Age: 64
male
Terence Oliver Blanchard (born March 13, 1962) is an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He has also written two operas and more than 80 film and television scores. Blanchard has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Original Score for BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da 5 Bloods, both directed by Spike Lee, a frequent collaborator. Blanchard started his career in 1980, playing in the Lionel Hampton Orchestra while studying jazz at Rutgers University. In 1982, just before he turned 20, he dropped out of Rutgers to join The Jazz Messengers, launching a professional career now in its fifth decade. The Metropolitan Opera in New York staged Blanchard's opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones in its 2021–2022 season, the first opera by an African American composer in the organization's history. Blanchard is also a passionate educational mentor. From 2000 to 2011, Blanchard served as artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. In 2011, he was named artistic director of the Henry Mancini Institute at the University of Miami, and in 2015, he became a visiting scholar in jazz composition at the Berklee College of Music. In 2019, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) named Blanchard to its Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies, where he remained until 2023. In 2023, SFJAZZ announced the appointment of Blanchard as Executive Artistic Director. He leads the organization's artistic programming and guides its overall creative direction. Blanchard was selected as the 2024 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters. The program is one of the most prestigious honours in jazz. Abbey Lincoln, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Sonny Rollins are among the 173 fellows recognized by the NEA as great figures of jazz. Description above from the Wikipedia article Terence Blanchard, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Blade, aka Eric Brooks, is a mixed martial artist whom is handy with the majority of every weaponry invented, especially any blade or sword type instrument. Blade is a Dhampir, a mix between a human and a vampire. He has devoted his life to fighting off evil vampires, such as Dracula. After years of trying to locate Dracula, Blade eventually finds him in Paris. Arriving in Paris, Blade encounters Quincy Harker, a vampire hunter whom he knows by reputation. Harker's team consists of Rachel van Helsing, Taj Nital, and Frank Drake. Due to Blade's selfish fighting style and uncontrollable temperament he strains himself from Harker's team, but keeps a steady relationship with them. After an unsuccessful battle with Dracula, Blade realizes he needs Harker and his team in order to kill the King of Vampires. Blade and the team are unable to track down Dracula, but are able to kill Deacon Frost, a vampire sorcerer whom allies with Dracula. After the death of Deacon, Dracula resurfaces and commands all of his vampires to attack Blade and Harker's team. The battle ends with Blade and Frank Drake as the only remaining vampire hunters. The others die in battle. Blade and Drake's extremely injured bodies are found by Hannibal King, a private detective whom Deacon Frost had turned into a vampire. He saves them both and takes their lifeless bodies home to care for.
