Terence Blanchard, Camryn, Erin and Me...

It comes down to what music did for me since I was a kid. Growing up in New Orleans, you can’t walk down the street on any given day without hearing a marching band or some drummers play. I remember being downtown with my mom shopping, and you would pass by certain areas, especially over there by Congo Square, and you would hear drummers out there playing. It just used to intrigue me, because I knew that feeling that I would get from that, and I think those are the things that inspire me. And truth be told, man, I’m trying to heal myself too. We all have our demons, we all have our issues that we’re trying to face. Art Blakey used to say, “Music is the only place I can go to be who I really am,” and I really believe that.
Terence Blanchard

I was a part of that from the music side. I got in touch with Spike because of a jazz musician...Harold Vick. He was a friend of Bill Lee (bassist and father of Spike) and he contracted the musicians for the sessions, so for School Daze, Do the Right Thing, I played on all of those, but just as a session guy. Spike and I became friends, and then he asked me to do the score for Jungle Fever. The whole film-scoring thing came totally by accident. Because we were doing Mo’ Better Blues, we were taking a break, and I was playing something on the piano. He said, “What is that?” And I said, “Well, it’s a song that I was writing for my first solo project for Columbia Records.” It was called “Sing Soweto.” And he said, “I want to use it just as a solo trumpet thing.” So we recorded it, just a solo trumpet piece. Next thing you know, he asked me if I could write a string arrangement for it. He said, “Can you write for strings?” I said, “Yeah.” I lied.
The first thing I did, I called (New Orleans–born composer) Roger Dickerson, who has always been like my musical family. And Roger told me, “Trust your training.” See, Roger is part of this other coalition of Black composers that nobody knows about. This dude studied in Vienna, and he was a disciple of another great Black composer named Howard Swanson. He’s a colleague of another great Black composer, Hale Smith. As a matter of fact, when I lived in New York, Roger told me to go study with Hale in Connecticut. So there was this connection of great composers that kind of took me under their wing. Everybody thinks I just fall out of the sky doing this stuff. These guys taught me everything I know, but after I wrote the string arrangement, I came back with the music, and I handed it to Spike’s dad. Spike’s dad goes, “You wrote it, you conduct it.”

Terence Blanchard working on Spike Lee film scores

Discernment (1984) signed by Terence, Donald Harrison

With Spike I never worry about it, because Spike loves music…we were at a screening of a film out in LA and they gave Spike the controls, and we get to certain scenes and I forgot he had the controls. I’m thinking damn the music is loud, and I look over and it's Spike. He loves music, man, he loves it. And I've been at film mixes where he's told the mixer to “turn the music up, turn the music up!” Whereas I work on other projects and you come up with all this detail and when the final thing comes out you can barely hear it. I've never really had to fight in that regard with Spike. And here's the beautiful thing about knowing that with him. Knowing that if I write something that's very minimal I don't have to worry about it getting lost because he's going to make sure that people hear it.
Terence Blanchard
We’re supposed to evolve. Do I love my tradition, my hometown? Hell yes. There’s nothing like it. But the thing that makes that music so powerful is that it was born out of pain and it was born out of a need to express something. It was born out of a need to connect to the creator, and there’s a certain kind of passion and energy behind that, because when you’re really about that connection, it evolves anyway. Because then it’s really about you and what you’re trying to say. And that’s the most important thing, to recognize where we come from and recognize our lineage and our history. But in order to truly pay homage to that is to constantly move forward and be ourselves.
Terence Blanchard

Nascence (1986) signed by Terence, Donald Harrison

Arranger, composer, educator and musician, Terence Blanchard has had a remarkable career, leaving an indelible impression with the depth and scope of his oeuvre. He is relatively unknown and unheralded, despite replacing Wynton Marsalis in the trumpet chair in Art Blakey's fabled Jazz Messengers in 1982 when he was not quite twenty years old and becoming its music director until leaving in 1986, releasing twenty-three solo albums, and writing more than fifty film scores including almost all of Spike Lee's films since Jungle Fever in 1991 through Black KKKlansmen in 2018 and One Night In Miami in 2020. Nominated for two Academy Awards and sixteen Grammys (winner of five!), arguably his most impressive achievement is becoming the first Black composer to have an opera - Fire Shut Up In My Bones - performed at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 2021. It took the genius of Terence Blanchard to crack the racial code of this steely bastion of dead White European composers, and undo the entire one hundred-thirty eight year history of the New York Met. As he noted, "It's an amazing honor to go through that, but then the sad part about it is that I know I'm not the first qualified. I understand it, but I don't want to be a Black composer, I want to be a composer. I understand why there's a need to say that because of the historic significance of it. I get it, but there's some inherent things in that statement that I don't think people realize." Whew, that's a lot of heavy lifting, untold thanks and praises to Terence!

Crystal Stair (1987) signed by Terence, Donald Harrison

Born in the fertile jazz environs of New Orleans, Terence was surrounded by music. His father, a manager in an insurance company, was a sometime opera singer, as Terence remembered, “The guy who played in my church, his name is Osceola Blanchet, he was probably one of the most revolutionary dudes in New Orleans... He used to teach at (McDonogh) 35, and he made it his mission to teach Black kids opera. And he had a group called the Osceola Five, and my dad was a part of that group. These Black men used to go to his house every Wednesday night to rehearse and sing operatic and classical music. The reason why I’m bringing these names up is because it’s like my entire existence at that point, I was surrounded by these minds. I was the one breaking out because I heard Clifford Brown, and I heard Miles Davis, and all of that stuff..."

As an only child, Terence thrived in this rich musical milieu. A piano player at age five, Terence later switched to trumpet and found his calling. In high school, he attended the New Orleans Center For Creative Arts (NOCCA), founded in 1973 by a group of artists and business leaders as a professional arts training center. Over the years, NOCCA has become Louisiana's arts conservatory for high school students and many notable alumni have graced its classes including recent multi-Grammy winner Jon Batiste, Harry Connick Jr., the entire gifted Marsalis clan, and Trombone Shorty. Terence studied piano there under the direction of Ellis Marsalis, the esteemed family patriarch, "It was through Ellis that I started finding out what real jazz was. He helped me learn how to analyze music: how somebody phrased, what they did with their tone, why they picked the notes that they played and what those notes did inside the music. That's the most important thing to ever learn about music - what the notes do inside the form. You can always learn a lot of tricks that might be technically difficult, but if they don't do something inside the form and the ensemble, you're just pasting something on top of a picture, not adding colors that fit." At summer camps, Terence also jammed with Wynton and Branford Marsalis, developing their friendship while strengthening their chops. Those must have been stunning performances by these legends in training, I only wish there were tapes, even shoddy bootlegs, anything to commemorate their beginnings and ascendance!

Black Pearl (1988) signed by Terence, Donald Harrison

Upon graduation, Terence attended Rutgers University studying music for two years before the lure of New York City beckoned. Terence joined Lionel Hampton for a bit, then replaced Wynton (at his suggestion) in the juggernaut that was Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. A finer jazz finishing school has yet to exist, and Terence and his fellow NOCCA classmate tenor saxophonist Donad Harrison joined a long legacy of revered talents. Given the ensuing solo success of Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Terence and Donald were signed by Columbia Records and they released five impressive records from 1983-1988 as the Terence Blanchard/Donald Harrison Quintet, featuring their hard blowing bop on jazz standards and their original compositions. Formidable as co-leaders and composers, Erin and I were blessed to see Terence and Donald perform at Blues Alley and One Step Down in Washington, DC in the 1980s, and they were always great shows led by their virtuoso musicianship.

Gerald Clayton, Terence Blanchard, David Ginyard

Recently, Erin and I were visiting our daughter Camryn who is attending the University of Maryland. After a lovely dinner with Camryn and five of her besties in Georgetown, we made the short walk up the hill from the waterfront to see the late show at Blues Alley. Though her friends didn't join us - there were sorority parties to attend - Camryn was happy to see a show with us in one of our favorite haunts. While we were at dinner, a violent thunderstorm had passed through replete with tornado warnings, but now we were safely ensconced at a table five feet from the stage.

Terence Blanchard

Blues Alley, a wonderful jazz club, has been hosting music since 1965, and was a favorite venue when we lived in DC. We were lucky to see Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughan and so many others in this extraordinarily intimate one hundred-twenty five seat club. Terence was showcasing his new album Absence, a tribute to the great jazz icon Wayne Shorter, with his quintet: Gerald Clayton on piano, Charles Altura on guitar, David Ginyard on bass, and Mark Whitfield, Jr. on drums. As a special guest, the Turtle Island String Quartet, founded in 1987 and led by violinist David Balakirshnan, sat in and added their swirling sonic palette to the mix. It was an astonishing amalgam. Highlights were "Absence," written by bassist David Ginyard, "The Elders" and "When It Was Now" compositions by Wayne Shorter, and "I Dare You" a tribute by Terence to Shorter who remains a towering influence. Terence explained, "As an artist, it's your obligation to stay curious and constantly grow. That's the most important thing for me. I remember having this conversation with Wayne. He doesn't talk about music with regard to classifications. He just talks about creating sounds and creating ideas, so that's really how I see it. Wayne also said, "Jazz means I dare you," and that's true. I want to create music that makes people go, "What is that?" I don't want you to pin it down, because I feel like if you can pin it down, I'm not doing my job." Another highlight was "The Second Wave," a piece written by David Balakrishnan, an eleven minute tour de force which showcased the Turtle Island String Quartet in all their kinetic string glory.

Terence Blanchard and David Ginyard

After the show, we bounded up the stairs to the dressing rooms, as we had done so many times back in the day, and we were greeted by Terence who welcomed us. Still buzzing from the tremendous show we had just witnessed, I thanked him, 'You know, Erin and I saw you many times back in the day with Donald (Harrison), and also at Sweet Basil in New York with Art (Blakey).' "Wow, that's a long time ago, thanks for coming out. Yeah, we played with Art at Sweet Basil all the time. You know, the first show tonight, we were hit with a tornado warning and all the cell phones lit up. Man, coming from southern Louisiana, we pay attention, we take that shit seriously." Indeed, we were fortunate that the storm didn't become a tornado. I commended Terence on his prolific filmwork and asked, 'I assume you compose on the piano, right?' "Yes, I compose on the piano, and I'm writing and composing all the time," came his quick reply. I introduced Terence to our youngest daughter, Camryn and mentioned that she was attending the University of Maryland. Terence's eyes lit up, "Oh, it's so great to meet you. My wife went to Maryland, she loves Maryland, I hear a lot about Maryland, but I still don't know what a Terp is. Do you?" he laughed. Since he had signed his other records at previous gigs, I handed him New York Second Line, which he signed to Camryn with the inscription, "Keep Moving Forward," appropriate words from an artist who is always pushing boundaries and creating new sounds. We thanked him for his time and, especially, his music and went downstairs. He followed us and before he departed, as he surveyed the mostly empty bar scene, save a few band mates, Terence offered these enlightened words of wisdom, “You know you’re getting old when the hotel bed looks better than the hang.”

New York Second Line (1983) signed by Terence “Keep Moving Forward” and Donald Harrison

Terence Blanchard, a virtuoso musician and a daring composer who relentlessly explores different forms and styles, just like his mentor Art Blakey, "Because I think sometimes when you classify something, you find yourself with an obligation to be that. Art Blakey always used to say, 'Man, I'll leave that for the historians. That's not for me. What's for me is to create."

Thank you Terence, you’re always creating, exploring, growing and always a great hang!