Part of what made Miles Davis such an iconic musical figure was not just his trumpet playing or his compositional skills, it was also his ability to search for a sound. His ensembles weren’t just a couple swingin’ musicians getting together to burn. They were bands with chemistry, bands with a pervasive ethos about them. Miles was intensely focused on finding the perfect artist who would stylistically match what he was looking for. Each musician played a distinct role in his band. Consequently, Miles’s groups weren’t just good… they were great.

Similar to Miles’s quintet of the 60’s, Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band is comprised of beautifully contrasting musical vantage points. In a blend of blues, gospel, and various iterations of jazz, The Fellowship Band thrives off of stylistic contradiction. With Jon Cowherd(piano), Myron Walden (alto saxophone, bass clarinet), Melvin Butler (soprano and tenor saxophone), Chris Thomas (bass), Marvin Sewell and Jeff Parker (guitar), and Brian Blade (drums), The Fellowship Band is a scarily talented group. With the exception of the guitarists, these cats have remained a unit since their eponymous 1998 debut and its 2000 follow-up, Perceptual, both on Blue Note. On April 29^th, Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band return to Blue Note Records with the release of their new record, Landmarks. 

“The word ‘landmark’ seemed to have an arrow attached to it,” says Blade. “The idea is that we’re here right now, and we’re passing signs along the way that mark where we are. I like the journey aspect of Landmarks, the trip that the songs seem to comprise. There’s a lot of through-composition, some short, poetic things, then some long, epic landscapes that we travel. I try to write what I have discovered and realized with as much clarity as possible, while thinking of the band. When we play it, all this rhythm, melody, and harmony becomes alive, and other ideas reveal themselves.”

While he is already considered to be one of the baddest drummers on the scene, Blade is also becoming one of the most celebrated bandleaders in Jazz. With Landmarks, Brian Blade is showing us yet another side of himself as a musician, artist, and human being.