In Friday’s (2/18) Times-Picayune (New Orleans), Chris Waddington writes, “If jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard comes on stage during Saturday’s concert by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, it won’t be in his familiar role as guest soloist. Instead, Blanchard, a 48-year-old New Orleans native, will be celebrating the world premiere of his ‘Concerto for Roger Dickerson,’ a fully notated composition that was commissioned by the orchestra and funded by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation.” Blanchard cites Dickerson as one of his early mentors. “Blanchard’s three-movement concerto opens with an homage to the percussion-driven music of Latin America, evolves into a meditation on his religious upbringing and ends with a bow to the Brass Band tradition of his hometown. ‘I’m an improvisor and a jazz player first, but I’ve always listened to all kinds of music and like to make use of it in my writing,’ Blanchard said. ‘To compose for the orchestra, I knew that I couldn’t be afraid of my own experiences. Listeners needed to hear my background, and it had to be unmistakable—the same way that the lives of Bach and Stravinsky come through in their writing.’ … He’s also written for films, and is busy with a big commission for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, which is expected to premiere his opera about boxer Emile Griffith in 2012.”
Posted February 18, 2011
