“Blanchard’s body of work is one of the broadest and most imposing of any living jazz musician.” — New York Times
Eight Grammy Awards
Two Emmy Nominations
Two Oscar Nominations
2024 NEA Jazz Master
Terence Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements concerning painful American tragedies – past and present. A true Renaissance man, Blanchard stands tall as one of jazz’s most-esteemed trumpeters. Moreover, he defies expectations by creating a spectrum of artistic pursuits. Boundary-breaking and genre-defying, Blanchard is recognized globally as a dazzling soloist and a prolific composer. Additionally, he has written for film, television, opera, Broadway, orchestras and for his own ensembles. In fact, leading theater magazine TheaterMania recently cited Blanchard as “the most exciting American composer working in opera today.”
Blanchard is an eight-time Grammy winner and twice Oscar-nominated film composer. In 2022, he became only the second African American composer to be nominated twice for an Oscar in the original score category. There, he duplicated Quincy Jones’ feat from 1967’s In Cold Blood and 1985’s The Color Purple. Blanchard’s work has placed him at the forefront of giving voice to human rights, civil rights, and racial injustice. Further, this includes the 2015 album Breathless, an elegy for Eric Garner, who was killed by police. Garner’s words, “I can’t breathe,” became a civil rights rallying cry.
Blanchard is also heralded as a two-time opera composer. His Fire Shut Up in My Bones premiered at the Metropolitan Opera to open their 2021-22 season. Here, it became the first opera by an African American composer to premiere at the Met in its 138-year history. The recording of those performances received a Grammy award for Best Opera Recording. Furthermore, The New York Times heralded Fire as “inspiring,” “subtly powerful” and “a bold affecting adaptation of Charles Blow’s work.”
Recommended for fans of Wynton Marsalis, Art Blakey, Joshua Redman and Esperanza Spalding.
📸: Cedric Angeles
