Johnathan Blake

Johnathan Blake has been an in-demand drummer across the last two decades working with a great range of jazz legends (Pharoah Sanders, Dr. Lonnie Smith) and the newer wave (Avishai Cohen, Ravi Coltrane, Chris Potter). Homeward Bound marks his fourth album as a leader but debut for Blue Note and has the drummer in dynamic form leading an incredible ensemble that features solo stars Immanuel Wilkins on saxophones, Joel Ross on vibes, bassist Dezron Douglas and David Virilles filling the leftover spaces and on piano, synths and Fender Rhodes.

What a band.

And Blake is quite the composer too.

His tunes are putty in the hands of Wilkins and Ross, who take no liberties as such, but stretch the tunes into glorious new places, filling spaces and always with the full support of this lithe band; the rhythm section so full with Ross pulling double-duty as both a lead player and a tight part of the rhythmic core.

The album opens with a brief drum solo, that’s Blake having a wee (tasteful) red carpet moment on his Blue Note debut. From there he gives almost all of the solos to anyone else, content to sit back and drive the van – delivering the tunes on time.

The title track – full name Homeward Bound (For Ana Grace) – is the immediate scene-setter with glistening piano and soft soprano sax sprinkled over the loping groove. Ross adds his sprinkle of magic ahead of Wilkins going off into that space he occupies when soloing, dizzying but never overwhelming. Beneath, all the while, it’s Virilles playing the McCoy Tyner role, with Douglas proud like Jimmy Garrison and Blake somewhere between Elvin Jones’ tumbling and Art Blakey’s precision.

It’s just a glorious sound to drink in. So smooth, so correct – never clinical.

Rivers & Parks has Wilkins in his Wayne Shorter-mode, LLL has the band in post-bop mode, all forward-focussed and thrilling.

And then, maybe the absolute highlight is the surprise-cover of Joe Jackson’s Steppin’ Out (a song I love!) to close out the album.

Virilles sets the scene with some exquisite playing ahead of the band joining in. The piano is still dominant throughout but the Coltrane-like groove that is established allows for Ross and Wilkins to fold their ingredients into the flavour-pot while Douglas and Blake keep things moving.

There’s such exquisite flow to the whole album – just a classy set of tunes by a brilliant team of players. A sublime modern jazz experience.

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