Blanched
NPR-affiliate WBGO recently conducted a great interview with trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, maybe best known for his scores for various Spike Lee films including the definitive Hurricane Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke.
In addition to scoring the film, Blanchard, a New Orleans native, was featured alongside his mother whose home was destroyed by the fool-facilitated disaster. In between putting his family back together, the seasoned musician and his young band have put forth, A Tale of God's Will, subtitled "a requiem for Katrina." In Blanchard's words this new album attempts, "a proper burial, a proper send off," for all the bodies found floating through the streets of the Crescent City that despite what former Republican/consistent opportunist Ray Nagin may have said, doesn't intend to maintain its pre-Katrina "chocolate city" make-up. From what I have heard, A Tale of God's Will, is not happy music but it is not without hope. Hanging on a moment we can't afford to forget, it's an indispensable sonic history from a canny and thoughtful New Orleans survivor.
It's worth noting that Blanchard's last CD, Flow (2005), is quite lovely as well. I can't stop playing "Benny's Tune," a composition by former Blanchard sideman and recent Blue Note signee Lionel Loueke.
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