SFJAZZ appoints Grammy winner Terence Blanchard as artistic director

Seven-time Grammy Award winner and two-time Oscar nominee Terence Blanchard has been named SFJAZZ’s new Executive Artistic Director.

“I am honored and thrilled to be part of such an incredible and historic institution,” Blanchard said. “SFJAZZ has contributed so much to the development of America’s greatest art form. I look forward to collaborating with the staff while contributing my own ideas on how to move our music forward and further SFJAZZ’s mission to explore the full spectrum of jazz – from its origins to its diverse and evolving expressions in the world today. I look forward to continuing this journey.

Blanchard, who starts immediately, succeeds Randall Kline, the founder of SFJAZZ who is preparing to leave the arts organization he started in 1983 this year.

“Terence Blanchard is an extraordinary artist whose experience and accomplishments make him an ideal creative leader for SFJAZZ, building on the incredible legacy that Randall Kline has worked to create over the past 40 years,” said Greg Stern, CEO of SFJAZZ.

Blanchard, an incredibly accomplished composer, bandleader and trumpeter, “will lead the organization’s artistic programming and guide its overall creative direction,” according to a press release.

His career spans over 40 years, from his time in the early 80s with the legendary Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers to composing film scores for Spike Lee and others. He received an American Artist Fellowship in 2018 as well as a Peabody Medal in 2023 and has held positions at the Berklee Institute of Music, Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.