| Jazz |
Summary : Michael Blake transforms iconic Halloween themes by John Carpenter, Duke Ellington and Vince Guaraldi into a playful, atmospheric jazz journey filled with imagination, mystery and musical freedom.
Michael Blake’s Halloween Tales: A Spooky Jazz Journey Through Carpenter, Ellington and Guaraldi
If there is one holiday in the United States that has become almost entirely commercial, it is certainly Halloween. And yet, despite all the costumes, candy, decorations and endless marketing surrounding it, it is still rather unusual to see an entire jazz album built around the spirit of Halloween. So, naturally, I could not simply let Michael Blake’s Halloween Tales pass me by, especially when the very first track is his interpretation of the famous theme from John Carpenter’s Halloween. That alone was enough to get my attention.
Carpenter’s film was frightening, of course, but it was also meant to be fun, and that distinction is important. Michael Blake seems to understand it perfectly. He does not approach these themes as untouchable pieces of film and popular culture. He takes them, turns them around, works on them, sometimes almost tears them apart, and then puts them back together through his own jazz language. And while listening, I have to admit that I found myself wondering whether Blake might be, like me, one of those musicians who never completely grew out of a fascination with the great genre cinema of the 1970s and 1980s. John Carpenter was obviously one of its major figures, but he was certainly not alone. George Romero and Dario Argento also gave us some of the most memorable and influential work in the history of genre cinema. Their names still carry weight, and their films continue to inspire new generations.
That cinematic spirit is everywhere on Halloween Tales. Transylvanian Lullaby, from Young Frankenstein, and Sally’s Song, from The Nightmare Before Christmas, are placed alongside two Duke Ellington compositions, Anatomy of a Murder, which earned a Grammy Award, and the rarely performed Stalking Monster. Vince Guaraldi contributes Great Pumpkin Waltz and Breathless, both associated with It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, while the standard Witchcraft completes this rather unexpected collection of material. There is only one original composition, The Creep, which Blake first wrote in the late 1980s as a satirical piece with a political edge. Since then, it has changed considerably, becoming a slow, progressive meditation in C minor, with echoes of Ellington’s East St. Louis Toodle-Oo and Charles Mingus’s Fables of Faubus. It is an intriguing piece, and in the context of this album, it feels almost inevitable.
So the setting is perfectly established. And yes, Michael Blake, saxophonist and composer, clearly went into this project with a great deal of inspiration. Fortunately, the result is there to prove it. I have always enjoyed hearing musicians take compositions that already exist and give us their own vision of them. For me, that is one of the pleasures of jazz. Why simply reproduce something we already know when you can make us hear it differently? Blake does exactly that here. He does not destroy the identity of these pieces. Quite the opposite. He digs into their melodies, their atmosphere and their hidden possibilities, and then translates them into jazz with an impressive sense of balance.
This is also why Halloween Tales quickly stops sounding like a simple Halloween project. It becomes a real jazz album. Blake is joined by Gary Versace on piano, Ben Allison on bass and Michael Sarin on drums, a classic quartet that gives him exactly the kind of freedom these pieces require. The choice of instrumentation also has a personal dimension, recalling the festive jazz records that influenced Blake’s own listening. And there is plenty of history between these musicians. Blake and Allison first played together in New York in the late 1980s and went on to collaborate for many years, including their work with the Jazz Composers Collective. Sarin and Versace have also spent years working with Blake and Allison in different groups and on countless tours. This is not a group of musicians meeting for the first time and trying to figure each other out. They already know how to listen to one another.
That chemistry matters enormously here. Giving jazz a genuine chill with material like this is not as easy as it might appear. There is always the danger of becoming too theatrical, too obvious or, even worse, simply cute. Blake avoids all three. His saxophone is never there simply to demonstrate how technically impressive he can be. He remains inside the music, almost like an actor who knows that the best performance is sometimes the one in which you do not see the acting. He understands the melodies, knows exactly where to push them and, perhaps even more importantly, knows when to leave them alone.
There are moments when silence becomes almost as important as the notes themselves. Blake allows the music to breathe, and that gives certain passages a curious tension. At times, the quartet moves with an almost bebop-like energy; elsewhere, it becomes darker, more atmospheric and slightly mysterious. Nothing feels forced. And this is probably one of the things I like most about the record. Blake does not spend his time trying to convince us that Halloween is frightening. He simply lets the music create its own atmosphere.
There is also a wonderful sense of humor running through the album. And that, to my mind, is essential. Halloween has always been about being frightened and having fun at the same time. The best horror films understood this long before the genre became so serious about itself. You watch the monster, you jump, and then, sooner or later, you laugh. Blake seems to remember that simple truth. His saxophone can suggest darkness, but it can also wink at you.
Perhaps that is why the album never feels like a gimmick. Halloween is the excuse, not the destination. Blake takes themes from horror movies, animated television specials, standards and the great American jazz tradition and puts them into the same musical room. Somehow, Carpenter, Ellington, Guaraldi, Mingus and Blake can coexist without the whole thing turning into some kind of Halloween novelty record. That is a considerable achievement.
And there is something else I appreciate about Michael Blake’s approach. He has enough experience to know that he does not have to prove anything. He can simply play. In a musical world where artists are sometimes under enormous pressure to be innovative at every possible second, there is something refreshing about a musician who can take a familiar melody and say, essentially, “Let’s see what happens if we play this as jazz.” What happens is that these pieces suddenly become alive again.
In the end, Halloween Tales is not really about Halloween. Or at least, Halloween is only the door through which Blake invites us into the album. What we find on the other side is imagination, musical pleasure and a very personal way of looking at material that could easily have been treated as a novelty. Blake refuses to do that. He respects these melodies enough to play with them, and he knows that sometimes the best way to respect a piece of music is to stop treating it as sacred.
So yes, you can let your little children listen to this album quite peacefully. And if they start laughing at certain moments, do not worry. That is perfectly normal. Michael Blake, with his saxophone, is a wonderful actor who has managed to keep something extremely important: his childlike gaze. He knows the darkness, but he also knows how to have fun with it. And perhaps that is the real trick behind Halloween Tales. The monsters are there, the ghosts are there, the familiar melodies are there, but behind all of them is simply a great jazz musician having a very good time. And when a musician manages to have that much fun without ever forgetting the quality of the music, the listener usually has a pretty good time too.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, September 7th, 2026
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Musicians :
Michael Blake – tenor and soprano saxophones
Gary Versace – piano
Ben Allison – bass
Michael Sarin – drums
Track Listing :
1. Halloween Theme (from the film Halloween)
2. Stalking Monster (from The Night Creature)
3. The Great Pumpkin Waltz (from the TV show It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown)
4. Transylvanian Lullaby (Theme to the film Young Frankenstein)
5. Breathless (from the TV show It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown)
6. Sally’s Song (from the film The Nightmare Before Christmas)
7. Anatomy of a Murder (Main Title from the film Anatomy of a Murder)
8. Witchcraft
9. The Creep
Recorded and engineered by Matt Balitsaris at Maggie’s Farm, PA on January 13, 2026
Mixed and mastered by Ben Allison
Artwork by Chloe True
Produced by Michael Blake
Co-produced by Ben Allison