We're celebrating Jazz Appreciation month with an in-depth conversation with composer and jazz musician Terence Blanchard. Terence Blanchard has a long list of exceptional jazz credentials, but most recently he’s found acclaim as the first Black composer to compose an opera—Fire Shut Up in My Bones—presented by the Metropolitan Opera. In this podcast, he discusses how he came to write Fire Shut Up in My Bones (which was funded in part by the Arts Endowment), the bitter-sweetness of its Met premiere, how he works with collaborators in jazz, in opera and in film—especially his long collaboration with Spike Lee, how composing for film enabled him to write opera, the influence of Art Blakey on his music, the impact of Black Lives Matter on his work, and the joy of playing live with his group the E Collective. Terence Blanchard is thoughtful, eloquent, and gracious with a deep sense of history and a great sense of humor.
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