This month marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s assault upon the city of New Orleans. The suffering and hardship of that city’s citizens no longer makes headlines, but the havoc caused by the storm is something many people still live with on a daily basis. Jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard is one of those people. A son of the Crescent City and musical descendant of fellow New Orleanians Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, and Wynton Marsalis, Blanchard’s latest release on the Blue Note label, entitled A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), is a somber and plaintive look back on how Mother Nature and the country at large betrayed a great American city.

The recording is a powerful and emotional song cycle that invites the listener to contemplate and meditate on the nuance and subtlety of the music while considering the purpose behind its creation. The music on A Tale of God’s Will was written for, and inspired by, Spike Lee’s exceptional documentary for HBO, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. Blanchard is a close collaborator of Lee, for whom he has scored several films.

As such, this is not a traditional jazz recording that draws immediate comparisons with its contemporaries, because as one would expect from a film soundtrack, the music is heavily orchestrated. Blanchard and his bandmates, who also composed for the album, veer away from traditional jazz rhythms for the most part, and adopt a more current compositional approach. While many associate the music of New Orleans with a rich tradition, these songs are not historical documents; they are about a city that is presently in distress and faces an uncertain future. Blanchard, however, recognizes that improvisation is at the root of jazz and New Orleans’ musical heritage and so he wisely incorporates moments when the musicians get the chance to stretch out and blow.

Photo by Nitin Vadukul; taken from Terence Blanchard’s website