Terence Blanchard and the E Collective Live – Expands on a Theme

Spiritual, majestic and grand, Terence Blanchard’s music is often meant for listeners to peer into themselves.   Expanding on his Grammy nominated 2015 album Breathless, Blanchard continues to score music that delves into the inexplicable and seemingly perpetual cycle of gun violence that ends in the death of (primarily) black men.  Indeed, the album’s title, Live, is intended to suggest a double meaning.

All seven tracks on the album have been plucked from live sessions the band has performed around the country.  Each site in close proximity to a place where someone was slain by police officers or, as occurred in Dallas, law enforcement personnel were cut down by a vengeful sniper.

Live’s opening track, Hannibal, typifies what you can expect to hear throughout the project.  Blanchard’s orchestral wails on trumpet so reminiscent of Bitch’s Brew and Fabian Almazon’s melodic and ethereal piano work.  Bass, drums and guitar slide in and out to flesh out the musical palette or rise to shine and sparkle in their own virtuosity.

A fabulous creator of mood that’s laminated in high energy and bubbling intensity, Blanchard tailors his eclectic neo-fusion style to function as musical commentary.   As you keep revisiting the music of Live, you’ll become ever more appreciative of the sprawl tracks like Unchanged take to express the song’s theme.

Cornell West makes his not uncommon and brief appearance extoling contemporary philosophy in a voice and timbre that insinuate prophesy.  And, as usual, well suited to music that sees hope in despair.