Realization of a Dream: An 80th Birthday Tribute to Ran Blake at Jordan Hall

Realization of a Dream celebrates the artistic vision of NEC’s founding Contemporary Improvisation department chair, Ran Blake, and the evolution of his music. Produced and directed by Eden MacAdam-Somer and Aaron Hartley, the concert features Blake, along with special guests and NEC alums Ricky Ford (originally from Roxbury), Leon “Boots” Maleson (originally from Brookline), Jonah Kraut and Dave “The Knife” Fabris, as well as performances by current students, faculty and departmental ensembles in original interpretations of Blake’s music and repertoire.
Blake came to NEC in the first wave of Gunther Schuller hires in the late 1960s and helped to found the Third Stream Program (now Contemporary Improvisation) in 1972, continuing as chair through 2005...

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Realization of a Dream celebrates the artistic vision of NEC’s founding Contemporary Improvisation department chair, Ran Blake, and the evolution of his music. Produced and directed by Eden MacAdam-Somer and Aaron Hartley, the concert features Blake, along with special guests and NEC alums Ricky Ford (originally from Roxbury), Leon “Boots” Maleson (originally from Brookline), Jonah Kraut and Dave “The Knife” Fabris, as well as performances by current students, faculty and departmental ensembles in original interpretations of Blake’s music and repertoire.
Blake came to NEC in the first wave of Gunther Schuller hires in the late 1960s and helped to found the Third Stream Program (now Contemporary Improvisation) in 1972, continuing as chair through 2005. Blake was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Grant in 1988. He continues to teach full-time, with his innovative approach – known as “the primacy of the ear” and codified in his 2011 book of that title – emphasizing the listening process and long-term memory over strict reliance on sheet music. Blake’s musical and educational approach are defining factors for the CI department and this concert seeks to pay tribute to the unique character of that approach. With harmonic and melodic concepts informed by a multitude of modalities, perhaps most notably jazz and film noir, this concert will evoke and be informed and inspired by the individual conception of Ran Blake.

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