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| DOUBLE FEATURE: TERENCE BLANCHARD + LIZZ WRIGHT | ||||||||||||||
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Brandon Owens - bass Aaron Parks - piano Leonelle Loueke - guitar Rodney Green - drums Brice Winston - saxophone Terence Blanchard was born on March 13, 1962, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Encouraged by his musically inclined father, Joseph Oliver, he began learning the piano at the age of five. Initially, he wasn't too excited about his lessons, an attitude that vanished after a phenomenal discovery. "I'll never forget it," said Blanchard. While in the third grade, a jazz band came to his school for an assembly. Blanchard was present in the audience and attentively aware of one Alvin Alcorn, the trumpet player in the band. After hearing him Terence said, "I want to do that!" An alumnus of the New Orleans Center of Creative Arts, Blanchard emerged on the New York jazz scene in the 80s, becoming a part of an exciting musical renaissance taking place among young musicians, including hometown colleagues Wynton and Branford Marsalis. Most notably he collaborated with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and alto-man Donald Harrison, with whom he recorded such memorable projects for Columbia Jazz as Crystal Stair and Black Pearl. Among Blanchard’s numerous honors are the Grand Prix du Disque award (for his album New York Second Line in 1984), a Grammy Award nomination (Best Jazz Instrumental Performance by a Group, for his contribution to the soundtrack of Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues in 1990), an Emmy Award nomination (Best Original Score For a Documentary for The Promised Land in 1995), and another Grammy nomination (Best Latin Jazz Performance for his album The Heart Speaks in 1996). Blanchard began his film scoring career in the late 80s working with Spike Lee on films such as Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Clockers, Summer of Sam and the Academy Award® nominated 1997 documentary Four Little Girls. Despite his involvement in film and television, Blanchard distinctly regards himself primarily as a jazz musician. He successfully juggles touring with his band while undertaking outside projects. "Nothing can beat being a jazz musician, playing a club, playing a concert. When I stood next to Sonny Rollins at Carnegie Hall and listened to him play, that was it for me." Lizz Wright - vocals Jon Cowherd – piano Doug Weiss - bass E.J. Strickland - drums Lizz Wright was born on January 22, 1980 in Hahira, Georgia, the youngest of three siblings whose father was a minister and whose mother sang gospel at his services. "I've been singing in church since I was six - I was drafted into it," laughs Lizz. "My brother and sister and I used to sing as a trio when my dad would preach. If we weren't at home doing homework or chores, we were in the car with our parents and on the way to church and different revivals." By the age of fourteen, she taught herself piano well enough to "help my dad in church by playing a little bit." Houston County High School broadened Wright's musical horizon. "I was in several choirs," she recalls. "I would sing in duet and quartet groups as well. We won several regional and state medals. In my last year, I won a National Choral Award." During this period she also discovered jazz, via Marian McPartland's NPR jazz program. After graduating high school, she enrolled at Georgia State University in Atlanta. "My major was music performance; I only did one year. When you have a major in vocal performance, you pretty much have to study classical. There wasn't a vocal jazz program and I didn't want to do classical. So on the side I would work with small jazz combos so I could learn standards. That's what I really wanted to do." In the summer of '98, Lizz relocated 200 miles south to Macon. It was a turning point. "I worked for awhile, and lived by myself. I figured out what I wanted to do and why I wanted to do it. I would drive two hours several nights a week to Atlanta just to sit down and hear some jazz. After a bit, I was sitting in at jam sessions." It was at a '99 jam session at Churchill Grounds that Lizz Wright was "discovered" and invited to join the Atlanta band In the Spirit. Within a year's time, Creative Loafing, Atlanta's alternative newspaper, anointed In the Spirit the best jazz group in Atlanta and said of Lizz Wright: "Wright is truly a singer's singer. Her beautiful tone and exquisite phrasing . . point to the fact that Ms. Wright may well be Ms. Right. She has it all." For a sample of her show-stopping voice, check out Lizz Wright's Verve debut, Salt, which was co-produced by top jazz drummer/composer Brian Blade. |
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