Seamus Blake (born December 8, 1970) is a British-born Canadian tenor saxophonist.
Early life and education
Blake was born in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and raised in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. His mother introduced him to jazz when he was a child and he later attended the
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...
in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
.
Career
Upon graduation, he moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. In February 2002, he won the
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...
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 as well as many other New York musicians.
In 2022 Seamus became a member of
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
classic songs as well as Waters solo material.
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)
* ''Swing On This'' (Criss Cross, 2022)
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
*
Franco Ambrosetti
Franco Ambrosetti (born 10 December 1941) is a jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer. He was born in Lugano, Switzerland; his father, Flavio Ambrosetti, Flavio, was a saxophonist who once played opposite Charlie Parker.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)
* Ken Schaphorst, ''Purple'' (Naxos, 1998)
* John Stetch, ''Carpatian Blues'' (Terra Nova, 1996)
* Bill Stewart, ''Telepathy'' (Blue Note, 1997)
* Bill Stewart, ''Space Squid'' (Pirouet, 2015)
* 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)