TERENCE BLANCHARD has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements concerning painful American tragedies – past and present. He stands tall as one of jazz’s most-esteemed trumpeters and defies expectations by creating a spectrum of artistic pursuits.
A five-time Grammy Winner and twice Oscar-nominated film composer, Blanchard becomes only the second African-American composer to be nominated twice in the original score category at the 2022 Academy Awards, duplicating Quincy Jones’ feat from 1967’s In Cold Blood and 1985’s The Color Purple.
On his latest album—the double-Grammy-nominated Absence—trumpeter Terence Blanchard pays tribute to one of jazz’s greatest composers in Wayne Shorter. Teaming up with both his electric ensemble the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet, Blanchard reimagines songs from across Shorter’s adventurous catalog and shares songs inspired by the saxophonist, resulting in what The New Yorker called “a lush and dramatic soundscape that calls to mind Blanchard’s career as a successful film composer.”