Terence Blanchard - Terence Blanchard (1991)

During the four years since he last led a record date, trumpeter Terence Blanchard had broken up his quintet with altoist Donald Harrison, worked with Spike Lee on Mo' Better Blues, and rebuilt his trumpet technique, emerging as a truly outstanding player. For this excellent "comeback" album, Blanchard uses a sympathetic rhythm section (pianist Bruce Barth, bassist Rodney Whitaker, and either Jeff Watts or Troy Davis on drums), and welcomes guest tenors Branford Marsalis and Sam Newsome to three songs apiece. On the varied program, Blanchard opens and closes the set with a hymn ("Motherless Child" and "Amazing Grace"), performs four originals and comes up with personal interpretations of three standards ("Goodbye," "Au Privave," and "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You"). By the time this recording came out in 1992, Blanchard was ready to take his place as one of the trumpet giants of the '90s.