Nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album
DECEMBER 2016
BREATHLESS
TKTK Breathless features Blanchard’s new band, The E-Collective, consisting of Fabian Almazan on keyboards, Charles Altura on guitar, Donald Ramsey on bass, and Oscar Seaton on drums. The album also features Maroon 5’s PJ Morton on three cuts, and JRei Oliver, Terence’s son, on spoken word. Blanchard explained that he and drummer Oscar Seaton, with whom he has recorded several film scores, had been talking about an album like this for years before they finally found time to record it. Like his previous album A Tale of God’s Will, this record is also a thematic album inspired by tragedy. The album title serves as a reminder of the last words said by black New Yorker Eric Garner (“I can’t breathe”) in a chokehold by a NYPD officer and explores the effects of racism and the aftermath of its devastation on societies around the world.
Donald Ramsey, Bass
Oscar Seaton, Drums
Charles Altura, Guitar
Fabian Almazan, Piano, Synth
Terence Blanchard, Trumpet
1
Ain't Got Nuthin-PrintFinal05
04:30
2
Midnight-PrintFinal04
04:55
3
Everglades-PrintFinal02
14:34
4
Cosmic Warrior-PrintFinal03
05:25
5
Compared To What-PrintMix01
05:52
6
Breathless-PrintFinal03
04:42
7
Talk To Me-PrintFinal02
04:06
8
Soldiers-PrintFinal02
06:10
9
Shutting Down-PrintMix02
04:13
10
See Me As I Am-PrintFinal3
08:56
11
Samadhi-PrintFinal
04:03
Total length: 67:26
TKTK Bill Beuttler of JazzTimes wrote “Blanchard’s trumpet, of course, provides scorching firepower atop the band’s assortment of infectious grooves. It may not be jazz as we know it, but it’s soulful, sophisticated and worth meeting on its own terms. And it’s good that Blanchard finally got around to it.” Cormac Larkin of The Irish Times commented “The spirit of Miles Davis would be hard for any American trumpeter in this genre to avoid, and there are certainly echoes of electric Miles, but perhaps also – intentionally or not – there is something more European here, reminiscent of Nils Petter Molvaer’s “future-jazz”, with the austere Nordic grooves replaced by the heat and flawless poise of some old-school jazz-funk”.
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TKTK “The groove on this disc is a bore as often as not… As for consumers of groove music and hip-hop, there’s some decent jazz soloing here but nothing you can’t hear in vastly more impressive circumstances elsewhere.”
TKTK “Ultimately, while Breathless is a break from the aggressive, acoustic swing that has marked much of Blanchard’s career, it nonetheless retains all the jaw-dropping artistry and soulful creativity we have come to expect, albeit delivered in a vibrant, electric style”
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