Media

Terence Blanchard - Over There

Discography

A Tale of God's Will

Flow

Website

http://terenceblanchard.com/main.html

Terence Blanchard

In '83, Wynton Marsalis recommended his homeboy as his replacement in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Part of the Blakey legend was his ability to foster performances and individual personalities from the young malleable talents he brought into his fold. Blakey utilized and nurtured the improvisation and compositional ideas of his band members to solidify his own unique artistic vision. The legacy of the working band as jazz workshop is at the essence of jazz and Blanchard remains one of the few on the scene today who fully embrace that dynamic. Flow is a dramatic example of this theory put in practice.

Two years later, Terence Blanchard and fellow Messenger Donald Harrison split to form their own quintet. In '90, TB departed to pursue a solo career. During his tenure at Columbia, both his soundtracks to Mo' Better Blues and The Heart Speaks were nominated for Grammy Awards. Signed to the Sony Classical label in 1999, the trumpeter/composer gained acclaim as a bandleader and scorer of movie and television soundtracks (including the Grammy nominated Wandering Moon and a Golden Globe nomination for his score for Spike Lee's The 25th Hour). It was the best of times...and the worst. "When I was at Sony Classical, I had to do all those concept albums," he explains. "We had fun doing them and they were cool, but I always felt that that band never really got a chance to shine until we did Bounce,
our Blue Note debut.

"I've worked at the Thelonious Monk Institute with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter for the last five years," says Terence. We talked a lot, and the more we would have these conversations, the more they would help me grow immensely in terms of me having confidence in my own thing. We played together a few times and when it came time to produce this record, I wanted-needed-to have Herbie's creative ability and just his approach to work with. He has played with a bunch of people and he's done a lot of things. I mean, he's forgotten more music than I could ever know. It's been a life-changing experience." Extra points: Hancock joins the band on two tracks: "Benny's Tune" and "The Source." This is the first time since the 1987 CD, Dexter Gordon's The Other Side of Round Midnight (co-produced with Michael Cuscuna for Blue Note), that Herbie has produced a project
other than his own.

"Blanchard's virtues spring from his sense of restraint. The joy is in the tease," said People Magazine. Since his days under the tutelage of Art Blakey, Blanchard has matured to one of the most important musician/composer/band leaders
of his generation.