Composer and trumpet player Terence Blanchard had the Ordway Concert Hall rapt on Sunday afternoon for a two-part concert that moved from jazz to opera with virtuosic groove. Presented by the Arts Partnership, the show drew a nearly full house.
In the first half of the show, Blanchard revisited his 20-year-old Grammy-winning album “Flow.” In the second half, he presented a concert version of his searing 2019 opera about childhood abuse, “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.” In both parts, the musician demonstrated his growling trumpet playing and his vision as a composer, as he shifted effortlessly between genres.
Keyboardist/pianist Julian “J3PO” Pollack began the afternoon concert alone onstage, creating a synthesized sound on two keyboards. Setting echoing arpeggios on a loop, Pollack then swiveled around to play a piano.
On a screen above the stage, projection artist Andrew F. Scott juxtaposed illustrations of an Afro-futurist narrative with live video feeds of first Pollack and then the other musicians as they joined him onstage.
Blanchard’s group, the E-Collective, played with a tight cohesion between the musicians. The song “Prism” carried a gritty beat and a film noir mood. Drummer Oscar Seaton effortlessly shifted from extemporaneous flourish to steady rhythms, while guitarist Charles Altura supported Blanchard’s solos and also at times took focus.
In the second half of the performance, the Turtle Island Quartet and opera singers Will Liverman and Adrienne Danrich joined the E-Collective onstage. The group performed a selection of songs from Blanchard’s celebrated opera made with librettist Kasi Lemmons, based on the memoir by journalist Charles M. Blow.
Photographs of a fully staged version of the opera were projected on the screen above the musicians, juxtaposed with the live video feed. The photographs were helpful in providing context for what was happening with the story, as the production didn’t use supertitles.
The Turtle Island Quintet, an ensemble that blends contemporary classical with vernacular forms like American jazz, fused seamlessly with the jazz musicians of the E-Collective. And while Blanchard’s work clearly fit into the opera genre, he grounded the music in a jazz vocabulary.
Danrich performed multiple characters in the story about Blow’s traumatic upbringing. From the main character’s distraught mother to a girlfriend that breaks his heart, plus a more conceptual character, Danrich brought emotional weight and vocal fireworks. Her performance of “Don’t Be In Such A Rush” was thick with feeling.
Liverman, who played the central character in the Metropolitan Opera production whose recording won a Grammy in 2023, demonstrated his powerful baritone voice. His performance of “Peculiar Grace” created chills.
Interspersed in the arias and duets between the two singers, Blanchard and the musicians played instrumental sets as well, allowing for space to linger between the emotionally charged lyrics. The instrument-only sections also packed their own punch, particularly a solo by cellist Naseem Alatrash. Blanchard’s own playing carried a range of feeling and history.
In some ways, a concert version of an opera just gives a taste of what the full experience of watching the work might be. And yet, the dual-concert approach, which included a jazz set showcasing Blanchard and the E-Collective as well as the opera excerpts, gave a wide range of music for the audience to enjoy. It also teased an upcoming concert with the Turtle Island Quartet, which will be back in May with the Schubert Club performing at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis.
Turtle Island Quartet
What: Schubert Club Mix Performance
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10
Where: Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis
Tickets: $33 at schubert.org/event/turtle-island-quartet
Capsule: The Turtle Island Quartet performed with pulsing clarity Sunday as part of Terrence Blanchard’s concert performance of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.” Their next engagement in the Twin Cities is at the Parkway.
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