Jazz, Film, and the Improvisational Architecture of Storytelling

Acclaimed composers and film scorers Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, and Kris Bowers join for a wide-ranging conversation on jazz and the language of cinema. Framing jazz not only as a musical tradition but as a creative philosophy, the panel explores film scoring as a deeply collaborative process, examining how jazz’s core principles—improvisation, listening, and responsiveness—inform visual storytelling across genres. Drawing on the composers’ jazz foundations, even when writing non-jazz scores, the discussion reveals how musical intuition, collaboration, and artistic choice shape the emotional grammar of cinematic storytelling.