Mapping Collective Memory:
A Tale of God’s Will: A Requiem for Katrina is a multidisciplinary performance that fuses Terence Blanchard’s orchestral-jazz composition with evocative, time-shifted visual imagery by artist Andrew F. Scott. Initially composed for Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke, Blanchard expanded the themes of the score to reflect on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, channeling both grief and resistance.
For this expanded live performance, Scott developed a visual language that reimagines documentary photographs of post-Katrina New Orleans. Using digital painting techniques and AI-assisted image transformations, the images transition from realism to abstraction, evoking memories without re-traumatizing the viewer. Paired with movements such as “Ghosts of Congo Square”, “Wading Through”, and “Funeral Dirge,” the visuals become a secondary score, mirroring the music’s emotional pacing
Scott intervenes artistically and ethically through visual abstraction, his treatment of the imagery echoes the spiritual pacing of Blanchard’s musical score. The resulting compositions provide a slow, deliberate visual meditation that deepens the temporal and emotional layers of the brilliant musical performance.
The piece was presented at both SFJazz’s immersive Miner Auditorium and the historic Orpheum Theatre in New Orleans. At SFJazz, panoramic projections surrounded the audience in a cinematic ritual space. At the Orpheum, visuals hovered above the orchestra, echoing the reverence of the venue. Across both venues, remote camera feeds by Matt Unkenholz introduced real-time imagery of the performers into the visual field, creating an intimate feedback loop between sound, body, and audience.
A Tale of God’s Will ultimately transcends genre or form. It is not merely a multimedia concert, but a cultural offering, one that draws on the aesthetics of mourning, protest, and spiritual resilience. Deeply rooted in the tradition of the New Orleans second line, the performance channels a processional rhythm that moves from solemn remembrance to collective uplift. Like the second line, it holds space for grief while insisting on continuity, vitality, and joy. As both a commemorative act and an evolving live work, the performance affirms the role of contemporary art as a vessel for memory, a site for healing, and a conduit for communal reflection.
Andrew F. Scott, visual design and production, Terence Blanchard: A Tale of God’s Will. Terence Blanchard, Ravi Coltrane, saxophone, with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Matthew Kraemer, Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin, Music Director and Principal Conductor, E-Collective (Charles Altura, guitar; Julian Pollack, piano; David Ginyard, bass; Jonathan Barber, drums); Matt Unkenholz, remote cameras and technical direction. Orpheum Theatre, New Orleans, LA, January 18, 2025.
Andrew F. Scott, visual design and production, Terence Blanchard: A Tale of God’s Will. Terence Blanchard, trumpet, Marcus Strickland, saxophone, E-Collective (Charles Altura, guitar; Julian Pollack, piano; David Ginyard, bass; Oscar Seaton, drums); Turtle Island Quartet (David Balakrishnan, violin; Gabriel Terracciano, violin; Benjamin von Gutzeit, viola; Naseem Alatrash, cello); Matt Unkenholz, remote cameras and technical direction. Miner Auditorium, SFJazz, Miner Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, January 24-25, 2025.