The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7 and opens commercially September 26. Miracle at St. Anna marks Blanchard's twelfth collaboration with Lee. Blanchard's original epic score features over 140 minutes of music and was recorded at Sony Studios in Los Angeles with a 98-piece orchestra, including members of Terence Blanchard's band.

Miracle at St. Anna is based on James Mcbride's critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller and World War II novel. With a cast that includes Michael Ealy, John Turturro, John Leguizamo, and Walton Scoggins, Miracle at St. Anna depicts the lives of four African-American soldiers fighting in World War II (1944). The film follows the 92nd Buffalo Soldier Division trapped behind enemy lines and separated from their unit in a small Italian village after one of them risks his life to save an Italian boy. What happens within the confines of the town, and the incredible passion with which these soldiers live out their daily lives is nothing less than physically and emotionally extraordinary.

All BMI 2008 Big Easy Music Award Winners

Entertainer of the Year
Terence Blanchard

Lifetime Achievement in Music
Eddie Bo

Ambassador of Music
Donald Harrison, Jr.

Best Blues Artist
Little Freddie King

Best Rhythm and Blues
Jon Cleary

Best Rap/Hip Hop
Lil' Wayne

Best Traditional Jazz
Tom McDermott & Evan Christopher

Best Contemporary Jazz Artist
Terence Blanchard

Best Traditional Brass Band
Treme Brass Band

Best Contemporary Brass Band
Soul Rebels

Best Roots Rock Band
Happy Talk Band

Best Rock Band
Rotary Downs

Best Funk Band
Galactic

Best Zydeco Artist
Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience

Best Mixed Bag
Bonerama

Best Female Performer
Irma Thomas

Best Emerging Artist
Shamarr Allen

Best Album
Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino
Tipitina's Foundation - Vanguard Records
Produced by Bill Taylor, Adam Shipley & Chris Finney

Though this is his first release in a decade, Marsalis, who turns 42 this summer, has been a major multi-tasker on the jazz scene since the early ’80s. He’s toured with Jones, Art Blakey, Slide Hampton and Max Roach as well as Ray Charles and Fats Domino; produced nearly 80 sessions for contemporaries such as Nicholas Payton, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Courtney Pine, and Eric Reed, various family members and Harry Connick Jr.’s debut; studied at Berklee and the University of Louisville, which awarded him an MA in jazz performance, and composed for stage and screen productions as varied as the ABC mini-series Moon over Miami and the New Orleans Ballet adaptation of plays by Tennessee Williams.

As active as he is today, Marsalis misses the good old days. “If you look back at what these guys were trying to accomplish . . . it’s phenomenal to me, given where they started, which was basically learning jazz off of records,” explains Marsalis, who recalls a conversation with Terence Blanchard and Donald Harrison: “I told them, ‘Let’s get back to the ’80s.’ Not that I wanted guys to play that style of music again but to get back to that level of seriousness and intensity. The sad part is so much music happened in the ’80s that’s been overlooked.”

This year’s roundtable will be moderated by BMI’s Vice President of Film/TV Relations, Doreen Ringer Ross, and will feature BMI composers Terence Blanchard (Inside Man; Sundance Composers Lab Advisor), George S. Clinton (Austin Powers; Sundance Composers Lab Advisor), Don Davis (The Good Life), Adam Gorgoni (Starting Out in the Evening), Peter Golub (Wordplay; Composers Lab Director), Andrew Hollander (Waitress), David Robbins (King of California), Anton Sanko (Delirious), Ed Shearmur (Dedication; Composer Lab Advisor), Alex Wurman (The Nines; Composer Lab Advisor), and Craig Wedren (The Ten). The event will also feature directors John August (The Nines), Steve Berra (The Good Life), Mike Cahill (King of California), Justin Theroux (Dedication) and David Wain (The Ten).

BMI will present its annual Composer/Director Roundtable during the 2007 Sundance Film Festival being held Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Utah. Entitled "Music & Film: The Creative Process," the roundtable will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 24 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Sundance House at the Kimball Art Center (638 Park Avenue). This event is open to festival badge holders.

Terence Blanchard	George S. Clinton	Ed Shearmur

BMI has been an ongoing supporter of the film music program at the Festival as well as at the Sundance Composers Lab held each summer at the Sundance Institute. Click here for more information on BMI events at Sundance as well as on-site coverage of the Festival.

This year's roundtable will be moderated by BMI's Vice President of Film/TV Relations, Doreen Ringer Ross, and will feature BMI composers Terence Blanchard (Inside Man; Sundance Composers Lab Advisor), George S. Clinton (Austin Powers; Sundance Composers Lab Advisor), Don Davis (The Good Life), Adam Gorgoni (Starting Out in the Evening), Peter Golub (Wordplay; Composers Lab Director), Andrew Hollander (Waitress), David Robbins (King of California), Anton Sanko (Delirious), Ed Shearmur (Dedication; Composer Lab Advisor), Alex Wurman (The Nines; Composer Lab Advisor), and Craig Wedren (The Ten). The event will also feature directors John August (The Nines), Steve Berra (The Good Life), Mike Cahill (King of California), Justin Theroux (Dedication) and David Wain (The Ten).

The panel will focus on the role music plays in film, the composer/director relationship, the growing role of documentaries, and the art of scoring for that medium, as well as the creative expansion of the form.

The Sundance Film Festival is the premier showcase for U.S. and international independent film. Held each January in and around Park City, Utah, the Festival is a core program of the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit cultural organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Presenting 120 dramatic and documentary feature-length films in seven distinct categories, and 80 short films each year, the Sundance Film Festival has introduced American audiences to some of the most innovative films of the past two decades, including Little Miss Sunshine, Quinceañera, Clerks, Hustle and Flow, Maria Full of Grace, Napoleon Dynamite, sex, lies and videotape, Smoke Signals and Super Size Me. Beyond the streets of Park City, the official website of the Sundance Film Festival shares the Festival experience with a global audience through the streaming of short films, filmmaker interviews, and current news and box office information.

Visit BMI @ Sundance 2007

The showcase will be held at the Sundance House at the Kimball Art Center (638 Park Avenue). This is an official 2007 Sundance Film Festival event and is open to festival badge holders, press passes and invited guests only; tickets will not be sold. Performance times will be Viktor Krauss at 6 p.m., Michael Penn at 6:30 p.m., Keb' Mo' at 7 p.m. and Terence Blanchard at 7:30 p.m.

Having presented an array of composers and singer/songwriters at the Festival for more than 15 years, BMI is a longtime supporter of Sundance's film music program, including the Sundance Composers Lab held each summer at the Sundance Institute. Click here to see coverage from last year.

A Sundance Composers Lab advisor and a Thelonious Monk Institute instructor, jazz trumpet player Terence Blanchard is a true musical wonder. Having created dual careers in the jazz and film/TV worlds, he has seen the launch of his critically acclaimed CD Flow in 2006, along with his score to Inside Man and his stirring music for Spike Lee's documentary on Hurricane Katrina, When the Levees Broke. Currently he is working on the score for director Kasi Lemmons new film Talk to Me starring Don Cheadle and will be going to Prague in January to record strings and orchestral arrangements for the When the Levees Broke CD release. A New Orleans native, Blanchard will be headlining the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on April 28, 2007.

Three-time Grammy-winning blues singer/songwriter Keb' Mo's music is a living link to the seminal Delta blues - the music that traveled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America before evolving into a universally celebrated art form. Born Kevin Moore, he adopted his better known stage name when he was a young guitar player who became inspired by his American legacy. His acclaimed self-titled 1994 debut album introduced that now famous appellation to the world, and his latest album, 2006's Suitcase - his eighth album for Epic/Okeh records - brings his talent to new heights. His distinctive sound embraces multiple eras and genres, including pop, rock, folk and jazz, showing he is well-versed in each. The disc follows his 2004 double play of Peace: Back By Popular Demand, featuring covers of classic '60s and'70s-era peace and protest songs, and the celebrated Keep It Simple, for which he won his third Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album. In addition, he's done extensive songs and themes for TV and film.

One of the most acclaimed singer/songwriters to emerge during the late 1980s, Michael Penn was seemingly destined for a career in show business. Born in New York City's Greenwich Village, the older brother of siblings Sean (later recognized among the finest actors of his generation) and Chris (a noted character actor acclaimed for his work in features like Reservoir Dogs) chose music over acting. His debut March (1989) won him a 1990 MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. He followed it up with Free-for-All (1992), Resigned (1997) and MP4: Days Since a Lost Time Accident (2000). Penn then moved into film scoring and worked on Hard Eight; Boogie Nights; Alan Cumming's first two directorial efforts The Anniversary Party and Suffering Man's Charity; Melvin Goes to Dinner; the documentary The Comedians of Comedy; and The Last Kiss.

In addition to creating an eclectic mix of original music ranging from rock to bluegrass, composer, songwriter and double bassist Viktor Krauss has worked with many Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning artists, including Bill Frisell, Elvis Costello, Graham Nash, Dolly Parton and Lyle Lovett (he co-wrote his hit "You Were Always There"). The Illinois native and brother of bluegrass artist Alison Krauss is also known from performing with Lovett for nearly a decade. As a solo artist, Krauss shines with his CD Far from Enough released under Nonesuch Records to much critical and AAA radio acclaim. He is also behind a Zappa-esque rock unit called Difficult Listening, as well as progressive bluegrass pioneer Peter Rowan's group Free Mexican Airforce.

The Sundance Film Festival is the premier showcase for U.S. and international independent film. Held each January in and around Park City, Utah, the Festival is a core program of the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit cultural organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Presenting 120 dramatic and documentary feature-length films in seven distinct categories and 80 short films each year, the Sundance Film Festival has introduced American audiences to some of the most innovative films of the past two decades, including American Splendor, Clerks, Hustle and Flow, Maria Full of Grace, Napoleon Dynamite, sex, lies and videotape, Smoke Signals and Super Size Me. Beyond the streets of Park City, the official website of the Sundance Film Festival shares the Festival experience with a global audience through the streaming of short films, filmmaker interviews, and current news and box office information.

The BMI-sponsored Billboard Q&A Session, featuring Film/TV Relations VP Doreen Ringer Ross and BMI Grammy-winning composer Terence Blanchard, will take place Nov. 14 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Beverly Hills Ballroom. Topics include Blanchard's work with Spike Lee on such films as Inside Man, Malcolm X, 25th Hour and Clockers, as well as his scores for such projects as Waist Deep, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Barbershop and Eve's Bayou. Blanchard will also discuss how he balances scoring with his career as one of jazz music's leading trumpeters.

Other BMI composers announced to participate at the conference include film/TV/gaming composer Jesper Kyd ("Hitman: Blood Money," "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory"), who will speak on the "Music & Gaming" panel, and musician Jeff Koz, Founder & Creative Director of HUM, who will be on the "Shoot Presents Music for Commercials" panel.

Now in its fifth year, the Hollywood Reporter/Billboard Film & TV Music Conference attracts over 500 attendees, including many of the industry's most influential executive and creative talents, award-winning composers and directors, top-name music supervisors, and key studio, network, record label and publishing professionals, plus VIPs from the advertising, gaming and commercial fields.]]> 2006-10-17T05:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334877 Artists, Blanchard, Terence, Gregson-Williams, Harry, Newman, Thomas, Musical Styles, Film-TV LAIFF) on Sunday, June 25. The panel was moderated by BMI's Doreen Ringer Ross, Vice President of Film/TV Relations, and featured composers Terence Blanchard (Inside Man, Mo' Better Blues), Thomas Newman (Finding Nemo, The Shawshank Redemption) and BMI's 2006 Richard Kirk Award recipient Harry Gregson-Williams (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, Shrek). The panelists discussed the creative process in scoring a film, music usage, creative control and budgetary issues.

Shown after the "Coffee Talk" are BMI composers Terence Blanchard and Thomas Newman, BMI's Doreen Ringer Ross, and BMI composer Harry Gregson-Williams. Photo by Randall Michaelson