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Editorial Reviews

With his mesmerizing score for 25th Hour, jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard continues the partnership he began with director Spike Lee in the late '80s with School Dazeand Do the Right Thing. 25th Hour chronicles 24 hours in the life of drug dealer Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) -- the last day before he's sent to prison for seven years. In perhaps Blanchard's most classically symphonic-style score, a wordless chorus and full orchestra proceed with an air of inexorability in "Opening Title." Violins and percussion dominate until all blend into a mighty wall of sound. The effect is at once powerful and deliberate. The latter quality is evident in the pensive elements throughout the score, notably in "Jake's Classroom," carried by interlacing string sounds. Similarly, "Fu Montage" is a forceful orchestral statement, accented by strings and ominous horns, that segues into a lighter, jazz-flavored passage punctuated by Blanchard's virtuoso trumpeting. The simplicity of the jazz finale, "Double Happiness" -- dominated by Blanchard's bluesy trumpet -- makes for an optimistic capper to this ruminative score. Andrew Velez, Barnes & Noble

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