Jazz Articles about Terence Blanchard

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Jazz Goes to the Movies: Spike Lee and Terence Blanchard at the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia

by Victor L. Schermer
May 8, 2008

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Verizon Hall Philadelphia, PA April 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 ...

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Terence Blanchard: A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina)

by John Kelman
February 7, 2008

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 ...

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Terence Blanchard: A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina)

by Chris May
November 21, 2007

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 ...

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Terence Blanchard: Flow

by John Kelman
June 20, 2005

While some bemoan the fact that there have been no “major" developments in jazz in some time--and go so far as to cite that as proof jazz is dead or, at the very least, dying--they're missing the point. With the seemingly infinite number of sources that are being adopted and adapted into jazz contexts these days, what's really happening is that a multitude of artists--possibly more than ever before, as jazz has grown to be a truly global, albeit distinctly ...

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Terence Blanchard: Flow

by Mark F. Turner
June 11, 2005

Flow may be Terence Blanchard's most adventurous recording to date, and that's saying a lot for the prolific trumpeter, composer, and bandleader whose career has covered membership with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, producing top jazz recordings, and scoring music for many films. Though he's been highly successful, the inner fire of discovery still burns brightly on his latest release with newness and imagination.

On his second release with Blue Note, things shift into a higher gear, continuing where 2003's Bounce ...

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Terence Blanchard: Flow

by Paul Olson
June 6, 2005

Flow is trumpeter Terence Blanchard's first album since Bounce (2003), and it features most of the same players from that album: Brice Winston on tenor and soprano sax, Lionel Loueke on guitar and vocals, and Aaron Parks on piano. This recording includes drummer Kendrick Scott and bassist Derrick Hodge, two new additions to the sextet--and what a difference they make in this group. Blanchard's got an energetic young band with frightening chops and considerable compositional skills (everyone contributes at least ...

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Terence Blanchard: Bounce

by Joel Roberts
April 24, 2004

Although he’s spent much of the past 15 years scoring films for Spike Lee and others, trumpeter Terence Blanchard certainly hasn’t forgotten about jazz, as his impressive Blue Note debut makes clear. Bounce finds the former Jazz Messenger having grown well past his early days as part of the “young lions” phenomenon of the ‘80s into a mature, individual artist exploring a wide palette of jazz colors. Like the best jazz artists working today, Blanchard has an awareness ...