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Stories   >   Terence Blanchard chats with 88.3WBGO on the New Orleans culture doc: 'Up From The Streets'

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Terence Blanchard chats with 88.3WBGO on the New Orleans culture doc: 'Up From The Streets'

Posted: February 28, 2024
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Terence Blanchard is unique in the jazz world as an artist whose creative endeavors go far beyond the genre into film scoring, crafting television series soundscapes and conceiving grand operas that have been recognized at the highest levels of art appreciation. In addition, Blanchard has been at the forefront of giving voice in his works to socio-cultural issues and racial injustices of our time.  “Like anybody else, I like to play feel-good party music, but sometimes my music is about the reality of where we are,” says Blanchard who today lives in Los Angeles as well as in his native New Orleans. “I’m just trying to speak the truth.”

Blanchard’s truth flourished in 2021 which has been a banner year for him. He was nominated for an Oscar for his film score writing and arranging Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, marking his second Academy Awards nomination. He also collaborated with Lee on composing the music for the director’s eight-hour series on the aftermath of 9/11 on HBO NYC Epicenters 9/11-20211/2. Plus, he scored Regina King’s feature directorial debut, One Night in Miami.  And upcoming film projects include Father of the Bride starring Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan, directed by Gary Alazraki and The Woman King starring Viola Davis and directed by Gina Prince Bythewood.

If that’s not enough, Blanchard celebrated a significant anniversary in 2021. In his thirtieth year as a recording leader, the six-time Grammy winner delivered Absence, a masterwork of sonic zest in collaboration with his longtime E-Collective band—pianist Fabian Almazan, guitarist Charles Altura, bassist David Ginyard, drummer Oscar Seaton—and the acclaimed Turtle Island Quartet which since its founding in 1985 by violinist/artistic director David Balakirshnan has uniquely reimagined the hybrid  language for the string quartet. What started out as a tribute to jazz prophet Wayne Shorter, Blanchard innovated a collaboration that created a sublime chamber jazz ensemble with new arrangements of the master’s gems as well as originals inspired by his brilliance as a composer. Blanchard’s youngest daughter, Jordan, also plays a role on espousing the wisdom of Shorter. She’s become a good friend with him and wrote a short essay for the liner notes that reads in part, “The weight of being is measured in absences…Wayne Shorter is known to bestow grace upon us when we are restless in absence.” Dad adds: “The one constant in Wayne’s music is his ability to calm the restlessness in all of us.”

88.3WBGO - Newark NJ's Doug Doyle writes….On this episode of AOS, seven-time Grammy winner and two-time Oscar nominee Terence Blanchard chats with WBGO's Doug Doyle about the documentary Up From The Streets from Michael Murphy Productions. Blanchard is the host and executive producer of the doc that examines New Orleans culture as seen through the lens of music.

You can SEE the entire interview with Terence Blanchard here.