Absence (Terence Blanchard album)

Last updated
Absence
TB - Absence.jpg
Studio album by
Terence Blanchard
ReleasedAugust 27, 2021
Genre Jazz
Length64:51
Label Blue Note
Producer Robin Burgess, Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard chronology
Live
(2018)		Absence
(2021)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 87/100 [1]
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
DownBeat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Jazzwise Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]
PopMatters 8/10 [7]

Absence is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard featuring the E-Collective and the Turtle Island Quartet. The album was released on August 27, 2021, by Blue Note. [8] In this album, Blanchard celebrates his mentor Wayne Shorter. [9]

Contents

Reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 87, based on four reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". [1]

Steve Futterman of The New Yorker wrote, "With “Absence,” the trumpeter Terence Blanchard pays tribute to the influential octogenarian composer in a project that reconsiders a handful of Shorter's works..., along with originals dedicated to the iconic patriarch. Employing his plugged-in E-Collective unit, with ample contributions from the Turtle Island Quartet, and tellingly shedding any additional wind instruments, Blanchard avoids deliberate stylistic intimations of Shorter's own classic work, or of his collaborations with both Miles Davis and Weather Report, in favor of a lush and dramatic soundscape that calls to mind Blanchard's career as a successful film composer." [10] John Garratt of PopMatters commented, "Absence sounds too perfect to be the product of nine musicians struggling for their art. As far as complaints go, that's a meager one. There is a great deal going on inside these 64 minutes of music, and that alone should be enough to provoke many revisits. The composition quality and all-around musicianship are foregone conclusions with Blanchard, who somehow manages not to spread himself thin when premiering an opera in New York while scoring multiple works for Spike Lee. To imagine Absence as another brick in that wall is rather staggering." [7] Mike Hobart in his review for Jazzwise added, "An impressive, densely-textured album, with headlong improvisations spiced by dramatic juxtapositions of electric band and strings." [5]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Absence"David Ginyard6:55
2."The Elders"Wayne Shorter6:04
3."Fall"Wayne Shorter5:38
4."I Dare You (Intro)"Terence Blanchard1:36
5."I Dare You"Terence Blanchard7:46
6."Envisioned Reflections (Intro)"David Ginyard1:32
7."Envisioned Reflections"David Ginyard2:35
8."The Second Wave" David Balakrishnan 10:43
9."When It Was Now"Wayne Shorter5:22
10."Dark Horse"Charles Altura7:17
11."Diana"Wayne Shorter7:06
12."More Elders"Wayne Shorter2:20
Total length:64:51

Personnel

The E-Collective
The Turtle Island Quartet
Cover Art

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References

  1. 1 2 "Absence by Terence Blanchard". Metacritic . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  2. ↑ May, Chris (August 28, 2021). "Terence Blanchard featuring The E-Collective: Absence album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  3. ↑ Collar, Matt. "Absence - Terence Blanchard | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  4. ↑ Margasak, Peter (November 2021). "Terence Blanchard: Absence (Blue Note)". DownBeat . Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  5. 1 2 Hobart, Mike. "TERENCE BLANCHARD: ABSENCE". Jazzwise . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Cowan, Andy (November 2021). "Terence Blanchard: Absence". Mojo (336). Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  7. 1 2 Garratt, John (29 September 2021). "Terence Blanchard: Absence (Album Review)". PopMatters . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  8. ↑ "TERENCE BLANCHARD - ABSENCE". Blue Note . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  9. ↑ "ABSENCE". Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth. 14 July 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  10. ↑ Futterman, Steve. "Terence Blanchard: "Absence"". The New Yorker . Retrieved 30 December 2021.
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