Seamus Blake

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Seamus Blake
Blake in 2012
Blake in 2012
Background information
Born (1970-12-08) December 8, 1970 (age 50)
London, England
OriginVancouver, British Columbia, Canada
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsSaxophone, EWI
Years active1993–present
LabelsCriss Cross
Websiteseamusblake.com
Seamus Blake performing with Aarhus Jazz Orchestra in Aarhus Denmark 2017

Seamus Blake (born December 8, 1970) is a British-born Canadian tenor saxophonist.

Early life and education[]

Blake was born in London, England and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His mother introduced him to jazz when he was a child and he later attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston.[1]

Career[]

Upon graduation, he moved to New York City.[2] In February 2002, he won the Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition.[3][4][5] 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 as well as many other New York musicians.

Discography[]

As leader[]

  • The Call (Criss Cross, 1994)
  • The Bloomdaddies (Criss Cross, 1996)
  • Four Track Mind (Criss Cross, 1997)
  • Stranger Things Have Happened (Fresh Sound, 1999)
  • Sun Sol (Fresh Sound, 2000)
  • Echonomics (Criss Cross, 2001)
  • Live Au Cabaret (Effendi, 2001)
  • Way Out Willy (Criss Cross, 2007)
  • Live in Italy (Jazz Eyes 2008)
  • Bellwether (Criss Cross, 2009)
  • Live at Smalls (SmallsLIVE, 2010)
  • As You Like with BANN (Jazz Eyes 2010)
  • Superconductor (5Passion 2015)
  • Reeds Ramble with Chris Cheek (Criss Cross, 2014)
  • Let's Call the Whole Thing Off with Chris Cheek (Criss Cross, 2016)
  • Guardians of the Heart Machine (Whirlwind, 2019)

With Opus 5

  • Introducing Opus 5 (Criss Cross, 2011)
  • Pentasonic (Criss Cross, 2012)
  • Progression (Criss Cross, 2014)
  • Tickle (Criss Cross, 2015)

As sideman[]

With Lea DeLaria

  • Play It Cool (Warner Bros., 2001)
  • Double Standards (Telarc, 2003)
  • House of David (Ghostlight, 2015)
  • The Live (Smoke Sessions, 2008)

With David Kikoski

  • The Maze (Criss Cross, 1999)
  • Combinations (Criss Cross, 2001)
  • The Five (DIW, 2002)
  • Limits (Criss Cross, 2006)

With Victor Lewis

  • Eeeyyess! (Enja, 1997)
  • Know It Today, Know It Tomorrow (Red Record, 1993)
  • Three Way Conversations (Red Record, 1997)

With Monday Michiru

  • Episodes in Color (SAR, 2002)
  • Don't Disturb This Groove (Grand Gallery, 2011)
  • Brasilified (Billboard, 2013)

With Mingus Big Band

  • Blues & Politics (Dreyfus, 1999)
  • I Am Three (Sunnyside/Sue Mingus, 2005)
  • Live in Time (Dreyfus, 1996)
  • Live in Tokyo (Sunnyside/Sue Mingus, 2006)
  • Que Viva Mingus! (Dreyfus, 1997)
  • Tonight at Noon... Three or Four Shades of Love (Dreyfus, 2002)

With Eric Reed

  • The Baddest Monk (Savant, 2012)
  • Groovewise (Smoke Sessions, 2014)
  • The Adventurous Monk (Savant, 2014)

With Alex Sipiagin

  • Mirrors (Criss Cross, 2003)
  • Returning (Criss Cross, 2005)
  • Mirages (Criss Cross, 2009)
  • Live at Smalls (SmallsLIVE, 2013)
  • From Reality and Back (5Passion 2013)

With others

References[]

  1. ^ Janus, Cicily (2010). The New Face of Jazz. Billboard Books. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-8230-0065-4.
  2. ^ Miller, Mark. The Miller Compendium to Jazz in Canada. The Mercury Press. pp. 21–23.
  3. ^ Murphy, Sean. "A Conversation with Seamus Blake" (HMTL). JazzEd Magazine. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  4. ^ "Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz". Archived from the original on 2011-02-03. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
  5. ^ Ratliff, Ben (2011-02-26). "ARTS IN AMERICA; No Nightclub, Just Saxophones, Artfully Competing". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Chinen, Nate (2015-06-08). "Review: Antonio Sánchez With 2 Albums, 'The Meridian Suite' and 'Three Times Three'". New York Times. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  7. ^ BILAWSKY, Dan. "Bill Stewart: Space Squid". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2017-03-30.


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