The past two years have brought this
extraordinary young artist a plethora of serious achievements.
From his ongoing summer residency at the legendary Amnesia
club in Ibiza, to a 40 country world tour to complement his
successful 2-disc DJ mixed compilation for the Armada Dancefloor
Sessions series. Blake Jarrell is one of the fastest rising
stars in the dance music industry today.
It is hard to believe that just a few years ago Blake’s
fortunes we’re anything but good. Blake arrived in his
adopted hometown of Chicago in 2005 shortly after packing
up all his belongings and fleeing the Mississippi Delta from
the menace of Hurricane Katrina. The Windy City’s vibrant
electronic music community embraced Blake’s natural
fan making ability and he was making waves in no time.
Blake quickly rose through the ranks of local jocks and a
big break was just ahead. Some high profile bookings brought
on a chance meeting with Armada Music’s head aficionado
Armin van Buuren. After listening to a few of his original
productions, Armin contacted Blake and soon after he joined
the Armada artist roster. Since that time Armin has invited
Blake on several of his world tours as an exclusive special
guest performer. Finally, Blake cemented his relationship
with Armada Music when he joined a select group of international
stars for full summer residencies at Armada’s weekly
shindig at Amnesia in Ibiza in 2007 and 2008.
Battle tested indeed, after traveling to over 90 cities,
the New Orleans kid turned Chicago hometown heavyweight remains
busy and is looking to climb further up the DJ charts with
an intense schedule of original productions and remixes. Blake’s
studio skills are what earned him an undisputed reputation
and his creativity is enjoyed and heavily supported by Markus
Schulz, Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Paul van Dyk, Pete Tong, Matthew
Dekay, John Digweed, Paul Oakenfold and of course Armin van
Buuren.
Blake recalls his 2008 hit Punta del Este and his remix of
Moussa Clark’s She Wants Him as just some of the highlights
of his young career. The former was featured on Armin van
Buuren’s acclaimed A State of Trance 2008 compilation,
and the latter held the #1 position on Beatport’s trance
charts for several weeks.
It is this blistering pace of success that has kept Blake
grounded which explains his dedication to expanding his monthly
radio show Concentrate. The show continues to evolve and reach
new audiences by featuring signature mix sets from Blake Jarrell
and special international guests. He believes in his fans
immensely and works tirelessly to give back to the people
that have supported him and his records.
Blake is set to kick off 2009 with an international tour
in the better part of February in support of his upcoming
project for Armada Music. A unique compilation that will feature
some of Blake’s original work as well as high profile
remixes. The album will debut at the Winter Music Conference
in Miami at the end of March with a CD release on Armada Music
scheduled shortly after. The tour will see Blake off to Riga,
Stockholm, Helsinki, Vancouver, Toronto, Miami, Boracay, and
San Francisco, among others. Blake Jarrell sets the bar awfully
high for aspiring young artists from Chicago, New Orleans
and beyond, but it is his perseverance, dedication, hard work,
and most of all passion for his craft that sees him through
to the top and across the world.
