Ran Blake Live on WGBH !

To celebrate the release of his new album, Driftwoods, Ran Blake will play a rare live solo piano performance at 9PM on WGBH this Wednesday March 18th, airing locally on 89.7FM Boston and streaming globally via wgbh.org/jazz, click on “Listen Live.”

Ran Blake is an iconoclast. Since his 1961 collaboration with Jeanne Lee on RCA, Ran Blake has released 35 albums on such labels as ESP, Soul Note, Arista and hatOLOGY. His 2006 album on the Tompkins Square label, All That Is Tied, received 4 stars in Downbeat and earned top honors in the 2007 Penguin Guide to Jazz. Penguin's editor Brian Morton and Wire Magazine hailed the record as a “masterpiece."

For his new solo piano outing, Driftwoods, Ran salutes his favorite singers, interpreting songs popularized by Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, Hank Williams, Nat King Cole and more. The album has received wide praise via the New York Times, Popmatters, eMusic and many more.

Ran Blake - Driftwoods Tompkins Square, distributed by Fontana/Universal