miscellaneous

REVIEW/ PHOTOS: Terence Blanchard E-Collective at Unterfahrt Munich

Terence Blanchard at Unterfahrt Munich
Photo credit: Ralf Dombrowski

Terence Blanchard E-Collective
(Unterfahrt Munich. 24th October 2014. Review and all photos by Ralf Dombrowski)

This was a night of old-school fusion with outstanding musicians: Charles Altura, guitar, Cuban Fabian Almazan on keys, bassist Donald Ramsey and drummer Oscar Seaton. They gave the pieces they played considerable space to develop and to build intensity. The soloing had not just professional energy but ecstasy too. Alongside Blanchard, guitarist Altura was particularly impressive. He launched himself calmly into long improvisations, showing a penchant for rock reverb. Also making his mark was Almazan at the keyboard, who cultivates a knowingly retro sound. Overall the focus was not so much on elaborate compositions, but rather on keeping the pulse and the energy level high, on producing a sense of progression, a flow, a groove, on sophisticated interaction between musicians whose collective feeling for sound was casting back into the past for its precedents, to the likes of Hancock, Davis, Shorter et al….


Charles Altura at Unterfahrt Munich
Photo credit: Ralf Dombrowski




Oscar Seaton at Unterfahrt Munich
Photo credit: Ralf Dombrowski




Donald Ramsey at Unterfahrt Munich
Photo credit: Ralf Dombrowski


Fabian Almazan at Unterfahrt Munich
Photo credit: Ralf Dombrowski


LINKS: Terence Blanchard at the 2012 London Jazz Festival
Terence Blanchard’s Soulbop at the Barbican in 2011

Categories: miscellaneous

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