Beginning his career over 40 years ago as a member of prestigious bands like the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and the Jazz Messengers, Terence Blanchard has built a musical legacy unlike any other. Considered one of the most respectable trumpetists of the contemporary jazz scene, the American musician has won five Grammy awards and been nominated twice for an Oscar with the music he composed for Spike Lee films. He made history as the first Black musician to achieve this honor since Quincy Jones. In 2021, The Metropolitan Opera premiered his opera ‘Fire Shut Up in My Bones’, making it the first opera composed by an African-American composer to premiere at the Met. With a catalogue of albums released by labels such as Concord and Blue Note, Terence Blanchard describes his compositions in this way: “Like anybody, I’d like to play feel-good party music but sometimes my music is about the reality of where we are.” On Absence, the most recent album he recorded in 2021 with E-Collective, he pays homage to his mentor Wayne Shorter. Blanchard will be at Zorlu PSM Turkcell Platinum Stage on September 29.
E-Collective
Terence Blanchard: Trumpet, synthersizer
Charles Altura: Guitar
Taylor Eigsti: Piano, keyboard, synthersizer
David Ginyard, Jr.: Electric bass
Oscar Seaton: Drums
Turtle Island Quartet
David Balakrishnan: Violin
Gabriel Terracciano: Violin
Benjamin von Gutzeit: Viola
Naseem Alatrash: Cello