TERENCE BLANCHARD Featuring The E Collective Live
Blue Note Records
Terence Blanchard - trumpet; Fabian Almazan - piano, synthesizers; Charles Altura - guitar; David Ginyard - bass; Oscar Seaton – drums
Make no mistake about it: this is powerful music. This is not just heart on sleeve but bleeding heart on bloody torn sleeve.
Terence Blanchard now has a track record of highlighting injustice. His work with film director Spike Lee was probably a finishing school in pointing out the deep flaws in American society.
The important aspect of this album is not the music but the thought behind the music. The music of Live on the album is taken from concerts held three communities that have experienced conflicts between law enforcement and African American citizens: The Dakota in Minneapolis (near where Philando Castile was pulled over and shot by a cop on July 6, 2016); The Bop Stop in Cleveland (near where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by police on November 22, 2014); and the Wyly Theatre in Dallas (near where police officers Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Brent Thompson and Patricio Zamarripa were assassinated while on duty covering a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest on July 7-8, 2016). The E-Collective’s Live project is a protest against gun violence from wherever it comes and to whom it is directed.
Blanchard is outspoken: ‘I didn’t put this group together to be a protest band. We started out wanting to play music to inspire young people that didn’t want to play jazz to play instrumental music on its highest level. In this computer age, we saw too many kids playing music but not trying to learn theory or master their craft. However, while we were on tour in Europe, Mike Brown got shot. Trayvon Martin had already been murdered. And back then it seemed like these shootings were happening every month. That’s when I felt we had to stand up and make a statement.
Blanchard does not dominate the album; he plays his horn through an electronic effect that gives it the sound of a group of people standing up for their rights. He wanted to create the effect of a sound like a gathering of people chanting en masse for the communal demand of justice.
The first track ‘Hannibal’ is by Marcus Miller from the Miles Davis album, ‘Amandla’. Blanchard is particularly effective. The plangent trumpet over the guitar and piano makes a powerful statement. ‘Kaos’ a Blanchard composition, features Blanchard in a fierce multi-tracked solo played out against synths and piano.
‘Unchanged’ written by Charles Altura to feature his introspective solo electric guitar. Altura is entrusted with delivering most of the melodic statements on the album.
‘Soldiers’ which opens with a march and blues guitar and an electronic mashed statement from Martin Luther King. The verbal interpolations throughout the album are not effective. “Dear Jimi,” homage to Jimi Hendrix, emphasises the dominance of Charles Altura who makes little effort to emulate Hendrix.
As you reach the end of the album you might ask whether music is the right vehicle for protest, whether protest should be more overt. You cannot, however, quarrel with the sentiments expressed by the musicians. Judged on the music, this is an unexceptional album not likely to figure highly in the eventual lifetime discography of this remarkable trumpet virtuoso.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Blue Note Records
Terence Blanchard - trumpet; Fabian Almazan - piano, synthesizers; Charles Altura - guitar; David Ginyard - bass; Oscar Seaton – drums
Make no mistake about it: this is powerful music. This is not just heart on sleeve but bleeding heart on bloody torn sleeve.
Terence Blanchard now has a track record of highlighting injustice. His work with film director Spike Lee was probably a finishing school in pointing out the deep flaws in American society.
The important aspect of this album is not the music but the thought behind the music. The music of Live on the album is taken from concerts held three communities that have experienced conflicts between law enforcement and African American citizens: The Dakota in Minneapolis (near where Philando Castile was pulled over and shot by a cop on July 6, 2016); The Bop Stop in Cleveland (near where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by police on November 22, 2014); and the Wyly Theatre in Dallas (near where police officers Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Brent Thompson and Patricio Zamarripa were assassinated while on duty covering a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest on July 7-8, 2016). The E-Collective’s Live project is a protest against gun violence from wherever it comes and to whom it is directed.
Blanchard is outspoken: ‘I didn’t put this group together to be a protest band. We started out wanting to play music to inspire young people that didn’t want to play jazz to play instrumental music on its highest level. In this computer age, we saw too many kids playing music but not trying to learn theory or master their craft. However, while we were on tour in Europe, Mike Brown got shot. Trayvon Martin had already been murdered. And back then it seemed like these shootings were happening every month. That’s when I felt we had to stand up and make a statement.
Blanchard does not dominate the album; he plays his horn through an electronic effect that gives it the sound of a group of people standing up for their rights. He wanted to create the effect of a sound like a gathering of people chanting en masse for the communal demand of justice.
The first track ‘Hannibal’ is by Marcus Miller from the Miles Davis album, ‘Amandla’. Blanchard is particularly effective. The plangent trumpet over the guitar and piano makes a powerful statement. ‘Kaos’ a Blanchard composition, features Blanchard in a fierce multi-tracked solo played out against synths and piano.
‘Unchanged’ written by Charles Altura to feature his introspective solo electric guitar. Altura is entrusted with delivering most of the melodic statements on the album.
‘Soldiers’ which opens with a march and blues guitar and an electronic mashed statement from Martin Luther King. The verbal interpolations throughout the album are not effective. “Dear Jimi,” homage to Jimi Hendrix, emphasises the dominance of Charles Altura who makes little effort to emulate Hendrix.
As you reach the end of the album you might ask whether music is the right vehicle for protest, whether protest should be more overt. You cannot, however, quarrel with the sentiments expressed by the musicians. Judged on the music, this is an unexceptional album not likely to figure highly in the eventual lifetime discography of this remarkable trumpet virtuoso.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
