Terence Blanchard

Terence Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force in making powerful musical statements about painful American tragedies — past and present. A true "Renaissance man," Blanchard stands tall as one of jazz’s most esteemed trumpeters and defies expectations by pursuing a spectrum of artistic endeavors. Boundary-breaking and genre-defying, Blanchard is globally recognized as a dazzling soloist and a prolific composer for film, television, opera, Broadway, orchestras, and his own ensembles. Leading theater magazine TheaterMania recently described Blanchard as “the most exciting American composer working in opera today.”

An eight-time Grammy winner and two-time Oscar-nominated film composer, Blanchard became only the second African American composer to receive two nominations in the original score category at the 2022 Academy Awards, echoing Quincy Jones’ achievements for In Cold Blood (1967) and The Color Purple (1985). Blanchard’s work has positioned him at the forefront of addressing human rights, civil rights, and racial injustice, including his 2015 album "Breathless," an elegy for Eric Garner, whose final words, "I can’t breathe," became a civil rights rallying cry.

Blanchard is also celebrated as a two-time opera composer. His opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones, based on the memoir by celebrated writer and New York Times columnist Charles Blow, premiered at the Metropolitan Opera on September 27, 2021, opening their 2021–22 season. This marked the first opera by an African American composer to premiere at the Met in its 138-year history. The recording of those performances won a Grammy Award for best opera recording, and the New York Times praised Fire as "inspiring," "subtly powerful," and "a bold, affecting adaptation of Charles Blow’s work." Reflecting on this historic moment, Blanchard said, "I don’t want to be a token, but a turnkey." Widely recognized as a significant cultural milestone, Fire returns to the Met for a highly anticipated second run in April 2024.

Blanchard’s first opera, Champion, about the troubled life of boxer Emile Griffith, premiered in 2013 and starred Denyce Graves, with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cristofer. Champion debuted at the Met in April 2023 to widespread critical acclaim and won a 2024 Grammy for best opera recording.

At the core of Blanchard’s expansive career are his beautiful, provocative, and inspiring jazz recordings. In 1994, he told DownBeat Magazine, “Writing for film is fun, but nothing can beat being a jazz musician, playing a club, playing a concert.” This sentiment holds true today.

Blanchard has composed the scores for more than 20 Spike Lee projects over three decades, including When the Levees Broke, BlacKkKlansman, and Da 5 Bloods (both of which earned him Oscar nominations). His other notable work includes Regina King’s One Night in Miami; Kasi Lemmons’ Eve’s Bayou; George Lucas’ Red Tails; the HBO drama series Perry Mason; Apple TV’s docuseries They Call Me Magic (for which he received an Emmy nomination); and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King, starring Viola Davis.

In 2021, Blanchard released "Absence," a collaboration with his longtime E-Collective band and the acclaimed Turtle Island Quartet. The album, recorded in February 2020 just before the COVID-19 lockdowns, was a tribute to Wayne Shorter and earned Grammy nominations for best instrumental jazz album and best improvised jazz solo. Blanchard explained, "I knew Wayne wasn’t feeling well at the time, so I wanted to honor him and let him know how much he has meant to me. When you look at my writing, you can see how much I’ve learned from Wayne. He mastered the art of starting with a simple melody and juxtaposing it against harmonies from a different place to bring it to life in a unique light."

Born in New Orleans in 1962, Blanchard is a musical polymath who launched his solo career as a bandleader in the 1990s. Since then, he has released 20 solo albums, garnered 15 Grammy nominations, composed for the stage and more than 60 films, and received 10 major commissions. Named a 2024 NEA Jazz Master and an inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Blanchard currently serves as the executive artistic director for SFJAZZ, the largest nonprofit jazz presenter in the world.

Reflecting on his commitment to artistic works of conscience, Blanchard shared, "You get to a certain age when you ask, 'Who’s going to stand up and speak out for us?' Then you look around and realize the James Baldwins, Muhammad Alis, and Dr. Kings are no longer here ... and begin to understand that it falls on you. I’m not trying to correct the whole thing; I’m just trying to speak the truth." He cites unimpeachable inspirations: "John Coltrane playing Alabama, Louis Armstrong speaking out about his people, and Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, who live by their Buddhist philosophy and expand the conscience of their communities. I’m standing on their shoulders. How dare I go through life, having met these men, and not take away any of that? Like anyone else, I’d love to play feel-good party music, but sometimes my music reflects the reality of where we are."