Several factors distinguish New Orleans trumpeter Terence Blanchard
from other jazz bandleaders. First and foremost, he’s generated a cult
of celebrity because of his Grammy awards, his directorship at the
Thelonious Monk Institute, and his soundtracks for filmmaker Spike Lee
(including the extraordinary Hurricane Katrina requiem, When the
Levees Broke). But having name recognition is less important than
making superb music, and in that respect, Blanchard is beyond
reproach.
Because of his stature, Blanchard also can afford to indulge in
weird experimentation, even if it doesn’t result in coherent albums.
His new joint, Choices, is a hodgepodge of absurdly talented,
incredibly hip musicians (guitarist Lionel Loueke, saxophonist Walter
Smith III, Cuban keyboardist Fabian Almazan, soul singer Bilal, and
Princeton professor Cornell West) that doesn’t quite make sense in its
totality. Take the ballads with Bilal. Both sound lovely by themselves,
but probably belong on a different album. Blanchard’s solos are, of
course, phenomenal, but the music itself leaves something to be desired
— no immediately catchy melodies, nothing too outré. Not
to mention that a lot of these heavily orchestrated tunes sound
uncannily like his Spike Lee scores.
The title may in fact refer to deep, existential decision-making
(i.e., the choice to return home after Katrina), but none is evident
therein. Blanchard’s real choice, it seems, was to privilege hipster
cache over artistic depth in order to mollify a younger, broader
audience. On that level, he’ll probably succeed. (Concord)
