Kennedy Center Jazz to Present Music from Spike Lee’s Films—Terence Blanchard Will Appear

This December, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C., will present “The Movie Music of Spike Lee and Terence Blanchard,” a concert focused on the films of Spike Lee (pictured) and hosted by the Academy Award-nominated director himself.

The performance on Dec. 8 will feature frequent Lee collaborator Terence Blanchard. The Grammy-winning trumpeter and composer will appear with his quintet, as well as a chamber orchestra and jazz vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling and Raul Midón.

Blanchard, who is currently the Artistic Director at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, has collaborated with Lee on many of the director’s films. Specifically, “The Movie Music of Spike Lee and Terence Blanchard” will feature music from Mo’ Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Clockers (1995), Bamboozled (2000), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006) and When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006), all Lee-Blanchard collaborations.

Tickets for the performance cost $20 to $45 and can be purchased at the Kennedy Center Box Office or through (202) 476-4600. For more information, visit Kennedy Center.

Originally Published November 16, 2007