Up Beat

Or, what makes jazz vet John Blake get up at 6 in the morning?

by Mary Armstrong

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Published: Mar 26, 2008

Michael T. Regan HIDDEN GEM: Club dates are rare these days. You're more likely to see John Blake in a classroom. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

You might've bumped into John Blake around town. He grew up at 22nd and Wharton in South Philly, lives in Germantown and worships in Southwest Philly at Grace Tabernacle. Or maybe your kid has seen him in the classroom playing his violin as part of the Musicopia program, or attired in the African tradition and playing ancient instruments to spice up storytelling for his sister, Charlotte Blake Alston.

Club dates are rare these days, though not unwelcome for this jazz vet. Blake has raised his family here in Philly and has done it with music. If the clubs can't or won't offer a living wage, he's resolved to be flexible, to find other ways to make music his livelihood.

Among the countless distinctions Blake has accumulated in his long, winding career, perhaps none is more fitting than "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition," a title given to him by the critics at Down Beat magazine on four separate occasions.

"The best jazz concert I ever saw in my life was a tribute to McCoy Tyner at the 38th Street Cafe back in 1982," recalls Bob Perkins, host of WRTI's early-evening jazz program. "John Blake was there with Garry Bartz and Grover Washington, all these cats who had played with McCoy. They played like men possessed. The place was so packed you couldn't fall down and you could hear a pin drop the whole night."

Blake featured prominently with McCoy Tyner for five years, right after a mid-'70s stint with Grover Washington. Recordings like Horizon remain so admired that Concord is remastering and reissuing them today.

Why isn't Blake a household name? Perkins thinks it might be a lack of solo recordings.

"I had a run in terms of public recognition in the '80s," says Blake, now 60. After leaving Tyner, he did form his own group. "I had a label behind me," he says, then pauses. "Careers are like life. Nobody stays on top all the time. You gotta be ready to make the changes."

We talk on the phone at 9 a.m. What's a jazz musician doing awake at this hour?

"I'm up at 6 a.m. every day," says Blake. "When I'm home I have a lot to do. I want to get up and read my Bible, something to feed my spirit and soul. I know what that does for my day. I have to rely on Jesus Christ in all matters of my life: decision-making, my health and marriage. I need not just physical nourishment."

Blake is seriously moved by the topic of divine inspiration. "Man isn't as smart as he thinks he is: I ask for guidance in every area, I know where my source is. As things unfold in my life I realize how much control I don't have. I need to be more disciplined."

Speaking of the aforementioned career peaks and valleys, he says, "I want to be at peace through everything. I understand that it doesn't matter what happens; it's how I handle it. We face so much in life — job, health [problems]." Sounding empathetic, Blake says it is a whole lot harder to try to live without a spiritual foundation.

One of Blake's current projects is an all-spirituals recording. "I got a grant from the Independence Foundation. I will use some students from Howard University, where they have a great young jazz vocal ensemble, Afro Blue. I had them in mind when I wrote these arrangements."

Working with students has become an important element in Blake's career. "My work here [in Philly] is mainly educational. I work in the schools."

Musicopia (formerly Strings for Schools) can bring the entire John Blake Quintet to a school for a five-day residency, offering kids a serious immersion in jazz.

Young adults also benefit from Blake's erudition. "I apply for grants through PennPAT [Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour]. They make funding available for me to come to nonprofits like my residencies at Millersville [University] and Ursinus [College]." Blake doesn't confine his teaching to Greater Philly. He's had residencies as far away as Brazil and Japan. He's also received grants from Chamber Music America for his composing.

"The business has shifted to more self-sufficiency," he says. He operates his own label and he publishes his own teaching book/CD, Jazz Improvisation Made Easy.

Current gigs include touring with the show Raisin' Cain. In Raisin', Jasmine Guy, Blake and two other musicians bring the Harlem Renaissance to life in a multimedia performance, featuring the words of greats like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston and other legends of the early 20th century. Raisin' Cain has played the Apollo Theater and a good bit of the rest of the continent, but is still looking for a Philly booking.

That leads us back to another reason Blake is not a household name: The jazz economy started sinking before the rest. Rather than ask his group to accept poor wages, Blake continues teaching and composing and patiently waiting for the next performance opportunity.

From his earliest classical studies as a boy at Settlement, complete with the school's frequent forays to the Academy of Music, to studies in Montreux and India, John Blake stays flexible, ready to adopt and adapt, counting his blessings, celebrating life and creativity however it comes at him.

(m_armstrong@citypaper.net)

 

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