American pianist Ran Blake, born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1935, is one of the leading exponents of the Third Stream movement, which combines elements of classical music and jazz, as defined by its creator Günther Schuller. Author of the emblematic 1961 album The Newest Sound Around with singer Jeanne Lee, this fan of Nouvelle Vague cinema composed several albums around this cinematic theme, including Film Noir (1980), Duo En Noir (1999) and Chabrol Noir (2016). He has collaborated on several occasions with Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava. Ran Blake is also renowned as a teacher: he has been teaching at Boston's New England Conservatory since 1967 and put his career on hold for a few years, before redoubling his efforts in the studio in the late 1970s. Between two albums of solo improvisations, he paid tribute to his masters Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, George Gershwin, his peers Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver, and singers Sarah Vaughan and Chris Connor.
