Home » Jazz Articles » Terence Blanchard
Jazz Articles about Terence Blanchard
Jeff "Tain" Watts: Watts
by AAJ Italy Staff
Quattro dei principali jazzisti contemporanei, guidati da un batterista che ha saputo fondere virtuosismo, unicità timbrica e visione compositiva, siglano con Watts uno dei lavori più forti e convincenti sentiti in anni. E' allo stesso tempo una libera jam session fra maestri e un lavoro dalla solida concezione unitaria, risultato di quell'assorbimento completo della storia delle musiche afroamericane che ha caratterizzato la generazione degli Young Lions. Tanto criticati per il loro legame col bebop e lo swing, i migliori di ...
Continue ReadingTerence Blanchard: Choices
by Mark F. Turner
Trumpeter/band leader/ film scorer Terence Blanchard is the epitome of an artist who's made good choices. One of the distinct voices in the post-Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis era, he has moved from being a young-lion with seminal players such as Donald Harrison in Black Pearl (Columbia, 1988), to delivering progressive projects such as Flow (Blue Note, 2005) and winning multiple Grammy awards for albums including 2007's A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina) (Blue Note).
Continue ReadingTerence Blanchard: Requiem for Katrina
by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
During a brief period of four years, two events took place that could define how world history will view America during the early part of the 21st century. The first was 9/11 and the other, Hurricane Katrina. But perhaps most surprising from a global point of view, was how powerless America appeared to be in helping its own citizens who were left destitute during the aftermath of Katrina.
How could the United States, the nation who has been ...
Continue ReadingTerence Blanchard at Tanglewood Jazz Fest: A Requiem for Katrina
by R.J. DeLuke
Tanglewood Jazz Festival Tanglewood Lennox, Massachusetts August 31, 2008
Hurricane Gustav was one day away from striking the Gulf Coast, with warnings that it might be worse than the devastating hurricane that struck New Orleans in 2005 as Terence Blanchard took his quintet to the stage at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival on Labor Day weekend 2008 at the storied performance facility in Lenox, Massachusetts. He admitted his heart had been heavy on that ...
Continue ReadingJazz Goes to the Movies: Spike Lee and Terence Blanchard at the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia
by Victor L. Schermer
The Kimmel Center for the Performing ArtsVerizon HallPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaApril 19, 2008This event, unusual for the Mellon Jazz Series at the Kimmel Center, brought together Terence Blanchard and his quintet, several crossover (jazz and pops) vocalists, and a fine pickup orchestra conducted by Michael Pedicin performing Blanchard's music from eight Spike Lee films, with still slides from the movies prominently projected on an overhead screen. Spike Lee himself spoke at the beginning and end of the ...
Continue ReadingTerence Blanchard: A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina)
by John Kelman
Music can be inspired by--and reflective of--world events. Still, many artists believe that music should not be explicitly political: “Not the music itself, thank God," said trumpeter Dave Douglas, in a 2004 AAJ interview. “Music exists in its own space, independent of all of--that's why it has such power to uplift and raise us to a better place." When music takes a big stick approach, it often comes across as too navel-gazing and, ultimately, an overstatement that detracts from the ...
Continue ReadingTerence Blanchard: A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina)
by Chris May
Jazz history isn't exactly littered with great albums featuring string orchestras. There have been a few--tenor saxophonist Stan Getz's Focus (Verve, 1961) and British reed player Tim Garland's If The Sea Replied (Sirocco, 2005) are both masterpieces, but precious few others were recorded in the 44 years which separate them. All too often, string orchestras seem either to cramp an improvising musician's style or deliver a truck load of sound and fury signifying very little, or both.
New ...
Continue Reading
