Johnathan Blake – My Life Matters

With My Life Matters, master drummer Johnathan Blake presents a suite about the importance of making yourself heard in the face of injustice: stay silent, and you become part of the problem. The work, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, was commissioned by The Jazz Gallery in New York and appeared in 2025 on the renowned Blue Note label. Blake performs the suite with his band Pentad, the quintet he assembled in order to write for a fuller and more explicit band sound than his earlier projects.

Blake grew up in Philadelphia and has played with Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Tom Harrell, Chris Potter, Maria Schneider, Donny McCaslin and Kris Davis. For nearly fifteen years he has been part of Kenny Barron’s trio, and he features on several albums by Dr. Lonnie Smith. His range is broad: he has also played with the Mingus Big Band and with rapper Q-Tip. As a leader he previously released Homeward Bound (2021) and Passage (2023), both on Blue Note.

“Johnathan Blake is the ultimate modernist. As a drummer, he’s as comfortable steering ensembles led by jazz veterans such as trumpeter Tom Harrell and saxophonist Oliver Lake as he is providing the pulse beneath rapper Q-Tip and deep-house diva Monday Michiru.” — NPR