Happy 62nd, Terence Blanchard.

Your tears mean nothing. To be a warrior, you must kill your tears.

The Woman King, Gina Prince-Bythewood (2022)

Gang Starr - Jazz Thing

Woody Shaw: A Jazz Virtuoso's Journey Through Innovation and Legacy

Introduction: Woody Shaw, born Woody Herman Shaw Jr. seventy-nine years ago today on December 24, 1944, in Laurinburg, North Carolina, emerged as a transformative force in the world of jazz. A trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator, Shaw left an indelible mark on the genre. Widely regarded as one of the most influential jazz trumpeters and composers of…

View On WordPress

“Blut Und Boden (Blood and Soil)” from BlacKkKlansman (2018) – composed by Terence Blanchard

Jazz trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard has been a frequent collaborator with Spike Lee down the years, with his score to BlacKkKlansman perhaps the work garnering him the most notice outside of jazz and classical music circles. Blanchard has since gone on to become the first African American composer to debut an opera at the Metropolitan Opera.

In the film, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) and fellow Detective "Flip" Zimmerman (Adam Driver) attempt to infiltrate a local branch of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in order to prevent a planned terrorist attack. In this cue played just before the closing moments of BlacKkKlansman, Blanchard provides the clearest, emotionally moving statement of his motif for protagonist Detective Ron Stallworth (listen for the line shared between strings and electric guitar) and has shorn the motif for white supremacist/KKK Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace) to a snare drum line.

The title of this cue is derived from a nineteenth century German slogan that became popular in Nazi Germany. But the true reason for the cue's title is because the film ends with footage from the 2017 United the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The footage shows white supremacists and neo-Nazis chanting “Blut Und Boden” in promotion of their horrific ideology and the attack on counterprotesters which resulted in the murder of Heather Heyer (there is a tribute to Heyer in the penultimate frame before the end credits).

BlacKkKlansman was nominated for six Academy Awards, and won once, for Best Adapted Screenplay (Spike Lee's first competitive Oscar win, shared with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, and Kevin Willmot). The film was also nominated for Best Film Editing, Supporting Actor (Driver), Director (Lee), Original Score (Blanchard), and Best Picture.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary for Eve's Bayou

Movie #37 of 2023: Malcolm X

“By any means necessary.”

1986 - Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers - Tonhalle - Düsseldorf

Donald Harrison (as), Jean Toussaint (ts), Terence Blanchard (tp), Mulgrew Miller (p), Lonnie Plaxico (b), Art Blakey (dr)

One last bit of Terence Blanchard's soundtrack "She Hate Me" (Spike Lee).

Happy 61st, Terence Blanchard.

Terence Blanchard "Blues For Malcolm"

Watch "Opera Parallèle Blanchard, Champion Fight Scene, Act I H264" on YouTube

An earlier and more modest presentation of the opera Champion.

stephanie blythe is an icon and we do not deserve her

210 - 25th Hour

We talk about a lot of films dealing with the social and political aftermath of 9/11 but few like this week’s episode: Spike Lee’s 25th Hour. Filmed in New York City in the months after and adapted by David Benioff from his own novel, the film captures that dysphoria while following a drug dealer played by Edward Norton as he prepares to enter prison. Lee gives us several showstoppers, including the notorious “fuck you” mirror monologue from Norton and a fantasy finale told by Brian Cox. But the film was handled by Disney’s less awards-certified Touchstone Pictures and opened at the end of December 2002, famously crowded with contenders including what would make up the entire Best Picture lineup.

If 25th Hour got lost in the shuffle (and cultural-political moment), it now has its vocal fans like your two hosts! This episode, we’ll get into Lee’s long history as an Oscar outsider leading up to his recent success, Norton’s fast ascent with a trio of roles in a single year, and the prowess of Lee’s standby composer, the great Terence Blanchard.

Topics also include Cox’s scene stealing in 2002, Rosario Dawson bringing reliable realism, and 2002 Best Original Score.

Links:

The 2002 Oscar nominations

Subscribe:

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

Google Play

Stitcher