Cal Poly Arts

Event Guide

FORWARD

The way that Terence has found his way to this band has been, in and of itself, an Odyssey. Maybe the first relevant piece of that story is to set the stage on both his jazz and film scoring careers: At the ripe old age of 19, Terence Blanchard was tapped to play with Lionel Hampton, only to leave that band to play with Art Blakey less than a year later. Before his 28th birthday, he had performed on his first soundtrack for Spike Lee, and before he was 30, he became Lee’s de facto collaborator. It must have been a blur.

Fast forwarding to 2006, Blanchard had imagined a score for Lee’s box office hit Inside Man that paired his characteristically heart wrenching, melodramatic orchestra scores with a rhythm section that simultaneously winked of Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters and an assortment of the pop-funk grooves that likely created the backdrop of heavy cool that permeates Terence’s persona. The scoring sessions would alternate between the symphony scores being recorded in the larger studio space, while the band would lay down the supplemental grooves in an adjacent small studio during the orchestra’s breaks. At some point in the session, the orchestra musicians began to crowd into the booth to listen to this incredible trio— which included the indominable Oscar Seaton on drums— along with other former members of Blanchard’s quintet. After 8 years of incubating the idea of creating a band around this sound, Blanchard reached out to Charles Altura, then touring with Chick Correa, to join his newly formed group. After some experimentation with different players, Terence landed on a final line up that included Taylor Eigsti, who replaced Fabian Almazan on Piano & Keys in the original line up, and David Ginyard, who replaced Donald Ramsey on Bass.

In 2015 when The E-Collective released their first album Breathless was when I first started working for Terence. I had first heard about the group from a close friend who at that time was the director of the historic Paradise Jazz Series in Detroit where Terence had just been invited back for the third year to be the Artistic Director. I compare my experience first hearing that band live to the first time I heard a real professional orchestra play serious rep— it stirred something in me, and the rest of the audience, that I had never experienced at any other jazz concert. There was, not surprisingly, a cinematic arc to the set that complimented the range of expression, not to mention an unparalleled level of musicianship.

After a second album, LIVE, where we recorded in front of live audiences in four cities impacted by differing cultural relationships with guns, it became clear that this band was ready for some new dimension. After a few ideas were shared between myself, Terence’s manager, Robin Burgess and Blue Note CEO Don Was, Terence made the executive decision that he wanted to add strings— a quartet— to the next record; and to honor his great mentor Wayne Shorter. Admittedly, I was unsure of the sonic pairing of this electric band and a string ensemble, but I had faith in Terence. I made the introduction to my close friends in Turtle Island Quartet with the hope that any stylistic gap between this band and a typical classical chamber music ensemble could be filled by this true hybrid quartet.

What I did not expect was this incredible result: an album that celebrated a true confluence of this artist’s HUGE range — Jazz, Film Score & Opera to be more specific — and a seminal artistic statement that would change the momentary trajectory of Terence’s musical concept. It was also a perfect combination of two sounds that have consistently defied genre expectations in service to something larger than any of us could have imagined.

To see this level of artistry come together, year after year, and to see someone so influential committed to consistently evolve has been one of the true joys of my lifetime.

—MICHAEL FOX, CO-FOUNDER OF EPSTEIN FOX PERFORMANCES & AGENT FOR TERENCE BLANCHARD

Wayne Shorter’s evolution as an artist is vast & unending. Performing with and composing for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis Second Great Quintet naturally led to the formation of his own legendary groups—first Weather Report, then his musically-unparalleled quartet. With Shorter’s career now focused solely on composing, his musical greatness has set the table for his protégé to carry his music forward to the next generation. In Absence, 2018 USA Fellow, two-time Oscar® nominee, and five-time GRAMMY®-winning trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard celebrates both the brilliance of Shorter’s legacy and the inspiration he has given Blanchard, influencing his ever-expanding amalgam of music and storytelling.

For this monumental task, Blanchard will unite his internationally acclaimed band The E-Collective, featuring young musical pioneers Charles Altura on guitar, Fabian Almazan on piano and synthesizers, Oscar Seaton on drums, and David “DJ” Ginyard on bass, with the double-GRAMMY®-winning Turtle Island Quartet.

The repertoire will include arrangements of Shorter’s original work, including “Diana” from Native Dancer and “When It Was Now” from Weather Report’s 1982 self-titled release. Blanchard’s compositions will continue to expand on the reservoir of E-Collective tunes, utilizing a string quartet that is uniquely equipped for the full range of color and expression of the Blanchard sonic & stylistic sphere. Original compositions from the band include new contributions from Altura, and for the first time on a recording, Ginyard. A heart-stopping string quartet work titled "Second Wave,” written by Turtle Island’s own David Balakrishnan, perfectly rounds out the recording.

SET LIST

Unlike theater, dance or classical music, there are not typically program notes for jazz as these musicians thrive on the spontaneity of calling the set in the moment.

ALBUM INFORMATION

Absence

TERENCE BLANCHARD
The E-Collective & Turtle Island Quartet

Released in 2021: Blue Note Records

Two (2) GRAMMY Nominations
Best Jazz Instrumental Album
Best Improvised Jazz Solo

LIVE

TERENCE BLANCHARD
featuring The E-Collective

Released in 2018: Blue Note Records
Recorded live in Cleveland, Minneapolis,
Dallas & Harlem.

Breathless

TERENCE BLANCHARD
featuring The E-Collective

Released in 2015: Blue Note Records
One (1) GRAMMY Nomination
Best Jazz Instrumental Album