Ron Blake joined Preston Frazier to discuss his new album ‘Mistaken Identity,’ working on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and that lengthy gap between studio projects:
PRESTON FRAZIER: I’ve heard you playing a million times, and I’m very familiar with your producer Bobby Broom. I saw him many times when I lived in Chicago and was pretty familiar with his work on some of his recent albums.
RON BLAKE: I went to school up there and lived in Evanston for about eight years total. That was where I met Bobby and started playing professionally, sitting in jam sessions, and playing at the Green Mill. Those were my formative years before I left Chicago. I was hanging out and trying to figure things out on that scene, and it was a very, very healthy scene. As a young player just trying to break into the scene, everyone embraced you.
It was also an excellent opportunity to play with the elder statesmen on the scene. That was super beneficial for me, starting there, because I never tried to limit myself.
I mean, I focused at some point on trying to get to know my voice on the instrument. I used to encourage young players when they asked me about starting, you know, about, oh, you know, I want to come to New York. I wanna, you know, break into the scene in New York, that there are other places where you can get excellent training and be around masters and firsthand and, and learn the music. New York is always going to be here. It’s not going anywhere. It can swallow you up if you’re not ready for it when I came to New York. I was in my late 20s, but I played many years on the scene in Chicago and started teaching. Then, I got a teaching gig, had some experience, and had some idea of what I wanted to do before I finally arrived on the scene in 1992.
PRESTON FRAZIER: As a band leader, you’ve had many solo albums, but there’s a 15-year gap between Mistaken Identity and the last solo album Shayaro, which was released on the MacAdams Avenue label in 2008. Why the gap?
RON BLAKE: I think everyone’s just curious about that. I think making the transition from being on the road all the time – which was, you know, my sustenance, not just as a living. Still, creatively, I thrived from being on the road all the time, playing with the same people night in and night out for years, and I was fortunate to have a lot of good situations like that professionally. It became challenging for me and the label too, at the time, Mac Avenue, with me having the full-time gig with Saturday Night Live. I also eventually fell into a full-time position at Julliard. It wasn’t easy for me to go out and promote recordings. Maybe we didn’t see eye to eye on how that progression should happen in terms of building my brand within Mac Avenue’s catalog.
We went our separate ways, but then after that, I think just being at home and having the time to be a parent full-time, and be in New York, be local, it’s just a different kind of thing. I wouldn’t say that I was being any less creative. My career was growing in other ways, and I was able to focus on other things. The gap was not without a lot of recordings. I have a longtime association with Christian McBride, working on his big band projects. So many of his projects, I’ve been involved with him for years. Stuff like that. The focus shifted after I did Shayari. I was like, “Let me see how I can make this new lifestyle, being a local musician on the scene, work for me.”
PRESTON FRAZIER: Well, you took a giant leap, though in a way maybe it wasn’t. You started your own record company for Mistaken Identity.
RON BLAKE: I started a label years ago; it got picked up by Mack Avenue. So the first record that they put out was my second solo album on my label, but they picked it up, [2003’s] Lest We Forget. Christian McBride produced and was featured with the late great Joey Francesco on organ and Gregory Hutchinson on drums. I did Up Front and Personal [in 2000] for my now-defunct label, Tahmun Records. It was produced by Michael Carvin and featured Gregory Hutchinson, Reuben Rogers, my homeboy from the Virgin Islands who’s also featured on “Mistaken Identity,” and Cedrick Mitchell, a fantastic B-3 player. I had Johnny Griffin as a special guest, so you probably will see that resurface in my catalog on the new label. The label thing isn’t new to me, although the music business is new. [Laughs.] It’s changed a lot. Back then, I would get on the phone and call up a few people, or I used to walk CDs into Tower Records downtown in the Village and they’d give me some money. Those days are gone.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Let’s talk more about Mistaken Identity. It was recorded in a relatively short period, but the recording started in 2019. Am I correct in that?
RON BLAKE: I believe it was 2018. That was the first session, the first big session. There was a little bit of delay, figuring out how we would finish it up, you know, we needed a couple more songs and sat on it for a while. And then, as I was figuring that out, we transitioned into what became the lockdown of 2020. There was a pause for a while. I finally decided with Bobby that we should go back and record a few more things to finish the record and make it a full-length CD. It was just surreal. But being able to do that was probably one of my most healing experiences. When songs like “Grace Ann” were finished up, that’s when that stuff happened. At that point, I’d been sitting at home. I was fortunate that SNL was still happening, and I was going into going in there once a week to do that. But other than that, I recorded tracks from home, sitting on Zoom, teaching classes and lessons. To be in a room with musicians playing live again, I can’t begin to describe how joyful I am.
PRESTON FRAZIER: You have two original compositions on the album, “Beyond Yesterday’s Tomorrows” and “Grace Ann.” Were those both done in the initial session?
RON BLAKE: “Beyond Yesterday’s Tomorrows” was, but “Grace Ann” was done in the COVID session.
PRESTON FRAZIER: When you started the original session, did you have a concept in mind of mixing covers and also the original material?
RON BLAKE: I think that was the impetus for us choosing the basis that we did and how that all came together. We wanted to document where I was then and make a record. I wanted to put together a collection of songs that I thought would feel good. It was less programmed or thought out than my previous recordings. I went back and forth with Bobby about stuff like that. Some of these tunes I’d recorded before, but maybe in different arrangements. For example, I’d never recorded the Duke Pearson composition, but when I did play live, that song was always my set opener. When I went into the studio as we were kind of getting sounds together and getting a feel for things, it was like, well, let’s start with this since that’s usually what I do anyway. It turned out to be a good decision. I have to say that I was fortunate I had every bit of confidence in Bobby as a producer, that I could focus on playing when I was in the room.
I deferred to him a lot of times just in terms of like, how, how’s it going. I mean, that’s what a good producer does, right? We talked about concepts; we talked about music. We’d put together a playlist of 30 or more songs to get some of the vibes I’m trying to get to – not necessarily original music, just like vibe, playing, playing well, and having great music ideas that translate all of that is okay. But I think that, like everything, you want to have some legs or life. I think you have to have some longevity. I think it’s essential to do a deep dive. Sometimes, it’s not about referencing other music. Sometimes it’s just about reading. Sometimes, it’s about checking out films spanning your perspective. Yeah. Sometimes it’s about going to the museum and hanging out for a few hours, you know, and then starting to reflect on these extra-musical things to see how you can sort of, you know, present something. I’ve never been a producer on any of my sessions. But I was equally involved in the preparation.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Mistaken Identity is cohesive, even though there was that gap in the tracking dates we discussed. Were you planning on writing more originals, or did you always have the concept of bringing in some of these great jazz songs?
RON BLAKE: That’s a good question. I’ve learned from producers and mentors that it’s always good to recognize the people who have been instrumental, indirectly or directly, in your story. As I’ve been coming back to the studio for the first time in 15 years, I thought it would be fitting to start with music by people who have been mentors to me in some way. The Johnny Griffin tune “When We Were One” is tipping my hat to him. Griff was like a father figure and mentor to me. When we went out on tour with that record, that was my ballad feature. I felt slightly more comfortable or confident, stretching the boundaries on the Sonny Rollins composition “Allison,” harmonizing it a bit. I wanted to do the song, but I also wanted to just kind of jump into the deep end of the pool. ton I just wanna to give a nod to my heroes, thank them, and recognize their greatness and their impact on my musical journey. So that, that speaks to the covers.
Bobby’s song “No Hype Blues” was one of the first songs I learned when I worked with him in Chicago, years and years ago. We played that melody many, many times. It was a no-brainer to include. Bassist Reuben Rogers’ composition “To Be” is another excellent inclusion. It’s a lovely, straightforward, lyrical melody. The title track, “Mistaken Identity,” was one where I reached out to my good friend from the Virgin Islands, Victor Provost, who I play in a band led by my dear friend Dion Parson called the 21st Century Band. I wanted a Calypso. I was thinking,” I’m going to record it on baritone saxophone” and he was like, “Yeah, I got these two things. I’m going to send them to you tomorrow. Let me know what you think.” I recorded it, and the album was done. I think he’s a brilliant writer. There are a lot of great musicians from the Virgin Islands. I left a lot of room for stuff to develop in the studio as well. That’s the great thing about having amazing musicians in the room with you. Sometimes, the interaction creates a spark, and you take things in a different direction, or you realize that, oh yeah, this needs to happen this way instead of what I was thinking. As much as I tried to step away from the producer part of it, I did have some ideas of what I wanted to have happen.
PRESTON FRAZIER: You’ve done a few gigs in New York to support the album. What are your tour plans beyond that?
RON BLAKE: I’m going to try to see if I can do one-offs during the winter where I can. I just did something up in Harlem. It’s a little bit challenging with the SNL schedule. We’re a bit heavy on the second half of the season this year.
PRESTON FRAZIER: With your endeavors at Julliard and Saturday Night Live, that’s a lot!
RON BLAKE: It is, but I love it. Teaching has always been something that’s been a part of my life. I’ve been teaching since I was 16 years old – wow. It wasn’t something that I pursued, but I loved it. It’s been great. It’s a great way to learn, too, because students are so knowledgeable.
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