You’ll note that Terence Blanchard’s Choices is not on my 2009 year-end list, although Blanchard’s group is one of my favorites. The music on Choices is very strong and would almost certainly have made my list, but for the catastrophic decision to include running commentary by Cornel West throughout the program.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ve learned a lot from reading West, and I identify with much, though not all, in his view of politics. But it’s becoming impossible to ignore the fact that West is one of the most self-enamored individuals walking the planet, as Scott McLemee notes in this review of Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud:
If sketchy in other regards, Brother West is never anything but expansive on how Cornel West feels about Cornel West. He is deeply committed to his committed-ness, and passionately passionate about being full of passion. Various works of art, literature, music, and philosophy remind West of himself.
[…]
One whole page at the start of the book reads as follows:
“I’m a bluesman in the life of the mind, and a jazzman in the world of ideas.” — Cornel West
[…]
One whole page at the start of the book reads as follows:
“I’m a bluesman in the life of the mind, and a jazzman in the world of ideas.” — Cornel West
It will not be the reader’s last encounter with this sentiment. West repeats it at least a few dozen more times — never with any variation or development. (Clearly this is minimalist jazz: West plays one note, then goes up half a step, then back again.)
Which is exactly what Terence Blanchard’s highly advanced music does not do. Choices is more than eloquent enough to stand on its own, without West’s self-promoting schtick.
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Oh, that West. Whew!