=oz 6z a oEz.aE 3 G ! - roo N o ! E o G ! l a"It's hard for me to feel it's a break- through pl ocess because it was almost a semi-comatose project," says Blanchard, who began the project by scoring direc- tor Spike Lee's acclaimed documenta- ry "When the Levees Broke" in the after- math of Hurricane Katrina. "l was still trying to get my mom settled and make sure she rvars okay " That project led to his current album, which includes preces written for that film, and more pieces by Blmchard, as well as tunes composed by his long-time band-members such as bassist Denick Hodge, who will perfom with Blanchard at Symphony Space on Jan, 3 lt's paft of an ongoing series called "Blue Note Re- cords Live," where musicians chat on- stage with label head Bruce Lundvall "ln a certain sense - and I've never been this type of person - but in a cer-I tain sense you start to feel a bit of an ob- : : ligation to perform it,'says the 45-year- : i old father of two who has composed more : : than 40 film scores as well as numerous : : jzz albums "We've been playing it around the : country and it's made a lol of people re- : flecl on New Orleans ll's kept the sro- : ry alive in terms of keeping people aware i of what's not going on here and some : of the positive things lhat are going on. : Bul mostly it's allowed all tlre local peo- : ple who are strewn about the country to : come hear this music and moum " : Blanchard didn't have much time to do : that himselt when first composing some : of this music Since I99l s "Jungle Fever," : he's enjoyed a prolific and satisfying col- : laboration with Lee akin to some of the : great Holl)ryood pairings, Iike Bemard : Herrmann with Alfred Hitchcock or John iGrammy-winning, coolly elegant jazz tnrmpeter, New Or- Ieans native Terence Blanchard has never made an albumn: Re-, more heartfelt and moving than "A Tale of God's Wll: A quiem for Katrina" @lue Note).Williams with Sleven Spielberg But writing music for the four-hour HBO documentary that detailed Katrina's devastating impact on New Orleans was daunting both literally (the project ex- panded from two hours to four hours) and emotionally (one key scene shows Blanchard and his mother enterins her flood-ravaged home for the flrst time) "Emotionally, it was hard to deal with," says Blanchmd, who begins the new album with the musicians chanting "This is the tale of God's will" a la John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and ends with the poignant track "Dear Mom " "I didn't want to look at it I just didn't Theroughpartaboutitwasyou : couldn't take a break- If I took a break, I'd : step out the door and I was in the realiff : ofwhal I was working on " : But today Blanchard is hopeful While i talking on the phone, he's on his front : steps in New Orleans, waying to people : who walk by, like the woman he some- : times boxes with. "She hits hard. ex- :tremely hard," laughs Blanchard And without domplaying the hard work that needs to be done or the many mistakes of the past and present, he does look for the positive effects that might come out of Katrina "The local musicims who are here are really helping to pr eserue the hopes md aspirations of the people who live here," says Blmchtrd '1 /hen I go to some of these local clubs with local musicims play- ing, they're playinB music that is so energefic, so up, so helpful, it allows all ol us to cope "In the aftermath, you're starting to see people coming logether and you're starting to see people doing things for their community they would never have done before, and it is making a dif{erence in how we re- late with one another.</p><p> But it's still a slow process " a (BIue Note Record.s Live: Terence Blanchard, Symphony Space Conceftl 1blk, Thur sday, J an 3 at 7 : 30 p.m.)
