Accessibility links

Brian Blade Brian Blade artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

Brian Blade
Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band: Newport Jazz 2009

Brian Blade performs at Newport Jazz. Wiqan Ang hide caption

toggle caption
Wiqan Ang

Newport Jazz Festival

Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band: Newport Jazz 2009

WGBH Radio

One of the world's great drummers took an opportunity to exhibit his own colorful ensemble live at the 2009 Newport Jazz Festival.

Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band: Newport Jazz 2009

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/111691230/111715278" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
NPR Music's 25 Favorite Albums Of 2014 (So Far)
Colin Marshall/NPR

Music Lists

NPR Music's 25 Favorite Albums Of 2014 (So Far)

A selection of 25 deep, joyful, rewarding albums from every genre, out of every corner of the world, from the first six months months of 2014, picked by NPR Music.

01Vengo

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/326541189/326541403" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

  • Buy Featured Music

    Song
    Vengo
    Album
    Vengo
    Artist
    Ana Tijoux
    Label
    Nacional
    Released
    2014

    Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?

Brian Blade: Live at the Village Vanguard

Brian Blade. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artist

Live At The Village Vanguard

Brian Blade: Live at the Village Vanguard

WBGO

Widely recognized as one of the finest drummers in modern jazz — or in all of popular music, for that matter — Blade leads his celebrated Fellowship Band, fresh off their first recording in years.

Bang Your Drum

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/91567367/91692735" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
First Listen: Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, 'Landmarks'

Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band's new album, Landmarks, comes out April 29. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, 'Landmarks'

One of the world's best jazz drummers is also a singer-songwriter, session man for Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell and the son of a preacher man. It's all potently distilled for his band of over 15 years.

Landmarks

Audio for First Listens is no longer available after the album is released.
First Listen: Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, 'Landmarks'

Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band's new album, Landmarks, comes out April 29. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, 'Landmarks'

One of the world's best jazz drummers is also a singer-songwriter, session man for Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell and the son of a preacher man. It's all potently distilled for his band of over 15 years.

Landmarks

Audio for First Listens is no longer available after the album is released.

Concerts

Brian Blade Finds Fellowship At Vanguard

WBGO

Brian Blade, a reed of a man, sits up straight at his drums, lifting a shoulder. Born in 1970 in Shreveport, La., his father has been the pastor of the Zion Baptist Church there for almost 50 years. The dedication that started in church has expanded in the Fellowship Band, which plays a second set from the Village Vanguard.

Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band in Concert on JazzSet

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/99728795/99728792" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Review

Music Articles

Brian Blade Fellowship: Open-Sky Music

WBGO

"Return of the Prodigal Son," like the parable from which it draws its name, is a homecoming story. Eight years have passed since Brian Blade Fellowship's last release, and during that time, Blade himself has been more prodigious than prodigal.

Return of the Prodigal Son

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/90467825/90466272" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Highlights From The 2009 Newport Jazz Festival

Dave Brubeck is the most-featured artist of all time at the Newport Jazz Festival. Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Getty Images

Take Five: A Jazz Sampler

Highlights From The 2009 Newport Jazz Festival

Last weekend's festival packed in a dizzying array of talent, all performing in the span of 32 hours. We listened closely to as much of it as we could and picked five of the best songs — though certainly only a tiny sampling of the greatest moments — from our recordings.

First Listen: Black Dub, 'Black Dub'

Brian Blade, Daniel Lanois, Trixie Whitley and Daryl Johnson perform as Black Dub. courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: Black Dub, 'Black Dub'

KCRW

With his new project, Black Dub, Lanois brings together a deeply connected collective of musicians. Renowned Louisiana bass player Daryl Johnson and New Orleans virtuoso drummer Brian Blade are longtime Lanois collaborators, while young Trixie Whitley, provides the spiritual continuum.

Favorite Sessions

Daniel Lanois: Expansive Pedal Steel

KUT 90.5

Performing with Brian Blade, one of jazz's most accomplished and remarkable drummers, Daniel Lanois brought plenty of gravitas to KUT's small vintage studio. His gentle relationship with the pedal-steel guitar astounded a small group that gathered to watch his interview and performance.

Daniel Lanois and Brian Blade in Studio on KUT 3/15/08

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/91195762/91157578" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Browse the section archive or