Terell Stafford Quintet

Johnathan Blake, drums

Johnathan Blake, one of the most  accomplished drummers of his generation, has also proven himself a  complete and endlessly versatile musician. Blake’s gift for composition  and band leading reflects years of live and studio experience across the  aesthetic spectrum. Heralded by NPR Music as “the ultimate modernist,”  he has collaborated with Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Tom Harrell,  Hans Glawischnig, Avishai Cohen, Donny McCaslin, Linda May Han Oh,  Jaleel Shaw, Chris Potter, Maria Schneider, Alex Sipiagin, Kris Davis  and countless other distinctive voices. DownBeat once wrote, “It’s a  testament to Blake’s abilities that he makes his presence felt in any  context.” A frequent presence on Blue Note records over the past several  years, Blake has contributed his strong, limber pulse and airy  precision to multiple leader releases from Blue Note artists including  Dr. Lonnie Smith’s Breathe (2021), All in My Mind (2018) and Evolution  (2016) and Kenny Barron’s Concentric Circles (2018), the latter whose  trio Blake has been a vital member for nearly 15 years.
Born in Philadelphia in 1976, Blake is the son of renowned jazz  violinist John Blake, Jr. — himself a stylistic chameleon and an  important ongoing influence. After beginning on drums at age 10,  Johnathan gained his first performing experience with the Lovett Hines  Youth Ensemble, led by the renowned Philly jazz educator. It was during  this period, at Hines’s urging, that Blake began to compose his own  music. Later he worked with saxophonist Robert Landham in a youth jazz  ensemble at Settlement Music School. Blake graduated from George  Washington High School and went on to attend the highly respected jazz  program at William Paterson University, where he studied with Rufus  Reid, John Riley, Steve Wilson and Horace Arnold. At this time Blake  also began working professionally with the Oliver Lake Big Band, Roy  Hargrove and David Sanchez. In 2006 he was recognized with an ASCAP  Young Jazz Composers Award, and in 2007 he earned his Masters from  Rutgers University, focusing on composition. He studied with the likes  of Ralph Bowen, Conrad Herwig and Stanley Cowell. Deeply aware of  Philadelphia’s role as a historical nerve center of American music,  Blake has immersed himself in the city’s storied legacy — not just jazz  but also soul, R&B and hip-hop. In many ways he’s an heir to  Philadelphia drum masters such as Philly Joe Jones, Bobby Durham, Mickey  Roker and Edgar Bateman, not to mention younger mentors including Byron  Landham, Leon Jordan and Ralph Peterson, Jr..