Life and career

Born in London, England, Blake was brought up in Vancouver, Canada. His mother introduced him to jazz when he was a child and he later attended Berklee School of Music in Boston. Upon graduation moved to New York. In February 2002 he won the 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"...

 International Saxophone Competition. He currently plays with his own quintet (featuring David Kikoski, Lage Lund, Bill Stewart, and Matt Clohesy) and has been a regular with the Mingus Big Band

Mingus Big Band

The Mingus Big Band is an ensemble, based in New York City, that specializes in the compositions of the late Charles Mingus. It is managed by his widow, Sue Mingus and represented by Tree Lawn Artists, Inc.. In addition to its weekly Monday night appearance at the Jazz Standard in New York City,...

 as well as many other New York musicians.

Discography

• The Call (Criss Cross Jazz
  Criss Cross Jazz
  Criss Cross Jazz is a Dutch jazz record label, specializing in American jazz.Criss Cross was founded in 1980 by Gerry Teekens, a drummer and German professor. The label, which releases about 20 albums per year, is noted for its simple, block-color cover art...
  
  1993)
• The Bloomdaddies (Criss Cross Jazz 1995)
• Four Track Mind (Criss Cross Jazz 1994)
• Echonomics (Criss Cross Jazz 1999)
• Stranger Things Have Happened (Fresh Sound 1999)
• Way Out Willy (Criss Cross Jazz 2006)
• Live in Italy (Jazz Eyes 2008)
• Bellwether (Criss Cross Jazz 2008)
• Live at Smalls (Smalls Live 2009)