Brian Blade to join family in musical event

On April 8 at 7:30 p.m. musician Brian Blade will perform with his family alongside the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra at the RiverView Theater for a special event called “An Evening with the Blade Family.”

The moment when Brian traded his violin bow for a pair of drumsticks became a substantial one for his career. Following in his older brother’s footsteps, Brian was inspired to focus on drumming at a young age. He drummed with small bands here and there throughout middle and high school.

“Maybe the violin didn’t have to fall by the wayside when I picked up the drums, but it sort of happened that way … this dedication towards the one thing just transferred,” Brian said.

From that moment to now, Brian has built his career as a jazz drummer, composer, session musician and singer-songwriter. He has recorded with Daniel Lanois, Ellis Marsalis, Marianne Faithfull, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Billy Childs, Herbie Hancock, Dorothy Scott and Bob Dylan.

Brian’s passion for music first began while growing up in Shreveport where his father, Pastor Brady L. Blade Sr., has served the congregation at Zion Baptist Church for 53 years. Music ran in the family as Pastor Brady established his band, “The Hallelujah Train,” to help spread the gospel. Often, Brian and his older brother, Brady Blade Jr., would perform with their father’s band.

Now to celebrate the family’s achievements in the community, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra Director Michael Butterman reached out to the family with an idea for a concert.

“I was excited by the idea of hearing the music that I’ve been writing and the music my friend Jon Cowherd and I have been recording with the fellowship band,” Brian said. “Also to see ‘The Hallelujah Train’ that my father birthed through his ministry, to see it expanded and see this collaboration with the Shreveport Symphony happen ... it was an exciting possibility.”

For Brian, performing with his family is a great experience.

“It’s always a celebration for me and a reaffirmation for what’s more important.”

He believes that music and worship go hand-in-hand.

“The music was always inexplicably tied with praise and worship,” Brian said. “No matter where else we would play music, it was always that, and it is always that for me. It’s an extension of that music and that praise sort of binding us.”

Brian and his wife moved back to Shreveport about four years ago.

“It’s been a restoration for us with both of our families here,” Brian said. “We were able to return to the place where we met.

There is a renewal and a reinvention that comes with it.”

When a new music opportunity comes knocking that he feels is worthwhile, Brian leaves his hometown but only for the time being.

“Touring is the labor of being a musician,” he said. “You have to get from point A to point B. That’s the hardest part of music.”

Throughout his musical career, Brian has had the opportunity to work with a lot of big names in the industry. But one musician in particular stands out the most to him.

When Brian first started driving, a fellow musician gave him Joni Mitchell cassette tapes. Those cassettes really had a profound effect on his life. Her music spoke to him, and he felt like he owed her a great debt.

Twenty years later, he got to work with Mitchell, and they’ve collaborated on different projects together. Mitchell lent her vocals to a track on Brian’s 2000 album, “Perpetual.”

“When I finally got to meet to her, and thank her, then make music with her,” Brian said, “who sees that kind of thing coming? I think we are being prepared for things. We don’t realize it at the moment.”

Brian looks toward the future without a wish list of whom to collaborate with next.

“I’ve played with my heroes, and they’ve become a part of my life. I’m just looking forward to any surprises that lay ahead.”

“The music is always turning around in my ear, so to speak – more than a hobby, this is a calling that I feel I have to respond to. I get so much from it.”

He hopes to keep playing with his fellowship band and grow some of his projects with his father.

“I see music as God’s gift to us ... for us,” Brian said. “It is sort of giving back what we’ve been given. When that something comes to you as a composition or as a noise and you can turn it into this thankful symphony, then I think God smiles on that. That you didn’t keep it to yourself. You decided to share it.”

“An Evening with the Blade Family” will feature newly created orchestral arrangements alongside Pastor Brady’s band, “The Hallelujah Train,” and “Brian Blade’s Fellowship Band.”

“I hope folks come out to enjoy our concert and that we can make something beautiful together with the Shreveport Symphony.”

– Jessica Carr