Alex Blake (born Alejandro Blake Fearon, Jr) is a post-bop jazz double-bassist and electric bass guitarist who was born in Panama and moved to the United States at the age of 7, growing up in Brooklyn, NY. He began his career with Sun Ra in his band Arkestra. He became one of the major proponents of the fusion movement in the late 1970s with his writing and performances with Lenny White and Billy Cobham.
A live performance compilation was released by Bubble Core Records in 2000 titled Now Is the Time: Live at the Knitting Factory. The album featured Blake's own quintet, which included Pharoah Sanders, Victor Jones, John Hicks and Neil Clarke (percussion).
In addition to leading his own group, Blake also performs and records with Randy Weston, as well as other musicians.
Famous quotes containing the words alex and/or blake:
“My smiling child
Named for a noble ancestor
Great hunter or warrior
You will be one day.
Which will give your papa pride
But always I will remember you thus.”
—African Lullaby. As quoted in Roots, by Alex Haley (1976)
“What the hammer?What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil?What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?”
—William Blake (17571827)