01:30 Welcomes Blanchard, who is 30 years old, and remarks on his handmade horn. Raised in Lower Ninth and Ponchartrain Park. Went to St Augustine and then NOCCA. Studied with Ellis Marsalis, classical trumpet teacher, George Jensen, and composition with Roger Dickerson. Mentioned the culture shock at NOCCA where you weren’t treated like a kid, were expected to be professional musicians. NOCCA gave us the information we needed and it was up to us to use it, our responsibility. Piano was his first instrument. Fellow students were Wynton and Delfeayo Marsalis. Donald Harrison and Branford were ahead of him. 07:20 Went to Rutgers in NJ and studied with pianist Kenny Baron. “NOCCA grounded me.” At Rutgers did jazz concerts every week, listened to a lot of jazz recordings. Rutgers has the largest jazz archives in the world. Went there to study with the brass instructor, Bill Fielder and to be near New York City. 10:35 Got introduced to Lionel Hampton through his jazz band instructor, Paul Jeffries, who was playing with Hampton. Hampton heard Blanchard play and he started playing with Hampton’s band. 12:10 Wasn’t really into traditional New Orleans jazz growing up. After Rutgers in 1982 got involved with Art Blakey. Wynton was leaving the band and Blanchard tried out and got it.. Blakey was a big influence on how to run a band, without ego and trying to bring out what the music called for. Was with him from ’82 – ’86. Made this music real for him, gave him a fresh perspective and strong foundation to start his own band. 17:35 Talked about his collaborations with Donald Harrison. George Wein signed them to his label, then did three albums with Columbia. Worked with Ron Carter, James Moody, Cedar Walton and Marvin “Smitty” Smith. 21:25 First soundtrack for Spike Lee,” School Days,” led to ongoing collaboration, including the score for “Malcolm X”. Talked about the process of writing the film score. 27:10 Demonstration – Miner plays “Sleepytime Down South” from new album, Simply Stated on Columbia. 33:20 Demonstration – plays live 35:00 Thinking about moving back to New Orleans, music scene is thriving more now than when he left for college.
