Seamus Blake (born December 8, 1970) is a British-born Canadian tenor saxophonist.
Seamus Blake | |
|---|---|
 Blake in 2012 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | December 8, 1970 London, England |
| Origin | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Labels | Criss Cross |
| Website | seamusblake |
Early life and education
editBlake 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
editUpon 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.
In 2022 Seamus became a member of Roger Waters touring band for the This Is Not a Drill tour. Seamus is playing sax on Pink Floyd classic songs as well as Waters solo material.[citation needed]
Discography
editAs leader
edit- 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)
- Swing On This (Criss Cross, 2022)
As sideman
editWith 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
- Franco Ambrosetti, Live at the Blue Note (Enja, 1993)
- Diego Barber, 411 (Origin, 2013)
- Ronnie Blake, Assimilation (Hi Speed Horns, 2017)
- Erin Bode, Over and Over (Maxjazz, 2006)
- Monika Borzym, Girl Talk (Sony, 2011)
- Robi Botos, Movin' Forward (A440, 2015)
- Brazilian Girls, Brazilian Girls (Verve Forecast, 2005)
- Brazilian Girls, Lazy Lover (Verve Forecast, 2004)
- Dave Douglas, Freak In (Bluebird, 2002)
- Billy Drummond, The Gift (Criss Cross, 1994)
- Fleurine, Fire (Coast to Coast 2002)
- Sara Gazarek, Return to You (Native Language, 2007)
- Wycliffe Gordon, Dig This! (Criss Cross, 2002)
- Wycliffe Gordon, United Soul Experience (Criss Cross, 2002)
- Danny Grissett, Form (Criss Cross, 2009)
- George Gruntz, Sins'n Wins'n Funs' Left-cores and Hard-core En-cores (TCB, 1996)
- Kevin Hays, Go Round (Blue Note, 1995)
- David Hazeltine, For All We Know (Smoke Sessions, 2014)
- Conrad Herwig, Unseen Universe (Criss Cross, 2000)
- Conrad Herwig, Obligation (Criss Cross, 2005)
- Scott Kinsey, No Sleep (Kinesthetic Music, 2017)
- Jane Monheit, The Lovers, the Dreamers and Me (Concord, 2008)
- Josh Nelson, Let It Go (Omagatoki, 2007)
- Robert Sadin, Art of Love: Music of Machaut (Deutsche Grammophon, 2009)
- Antonio Sanchez, The Meridian Suite (CAM Jazz, 2015)[6]
- Ken Schaphorst, Purple (Naxos, 1998)
- John Stetch, Carpatian Blues (Terra Nova, 1996)
- Bill Stewart, Telepathy (Blue Note, 1997)
- Bill Stewart, Space Squid (Pirouet, 2015)[7]
- Helen Sung, Going Express (Sunnyside, 2011)
- Mark Turner, Yam Yam (Criss Cross, 1995)
- Manuel Valera, Forma Nueva (Mavo, 2004)
- Jesse van Ruller, Circles (Criss Cross, 2003)
- Jesse van Ruller, Views (Criss Cross, 2006)
- Sam Yahel, Jazz Side of the Moon (Chesky, 2008)
- Peter Zak, One Mind (Fresh Sound, 2018)
- Mark Zubek, Twentytwodollarfishlunch (Fresh Sound, 2009)
- Dan Costa (Composer), Skyness (Independent, 2020)
- Joel Haynes, The Return (Cellar Music 2023)
References
edit- ^ Janus, Cicily (2010). The New Face of Jazz. Billboard Books. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-8230-0065-4.
- ^ Miller, Mark. The Miller Compendium to Jazz in Canada. The Mercury Press. pp. 21–23.
- ^ Murphy, Sean. "A Conversation with Seamus Blake" (HMTL). JazzEd Magazine. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
- ^ "Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz". Archived from the original on 3 February 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
- ^ Ratliff, Ben (26 February 2011). "ARTS IN AMERICA; No Nightclub, Just Saxophones, Artfully Competing". The New York Times.
- ^ Chinen, Nate (8 June 2015). "Review: Antonio Sánchez With 2 Albums, 'The Meridian Suite' and 'Three Times Three'". New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
- ^ BILAWSKY, Dan (8 January 2016). "Bill Stewart: Space Squid". All About Jazz. Retrieved 30 March 2017.