Jazz at the Movies: Terence Blanchard Quintet

Jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator Terence Blanchard is well acquainted with film scores, having written in the neighborhood of 50, including strong, stand-alone work for such iconic Spike Lee films as Malcolm X, Mo' Better Blues, and When the Levee Broke. The last vividly documented Hurricane Katrina's devastation of Blanchard's hometown New Orleans all the more effectively thanks to his brilliantly evocative music. That was the core of his subsequent album, A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (Blue Note), which won a Grammy earlier this year. Material from Requiem will be performed during the second half of the Blanchard Quintet's collaboration with the full Minnesota Orchestra, led by Sommerfest artistic director Andrew Litton. The first half will consist of tunes written for movies by Quincy Jones, André Previn, and Duke Ellington, as well as Blanchard. Besides Blanchard's sterling horn, his regular quintet boasts saxophonist Brice Winston, bassist Derrick Hodge, drummer Kendrick Scott, and a new member, dynamic Cuban-born pianist Fabian Almazan.
Thu., July 31, 7:30 p.m., 2008