Roots and Byways
SSC1813 2026-07-03
Track List
Mood Indigo - 1:28
Grey December - 2:38
Portrait - 2:40
Mendacity - 2:47
Saving All My Love for You - 2:54
Lost Highway - 2:42
Who Cares - 3:50
Dreamsville - 4:06
Les Grognards - 1:51
Way Out There - 2:56
Pannonica - 2:52
What’s Your Story, Morning Glory - 3:40
You Go to My Head - 3:38
I Remember - 3:28
On Top of Old Smokey - 2:51
Watch What Happens - 1:44
Musicians
Ran Blake - piano
Dominique Eade - voice
For ages, the concept of Americana within the music world has pigeonholed a singular sound that harkens to the twang of folk and country tunes. In reality, musical Americana should encapsulate the entirety of the United States’ musical offering, from Jimmy Webb to Thelonious Monk and Charles Ives to Beyoncé. Ran Blake and Dominique Eade have enthusiastically combed the diverse paths of the “American songbook” for decades and their new recording, Roots & Byways, showcases just how fruitful their journey has been.
The legendary pianist Ran Blake has enjoyed a long and celebrated career as a composer, educator, and performer. His work with vocalists might be his most revered, as he has always maintained an orchestral but playful approach to co-creating with vocalists.
Vocalist Eade met Blake nearly five decades ago when she arrived in Boston to enrich her musical practice at The Berklee School of Music. Hearing Blake perform a solo piano concert was revelatory as he was able to put a new context to the jazz and contemporary classical approaches that Eade had been exposed to at home. Eade quickly jumped to the Third Stream Music Department at the New England Conservatory and into a mentorship from Blake himself.
The duo has remained close ever since, finding new ways to collaborate and perform, whether in a duo setting, in a quartet, or as musical accompaniment to film. Blake especially remains hyperactive in his musical discovery, enjoying “aural cocktails” or mixtapes, CDs or playlists where he can uncover new songs. YouTube has become a rabbit hole for his musical exploration and he constantly shares version upon version of songs with collaborators.
This discovery along with regular rehearsals are de rigueur when Eade and Blake’s work together. But rehearsals take on a different context with Blake, as he would prefer to develop trust than hone a musical product. The trust building leads to a feeling of openness and freedom in their performance.
Interestingly, Blake and Eade never captured their work together on record, though they had concertized together for decades. They finally were able to cross that threshold with the 2011 release of Whirlpool and then again in 2017 with Town and Country.
The duo’s newest work, Roots & Byways, was recorded in their favored performance space in Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory of Music over two sessions in August 2023. The recording presents the duo performing fourteen pieces (plus two solo piano interpretations by Blake) of a diverse range of standards, pop songs, film music, and folk tunes.
The tunes that Blake and Eade interpret cover a wide range of styles and genres, all a part of the American musical legacy (apart from some French assistance). The rara avis of Frank Campo’s ballad “Grey December” has a notable rendition by Chet Baker and is performed here with cool poise. Poignant takes on revolutionary jazz composers are represented by Charles Mingus’s “Portrait,” Max Roach’s “Mendacity,” and Monk’s “Pannonica,” while the Leon Payne-penned Hank Williams classic “Lost Highway” finds a new tuning for heartache.
New standards arise from soul’s vast catalog, including a surprising rendition of The Sylver’s “I Remember” and the Whitney Houston classic, “Saving All My Love for You.” The blues are well represented on their acrobatic version of Mary Lou Williams’ “What’s The Story, Morning Glory” and even the folksiest of tunes, “On Top of Old Smokey,” gets a singular revision. Though the French composer Michel Legrand is represented on his concluding “Watch What Happens,” it is a solo rendition of the Edith Piaf classic, “Les Grognards,” that speaks beyond borders to what is affecting America, as the ghosts of conquests come home to roost.
Ran Blake and Dominique Eade’s Roots & Byways is a captivating recording that celebrates the legacy of a long running partnership that continues to find new ways to challenge and delight listeners and the practitioners.
