Terence Blanchard Sextet in Pittsburgh

[LWayne]

Last night my wife and I caught the first set by the Terence Blanchard Sextet at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh. For those of you not familiar with the venue, it is a theater located at the Bidwell Training Center; a school for the arts.

The MCG runs a concert season where it books its acts for five performances- Thursday through Sunday, with two concerts on Saturday night. While they try to present a diverse blend of jazz acts, many of their offerings are stilted towards the higher-drawing jazz legends. That is why last night was the most anticipated event of the season IMHO.

The Terence Blanchard Sextet, besides the leader on trumpet, boasts an array of talented young jazz musicians. The group, which was the same lineup that recorded “Flow”, was: Brice Winston-Tenor Sax, Lionel Loueke-Guitar, Aaron Parks-Piano, Derrick Hodge-Bass, and Kendrick Scott-Drums. Overall, the concert featured the cohesive playing of the group-without spotlighting a lot of solo performances-which was a refreshing change from the head/chorus/head soloing of many shows.

The group opened the set with the Latin tune “Nocturne” by Ivan Lins. Next up was an extended version of “Fred Brown” taken from the soundtrack composed by Terence Blanchard to a documentary film of the trend-setting New York artist. This song provided the opportunity for both horns-Blanchard and Winston to stretch out a bit. The third song was a rendition of the Miles Davis classic “I Thought About You”

To me, the highlight of the concert was Terence Blanchard playing a solo rendition of “Amazing Grace” at the end of “I Thought About You” The house was literally silent as he rendered an emotional reading of this powerful tune. Certainly made you reflect on the recent travesty in his hometown of New Orleans.

The group closed the set with a selection written and composed by the young pianist from Seattle, Aaron Parks, entitled “Harvesting Dance”. Surprisingly, this was the only selection from the recently released “Flow” on Blue Note. The group interplay on this selection was astounding-Lionel Loueke provided some ethereal vocals on top of the tape loop running through the selection to great effect. This was a tremendous group effort!

LWayne