PAPATAMUS REDUX

SUNNYSIDE RECORDS (RELEASED JULY 3, 2026)

You’ve never heard “On Top of Old Smokey” performed like this. For that matter, you’ve never heard Max Roach’s “Mendacity,” Whitney Houston’s “Save Your Love For Me” or Charles Mingus’ “Portrait” performed this way either. What else would you expect from iconoclast pianist Ran Blake and the nimble vocalist Dominique Eade? Roots & Byways continues a tradition they began in 2011 with Whirlpool and expanded on with their 2017 release Town and Country. Both recordings featured reinterpreted standards, pop tunes, film music and folk tunes delivered in a surprising (what jazz should be) manner. This unique approach to familiar material had its infancy in 1962 when Ran Blake and vocalist Jeanne Lee’s released their classic The Newest Sound Around session on RCA Records. Rather than simply replicating the tunes on that earlier and what some refer to as a cult recording, the duo approach the selection of 16 tunes on Roots & Byways, ranging in styles and genre, in much the same fashion. Blake and Eade, who first met in Boston in 1978, are equal contributors in the process of transforming tunes into minimal treasures. Blake’s modernist stride solo is perfect for George Gershwin’s “Who Cares.” Eade’s floating and ethereal vocalese fits Thelonious Monk’s “Pannonica” to a T. They deliver Henry Mancini’s “Dreamsville” in an appropriately dreamy manner. Mary Lou William’s “What’s Your Story Morning Glory” is given a bluesy yet abstract feel. Roots & Byways also features two iconic solos from Blake — Edith Piaf’s classic “Les Grognards” and J. Fred Coots “You Go to My Head.” Some may describe the music of Blake and Eade as sparse, intuitive, cubist, whimsical, eccentric and intellectual.  I have a much better word, and it’s the. same word I would use to describe the 1962 Newest Sound Around recording — fresh! The amazing thing is that recording which is now 64 years old is timeless, much like Roots & Byways is and will be. Simply stated, it is STILL the newest sound around!

BOTTOM LINE: Sixty-four years after its release on RCA Records, Ran Blake and Jeanne Lee’s classic Newest Sound Around sets the tone for Blake’s third collaboration with vocalist Dominique Eade. The duo reinterprets a selection of 16 tunes covering a range of styles and genres in a manner that is still “the newest sound around.”