Blanchard Embouchure

Xenoman · Heavyweight Member Joined: 19 Nov 2001 Posts: 1209

Larry Smithee hooked me up with a lot of albums and I am purposely taking my time digesting each one. What a great education this is.

Ok... I'm listening to Black Pearl right now. Great... AMAZING stuff. What surprises me more than anything else is Terence back in the day - sounds like current day Terence. I mean there obvious differences and improvements but his core sound and approach to playing are still the same even after the embouchure change and the move to Monette equipment. It is truly all about the player... find your voice and it will come out no matter what axe you choose.

The embouchure change... I've been reading Terence's biography "Contempoary Cat" (great book by the way). I know a lot of people wondered why he changed. In Terence's own words:

"Yeah, it was terrible having to re-form my lips, but it was something I had to do. I started playing the trumpet before I ever had a teacher, so when I eventually got one, he didn't recognize my problem because I was continually progressing. My teachers never realized exactly what I was doing; they didn't know that I was getting cut all the time because my bottom lip was tucked over my bottom teeth. But finally, technically, I hit a brick wall. It came to a point where I found that my limitations in trumpet technique were interfering with the articualtion of my melodic ideas."

The most amazing thing is he went through this embouchure change at what was the height of playing at the time. When he came out he was a better player than before!!

_________________
-Eric M. Brewington
http://www.jazzician.org

[ This Message was edited by: Xenoman on 2003-05-03 22:13 ]

jazz_trpt · Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 7:37 am Post subject:

Is there more documentation somewhere on what he ended up doing, or with whom he ended up studying, in order to establish his new setup?
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Jeff Helgesen
Free jazz solo transcriptions!

Larry Smithee · Heavyweight Member Joined: 11 Nov 2001 Posts: 4399

Jeff,
I unfortunately don't remember the source, but do recall reading an interview some years ago in which Terrance mentioned that he had plenty of range but had much trouble playing in the lower register. The interview could have been in Down Beat, Jazz Times, not sure. The time was around the end of his period with Art Blakey.
Larry Smithee

bachstrad72 · Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 8:08 am Post subject:

Terence went to Rutgers and studyed with Bill Fielder, he left to perform before completeing his undergrad degree

AccentOnTrumpet · Heavyweight Member Joined: 03 Nov 2002 Posts: 878

Wow, I didn't know Terence had an autobiography. I'll have to check that out.

Blanchard's sound is very rich, I like the sound he produces. Many jazz trumpet players get a thin, grainier sound but not Terence. His sound and style are great. He puts his guts into his playing. That's what makes him great.

As far as his range goes, I don't exactly know about before but if you listen to his soloing on "Man With A Golden Arm" you'll see he has no trouble hitting Double F's and G's. Also, when I saw Terence live, he was hitting F-sharps very strong and clear.