Picture above: Terence Blanchard featuring the E-Collective/Photo courtesy Rialto Center for the Arts.
The decorated Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard is a 2018 USA Fellow and five-time GRAMMY-winning trumpeter/composer who is a consistent artistic force making powerful musical statements concerning American tragedies past and present.
Blanchard has interwoven melodies that created strong backdrops for Spike Lee’s films, including the documentary “When the Levees Broke”, about Blanchard’s hometown of New Orleans during the devastation from Hurricane Katrina; the epic “Malcolm X”; “Inside Man” starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, and Jodie Foster; “25th Hour” (Golden Globe Nominee) starring Edward Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman; and Spike Lee’s latest, timely film, “BlacKkKlansman“, starring John David Washington, Adam Driver and Topher Grace.
The New York Times said Blanchard delivered “a soaring, seething, luxuriant score,” to BlacKkKlansman featuring his current quintet E-Collective and a 75-piece orchestra. In Vice Magazine, Blanchard elaborates,
“In BlacKkKlansman, it all became real to me. You feel the level of intolerance that exists for people who ignore other people’s pain. Musically, I can’t ignore that. I can’t add to that intolerance. Instead, I have to help people heal from it.”
Some of Blanchard’s other film credits include “Black or White” starring Kevin Costner and directed by Mike Binder; the Kasi Lemmons’ films, “Talk to Me”, starring Don Cheadle and Chwitel Ejifor, and Eve’s “Bayou”; George Lucas’ “Red Tails”; and Tim Story’s “Barbershop”.
With his newest Blue Note jazz album “Live”, Blanchard addresses the staggering cyclical epidemic of gun violence in the United States. He delivers seven powerful songs recorded live in concert that both reflect the bitter frustration of the conscious masses while also providing a balm of emotional healing. With a title that carries a pointed double meaning, the album is an impassioned continuation of the band’s GRAMMY-nominated 2015 studio recording, “Breathless”.
About those tickets…
Terence Blanchard featuring the E-Collective will play the Rialto Center for the Arts on February 15, 2020 at 8 p.m. Click here to purchase tickets starting at $46.
