Label: Blue Note Records, 2025
Personnel - Dayna Stephens: tenor and soprano saxophone, EWI; Jalen Baker: vibraphone; Fabian Almazan: piano, electronics; Dezron Douglas: upright and electric bass; DJ Jahi Sundane: turntables (#1,9); Bilal: vocals (#4,14); Johna Blake: additional electric bass (#13); Muna Blake: spoken word (#6); Johnathan Blake: drums, cymbals.
In his third album for Blue Note Records, drummer/composer Johnathan Blake—long regarded as a rhythm architect and prominent figure in the scene—delivers an adventurous and deeply personal musical statement that addresses racial injustice. Leading a core quintet with saxophonist Dayna Stephens, vibraphonist Jalen Baker, pianist Fabian Almazan, and bassist Dezron Douglas, Blake presents a 14-track suite comprising six expansive compositions and eight interludes that serve as canvases for solo or duo explorations.
“Broken Drum Circle For the Forsaken” opens with DJ Jahi Sundance’s turntables and samples entwined with Blake’s vivid, wide-ranging drumming, which also commands the solo piece “Can You Hear Me?”, a clattering, booming outcry of skins and cymbals.
“Last Breath”—a tribute to Eric Garner, murdered by chokehold—moves in 5/4, beautifully delineated by Baker’s vibes for an airy, intimate feel. There’s a high-flying solo by Stephens on EWI, followed by a 4/4 swinging motion that accommodates Baker’s solo, before returning to its original current for Almazan’s persuasive discourse. Longer works such as “My Life Matters” and “Can Tomorrow Be Brighter” highlight Blake’s sharp compositional intellect alongside the quintet’s formidable execution. The former—a warhorse professed with affirmation, energy, and plenty of groovy fantasy—is lifted by Stephens and Baker’s soulfully improvised exchanges as well as Almazan’s versatile pianism within a subtly Latinized passage rich in harmonic counterpoint; the latter piece, delivered in five and propelled by an urgent bass groove and excellent percussion work, climaxes with Stephens, who leaves orbit with a delightful tenor statement.
Almazan introduces the ballad “Requiem For Dreams Shattered” with a solo piano oratorio and electronics, later opting for a string of catchy riffs in his testimony. Guest vocalist Bilal deepens the impact, while Stephens adds an emotionally charged soprano saxophone solo.
The interlude “I Still Have a Dream” pairs Douglas’ bass pizzicato with Muna Blake’s spoken word—the poem is by her mother, Rio Sakairi. “That Which Kills Us Makes Us What?” is a haunting EWI eulogy that makes an impression. In turn, “We’ll Never Know” is a fulfilling waltz rooted in soul and gospel, channeling echoes of Ray Charles and Billy Joel while keeping hope alive.
Favorite Tracks:
02 - Last Breath ► 07 - My Life Matters ► 11 - Can Tomorrow Be Brighter