Terence Blanchard Featuring The E-Collective Play Come to 'Jazz Club' At The Soraya

The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya) concludes its intimate "Jazz Club" performances this season with jazz composer and trumpeter Terence Blanchard featuring The E-Collective on May 1 and 2 at 8:00pm.

Blanchard layers funky grooves and R&B to send a powerful political message. Committed to healing through music, he and the E-Collective created Breathless, an album tragically inspired by the last words of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man suffocated in an altercation with police. Motivated by this experience, the E-Collective's new 2018 album, LIVE, was recorded live in Twin Cities, Cleveland, Dallas, and Harlem, all of which are cities that have been similarly wounded by racial tensions. Coinciding with these recording sessions, Blanchard worked with local community leaders to host panel discussions encouraging dialogue for positive social change.

NPR said of Blanchard at The E-Collective's new record, "Terence Blanchard has always been drawn to a form of lyricism that runs burnished and bittersweet. You can track this mood throughout his career as a post-bop trumpeter, and no less in his dozens of film scores, in and beyond a long affiliation with Spike Lee.
That quality of mournful uplift also rings loud and clear on Blanchard's forthcoming album LIVE. It's a showcase for the sleek young band that he calls the E-Collective, with Charles Altura on guitar, Fabian Almazan on piano and synthesizers, David Ginyard on bass and Oscar Seaton on drums."

Blanchard put it this way: "I wanted the music to be a healing force in the areas in which we performed - to let the music take your anger and frustrations. I'm not telling people not to be angry but when things become too much, the music is there to help you heal."

Thor Steingraber, Executive Director of The Soraya, adds, "Terence Blanchard is an ideal way to conclude our intimate, onstage Jazz Club performances. Not only is he one of the most important jazz trumpeters and composers working today, his music also speaks to our 'Music Knows No Borders' programming initiative. His latest albums, Breathless and Live utilize music to break down social and political borders and help resolve the anger and discord that is felt in these communities across our country."

Single tickets beginning at $28 are now available. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit TheSoraya.org or call 818-677-3000. The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts is located at 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330. Ticket prices subject to change.

About Terence Blanchard
"Music and art have the power to change hearts and souls," expresses composer and trumpeter Terence Blanchard - a belief brought to life through the music of Blanchard and his E-Collective. This revolutionary ensemble thrives off the perfect mixture of Blanchard's genius and the innovations of four young musical pioneers: guitarist Charles Altura, pianist Fabian Almazan, bassist David "DJ" Ginyard Jr., and drummer Oscar Seaton. It was while recording the scores for Spike Lee's Inside Man and Kasi Lemmons' Talk to Me that Blanchard and Seaton first dreamt of a band that layered grooves teeming with funk, R&B, and blues colors. Years later, that dream came to fruition and formed the foundation for the E-Collective's Signature Sound.

Following a poignant E-Collective performance in Staten Island, Blanchard was overwhelmed by the healing impact of his music on the audience. In attendance were many friends and family of Eric Garner - a local man who had been fatally injured in an altercation with police and to whom the E-Collective's debut album, Breathless, is dedicated. Motivated by this experience, the E-Collective's 2018 album was recorded live in Twin Cities, Cleveland, Dallas, and Harlem, all of which are cities that have been similarly wounded by racial tensions. Coinciding with these recording sessions, Blanchard worked with local community leaders to host panel discussions encouraging dialogue for positive social change. As the E-Collective ventures into uncharted territories, there is a common understanding that creation and communication generate change.

About The E-Collective

Fabian Almazan (Piano) found his musical roots as a child in his homeland of Havana where he first became involved in classical piano. In 2009, he received his master's degree from Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Jason Moran. Since 2012, this pianist and composer has toured extensively with Terence Blanchard. Fabian's second album Rhizome was released on Blue Note in 2014.

Charles Altura (Guitar) is an unusually gifted young guitarist with a sensitive approach on the guitar. The California native has toured with Chick Corea & the Vigil since 2012, and appears on Corea's most recent album The Vigil. Altura can also be heard on Ambrose Akinmusire's latest album, The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier To Paint.

David Ginyard (Bass) attended Berklee College of Music.

Oscar Seaton (Drums) got his first major break playing with Ramsey Lewis in 1996. Since Lewis, Oscar has played, recorded and toured with artists such as Grover Washington Jr., David Sanborn, Joe Sample, Kirk Whalum, Phil Upchurch, Yolanda Adams, George Benson, Lionel Richie, and Mike Post to name a few. Oscar's impeccable timing has earned him the name "SEATPOCKET."

About the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya)
The Soraya opened its 2017-2018 season on September 16 with a performance of AMADEUS Live (Milos Foreman's 1984 Academy Award-winning Best Picture with live orchestra) with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and members of the LA Opera Chorus. The evening honored the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Foundation in recognition of the family's recent $17 million gift that will rename VPAC as the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Performing Arts Center, known as The Soraya. The gift is one of the largest in the history of the California State University and the system's largest single gift to support the arts; gift to support the programming and operations of the award-winning Valley Performing Arts Center - which has become one of the cultural jewels of the region in the six years since it opened.

The 2017-18 Soraya season signals a new era for the premier event venue. Under the leadership of Executive Director Thor Steingraber, the renamed Younes and Soraya Nazarian Performing Arts Center expands its programming and outstanding multidisciplinary performances. The mission of The Soraya is to present a wide variety of performances that not only includes new and original work from the Los Angeles region but also work from around the world that appeal to all of LA's rich and diverse communities.

Located on the campus of California State University, Northridge, The Soraya's season offers a vibrant performance program of nearly 50 classical and popular music, dance, theater, family and international events that will serve to establish The Soraya as the intellectual and cultural heart of the San Fernando Valley, and further establish itself as one of the top arts companies in Southern California. The award-winning, 1,700-seat theatre was designed by HGA Architects and Engineers and was recently cited by the Los Angeles Times as "a growing hub for live music, dance, drama and other cultural events."