Asdis Ran

Pianist, educator, improviser, and composer Ran Blake has made 39 albums since 1961. He has recorded in many settings from solo to big band, and like any true jazz musician worth his salt, he has embraced the entire historical lineage of the music from New Orleans through bebop to the avant-garde and beyond, creating a very personal signature in his playing and in his recordings. Blake has recorded for over a dozen labels in his long career, and his most recent tenure with New York's tiny Tompkins Square imprint - better known for its recordings of acoustic guitarists and obscure folk and country musicians - has yielded astonishing results, as evidenced by 2006's All That Is Tied. Driftwoods is his second offering for the label, and stands both in sharp contrast to the previous offering and as a logical extension of it…

Bi Kyo Ran is one of the most important Japanese Progressive Rock bands. Forming in the '70s, the legendary Bi Kyo Ran played with the bristling energy, intensity and aggression of King Crimson mainly on the "Red" era, then alternately delicate and pastoral, with ample use of mellotron. The guitar sounds like a Fripp clone, although sometimes it gains a bit in originality. The music is very well executed, and to complete the picture, a violinist is also featured.

Bi Kyo Ran is one of the most important Japanese Progressive Rock bands. Forming in the '70s, the legendary Bi Kyo Ran played with the bristling energy, intensity and aggression of King Crimson mainly on the "Red" era, then alternately delicate and pastoral, with ample use of mellotron. The guitar sounds like a Fripp clone, although sometimes it gains a bit in originality. The music is very well executed, and to complete the picture, a violinist is also featured.

Trumpeter Enrico Rava has proven himself adept at virtually every style of jazz, from bop through the avant-garde. For this short recording, he teams up with third-stream pianist Ran Blake in a series of 12 emotionally drenched tunes emphasizing the kind of dark, foreboding atmosphere for which Blake is well-known.