Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Jazz Festival New York Posts 2025 Lineup
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
Terence Blanchard—who won a Grammy in the category Best Instrumental Composition for “Blut Und Boden (Blood And Soil),” a work featured in Spike Lee’s 2018 movie BlacKkKlansman—composed the score for the filmmaker’s latest effort, Da 5 Bloods.
(Photo: Henry Abenejo)In the pantheon of collaborative triumphs, musical partnerships like Billie Holiday and Lester Young or Miles Davis and Teo Macero are easy to reference. At some point, though, jazz historians are going to need to survey the work that trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard has done with filmmaker Spike Lee.
The director’s latest endeavor—a Netflix feature called Da 5 Bloods—recounts the story of a cohort of Black war veterans who travel back to Vietnam in an attempt to recover a fallen friend and find buried gold. In part, it’s a genre picture, a combination of war movie and buddy flick, with the onetime soldiers trekking into the jungle and dealing with the past.
For Blanchard, who spoke to DownBeat recently from his home in New Orleans, the past and America’s endlessly problematic origin story seem to have been on his mind. His own previous leader dates have explored gun violence and police brutality, and his latest film score (set alongside a bevy of Marvin Gaye tunes) isn’t wholly divorced from those ideas, elevating Lee’s feature in the process.
During a wide-ranging conversation, Blanchard discussed his working relationship with Lee, other projects that are continuing despite the pandemic and President Donald Trump’s prospects in the November elections.
“If people of color come out to vote in this country,” Blanchard said, “he’s sunk.”
The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.
Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
“I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.
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Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
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DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the premiere…
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Davis was a two-time Grammy winner for liner notes.
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