Terence Blanchard Quintet live at London JazzFestival 2010

Terence Blanchard - Trumpet
Brice Winston - Tenor Sax
Fabian Almazan - Piano
Ben Williams - Bass
Kendrick Scott - Drums

recorded at The Barbican, London, as part of the London Jazz Festival 2010, on 15th November 2010

1. Bass: Choices
2. A Time To Spare
3. Band: Choices
4. Wander Wonder
5. Bounce

As an Art Blakey alumnus, Blanchard learnt the craft of the bandleader early on. With his own group he has a similar concept to Blakey, giving youg lions a context to work their socks off, and to develop. There was one very new player, the ex-Julliard bassist Ben Williams. Blanchard pointed this out he was still relying on the written music. The inference was clear: Blanchard has the clear expectation that, like the others, he should quickly rise to the challenge of getting to know every single tricky contour of Blanchard's compositions. The other band members were both impressive - tenor player Brice Winston and young Cuban pianist Fabian Almazan.
Blanchard's clearly intense work with his band has another purpose too. He responds, deeply, sincerely to developments in society,and acts as the public conscience. He uses recorded words written and spoken by Cornel West. The quintet wraps its work around the compelling speech-rhythms and ideas. Listeners were impressed in the summer by Blanchard's depth and sincerity in "Choices", a response to Katrina. Blanchard as a musician and as a citizen pursues serious goals, and has a healthy disregard for tabloid headlines and throwaway culture.