Miranda Anthistle
A&E Reporter

(Courtesy Jenny Bagert) Terence Blanchard will play with Humber’s Jazz Ensemble.

Jazz lovers will have the chance to hear Grammy-award winning trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, accompanied by the Humber Studio Jazz Ensemble, in concert.
Blanchard is the latest artist-in-residence at Humber’s School of Creative and Performing Arts and is scheduled to perform Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the Lakeshore Campus auditorium.
Tickets are $25.
The concert will feature pieces from Blanchard’s album, Jazz in Film, a compilation of movie soundtracks ranging from Chinatown to Taxi Driver, done in a jazz rendition.
The New Orleans born artist composed the scores for numerous Spike Lee films like Jungle Fever and Inside Man.
“We’re all very excited and honoured to play with Terence,” said jazz ensemble member and third-year bachelor of applied music student, Eli Bennett, 20.
“It’s a great opportunity to share the stage with someone of that calibre.”
Blanchard will host workshops during the week, giving music students a chance to learn, work and perform with him.
“If you have some experience to share with young musicians who want to do this as a career, I think it’s incumbent upon us more established artists to give back,” said Blanchard who had the chance to play with such jazz greats as Nat Allen when he was a student.
Denny Christianson, director of music studies, said one of the reasons he and other faculty members want their students to learn from Blanchard is because of his ability to fuse big band sound with film.
“He’s an example of a jazz artist who has also pursued a very successful career as a film composer,” he said.
“At Humber we teach and stress a great deal that a foundation in jazz can lead to any number of diverse pathways to a successful career in music,” he said.
Blanchard agreed.
“I want them to see that if I’m doing this, they have the ability to do it too,” he said. “It’s about exposing musicians to the practical side of being an artist and hopefully they’ll walk away inspired to work hard to create their own direction.”