Johnathan Blake

»Right around that time when I was writing this music, it seemed like every other day I was watching or listening to the news, and it was another person of colour — another Black and Brown person — being taken away from us at the hands of people that were supposed to serve and protect us,« says Blake. »I did not want to become numb to the things that were unfolding in front of me. I wanted to speak up through my music.«

Although Blake never set out to create a protest album in the mould of Max Roach’s »We Insist! Freedom Now Suite«, he consciously takes up the mantle of those who came before him: »Those musicians set the bar very high for us to follow. If we’re not following their lead, then we are doing them a disservice.« For his third Blue Note album, he assembled a group of close musical collaborators.