Barrier is a live album by saxophonist Wayne Shorter released on Verve Records in 2005. It was recorded in Europe, America and Asia and features the 'Footprints Quartet' of Shorter, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade....
With others
- Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall (2002, with Herbie HancockHerbie HancockHerbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Michael BreckerMichael BreckerMichael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
, and Roy HargroveRoy HargroveRoy Anthony Hargrove is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002...
) - ShineShineShine may refer to:* Reflection* Shine , a 1996 Australian film starring Geoffrey Rush* Shine * Shine Guitars* LG Shine, mobile phone* Donal Shine, Gaelic footballer...
(2003, with Daniel LanoisDaniel LanoisDaniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
) - Beyond the Wall (2006, with Kenny GarrettKenny GarrettKenny Garrett is a Grammy Award-winning American post bop jazz saxophonist and flautist who gained fame in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and of Miles Davis's band. He has since pursued a critically acclaimed solo career...
) - Pursuance: Music of John Coltrane (1996, with Kenny GarrettKenny GarrettKenny Garrett is a Grammy Award-winning American post bop jazz saxophonist and flautist who gained fame in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and of Miles Davis's band. He has since pursued a critically acclaimed solo career...
) - Welcome To Life (2004, with David BinneyDavid BinneyDavid Binney is an American alto saxophonist and composer living in New York City.-Biography:David was born in Miami, Florida and raised in Southern California. His parents were jazz fans, and introduced Binney to jazz musicians such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bobby Hutcherson and Wayne Shorter...
) - Friendly Travelers (2007, with Wolfgang MuthspielWolfgang MuthspielWolfgang Muthspiel is an Austrian guitarist and composer most associated with jazz and brother of the trombonist and pianist Christian Muthspiel....
) - Air, Love & Vitamins (2004, with Wolfgang Muthspiel & Marc Johnson)
- Time Out of MindTime out of MindTime Out of Mind is the 30th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 30, 1997 on Columbia Records. It is his first double studio album since 1970's Self Portrait...
(with Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
) - Handmade (1998, with David Berkman)
- Line by LineLine by LineLine by Line is jazz bass guitarist John Patitucci's 12th album as a sole leader, and his sixth with the Concord Records label. It features Adam Rogers, Brian Blade, Chris Potter, as well as a string quartet on several numbers...
(2006 - John PatitucciJohn PatitucciJohn Patitucci is an American Grammy-winning jazz double bass and jazz fusion electric bass player.-Biography:Patitucci is of Italian descent and was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he began playing the electric bass at age ten, composing and performing at age 12, as well as the acoustic bass at...
) - Gratitude (2001, with Chris PotterChris Potter (jazz saxophonist)Chris Potter is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Potter spent most of his childhood in Columbia, South Carolina where his mother taught psychology at the University of South Carolina...
) - Black DubBlack Dub (album)Black Dub is the debut album by the Daniel Lanois-instigated collaboration Black Dub, an amalgam of dub, blues and soul and rock. All Music Guide gave the album three and a half stars out of five, praising singer Trixie Whitley's "deeply soulful contralto." All songs are written by Lanois, save for...
(2010, With Black Dub) - Painting With Words And Music (1998 with Joni MitchellJoni MitchellJoni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
) - Seal B.L.U.E Tour (1998 with SealSealSeal commonly refers to:* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals many of which are commonly called seals* Seal , a device which helps prevent leakage, contain pressure, or exclude contamination where two systems join...
)