Whirlpool
Dominique Eade Ran Blake Whirlpool 2011
Best CDs of 2012 ★★★★ ½ (4 ½ Stars) DownBeat
Best Vocal Album 2011 Jazz Critics’ Poll
Best Vocal Album, and #6 New Releases Dan Morgenstern, Journal of Jazz Studies
Best Vocal Album, and #3 New Releases Jazz Times.
Best Vocal Album, and #3 New Releases Kevin Whitehead, Fresh Air, NPR
Best Vocal Album 2011 Steve Dollar, Wall Street Journal, Time Out New York
Best Vocal Album 2011 New York City Jazz Record, Hot House
Top 50 Jazz CDs of 2011 Jazz Times
#4 of 25 Best Jazz Albums of 2011 Lucid Culture
★★★★ ½ (4 ½ Stars). “Eade’s ability to match his creativity without attempting to slipstream—instead making bold long-tone decisions—is the genius of this remarkable pairing.” DownBeat
“Simpatico relationships between vocalists and pianists are hardly unusual. Occasionally, though, such unions transcend sympathetic rapport and become truly empathetic. The finest example on record emerged in 1961, when trailblazing pianist Ran Blake and singer Jeanne Lee commingled on The Newest Sound Around. Now, a half-century later, Blake achieves very near the same magnificence with Dominique Eade.” Jazz Times
Consider this music a missive from the realm of good things long overdue. It is the product of an inspired pairing of artists that, while nurtured for decades, has for the most part managed to escape documentation; and it marks some of the most compelling music in two already illustrious careers. In the case of Ran Blake, that career has spanned a half century and yielded many gifts, including a solo piano language that blends audacious harmonic and rhythmic ideas with gospel-like fervor; a redefinition of “Third Stream” that has effectively globalized his mentor Gunther Schuller’s original concept of jazz/classical merger to encompass all cultural sources; and a sonic translation of the expressionistic gestures and subconscious motivations of classic film noir.
No collaboration by Blake with other vocal partners has proven deeper or more resonant than the collaboration begun when Eade, as a talented undergraduate, first encountered the pianist three decade ago. “She knocked us out,” he says of Eade’s audition for what was then NEC’s Third Stream Department.“ Then and now, she was full of surprises, certainly more than I hear from most horn players.”
A knack for finding substantial and often obscure material contributes to the collective magic that Eade and Blake make with such consistency. It helps of course to have the melodic/harmonic chops to address such material as “Falling” (from the Ann Richards corner of the Stan Kenton Songbook) and “The Pawnbroker” (which may be Quincy Jones’ finest hour as a composer), but intellectual curiosity and emotional affinity are also essential. “Go Gently to the Water,” the disc’s only example of Eade’s gifts as a composer, was aptly described by Kevin Whitehead as a “secular hymn” when it first appeared on her duo album “Open” with pianist Jed Wilson, and only gains stature over time as another song deserving of wider recognition. Yet Blake and Eade do not deal merely in obscurities. They are just as persuasive interpreting “My Foolish Heart,” where the looming shadows of past interpretations are inevitable, or “Where are You?”, which Eade was originally inspired to sing after hearing Sonny Rollins’ classic 1962 instrumental version. The key is openness. “If we can mix organs,” Eade jokes, “Ran is not just paying lip service when he talks about the primacy of the ear. When we perform together, anything is possible.”
(From the liner notes by Bob Blumenthal)
Released October 25, 2011
My Foolish Heart (Young, Washington) 3:40
Dearly Beloved (Kern, Mercer) 3:24
The Wind (Freeman, Gladstone) 5:45
Go Gently to the Water (Eade) 4:50
Old Devil Moon (Lane, Harburg) 3:44
Pinky (Newman) 3:35
Falling (Overall) 2:39
Where Are You (Adamson, McHugh) 2:48
Out of this World (Arlen, Mercer) 2:16
The Pawnbroker (Jones, Lawrence) 3:54
Dearly Beloved (Kern, Mercer) 3:33
The Thrill is Gone (Henderson, Brown) 3:25
After the Ball (Harris) 2:29
Ran Blake piano
Dominique Eade voice
Recorded June 2004 and February 2008, Rear Window Recording Studio, Brookline, MA: Nate Dube, recording engineer; Eric Oligney, assistant engineer. Mixed and mastered by Alan Mattes, WGBH Studios, Brighton, MA. Cover painting “Baltimore” by Zimri Yaseen. Design and photo by Andrew Hurlbut. Snapshot of Dominique and Ran by Cercie Miller.
★★★★★ (5 Stars) Ponto de Escuta.
“As for Eade, her effortless and seemingly limitless ability to vary both her vibrato and tonal quality, and cleverly utilize intervallic leaps, while speeding up or slowing down unpredictable in navigating a lyric, help make her a most flexible and adventurous match for Blake. They are harmonically and melodically attuned to one another. The rich beauty of Eade’s voice shines through brightly.” Jazz Times
“These two have a rapport and direction that is not often attained in music of any kind.” The IAJRC Journal
“Its dark clarity is absolutely chilling, and absolutely exhilarating. It makes you glad to be alive. Eade has never sung better; Blake’s at the top of his game….In terms of pure chops, she’s probably the best singer he’s worked with. But Eade doesn’t let her range, and ability to shade a phrase or lyric with the most minute shades of volume, or pull of or turn up an effortless powerglide vibrato, obscure her commitment to pulling (and occasionally wrenching) the meaning out of the words.” Lucid Culture
“Eade has a flexible voice, extraordinary ears and deep harmonic knowledge which allows her to follow —and sometimes lead—Blake as they travel far outside the key centers and original harmonies.” Jazz History Online
“Whirlpool is a stunning display of jazz virtuosity. Dominique Eade delivers a vocal master class…these two are as in tuned with each other as they are with the music.” The Dirty Lowdown
“He could not have a more technically poised partner than Eade. She’s equally daring, with just as fine an ear, leaping hither and yon in her improvisations. Every word had color and meaning, and so did the notes in between. Eade and Blake together were creating cinema for the ear.” Live review, Jon Garelick, The Boston Phoenix
