Taking a ‘Romantic’ Look at Relationships

Time is maturing trumpeter-composer Terence Blanchard. The New Orleans native, 33, has recently released “Romantic Defiance” on Columbia Records, an album that contains his most intimate and relaxed playing to date.

“I used to think that I had to discover the atom with every album,” says Blanchard, whose quartet featuring pianist Edward Simon opens a five-night stand Tuesday at the Jazz Bakery. “But when I made my previous album, ‘The Billie Holiday Songbook,’ I realized that instead of trying to be different, be on the cutting edge, I just wanted to play.”

“Romantic Defiance” is Blanchard’s musical view of human relationships, be they between man and woman, parents and children or just friends. The tunes range from the melancholic to the upbeat, but most have a serious tone.

Blanchard, who has recently gone through a divorce and has moved from Brooklyn to New Orleans to be near his children, says the subject matter “just happened naturally. It was what was on my mind at the time. And the compositions are all mine, which hasn’t been the case for two albums. I had wanted to get back to writing for my band.”

Information: (310) 271-9039.

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Crescent City Idol: Leroy Jones, the mainstream-based trumpeter who was Blanchard’s hero as he was growing up in New Orleans, is also playing the Bakery, appearing tonight and Saturday. The splendid Jones, 37, like the highly regarded Wendell Brunious who leads the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, is a player who has no trouble juxtaposing genres, slipping in singing lines that Clifford Brown might have played on a traditional jazz tune like “Bourbon Street Parade” or “Tin Roof Blues.”

“I’m not trying to emulate a repertory band,” says Jones, whose Columbia Records debut is “Mo’ Cream From the Crop” and includes both traditional and more modern numbers. “I grew up in New Orleans, and what comes out is all of my influences, a combination of people like Pops [Louis Armstrong], Clifford and local players. My playing is more like a gumbo, like a Creole jambalaya. I’m playing what I’ve experienced. That makes me not be a copycat and keeps the music fresh.”

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On the Road (Still): Guitarist Pat Metheny, who pops into the Greek Theatre on Wednesday, figures that he’s been playing between 220 and 250 mostly one-nighters for more than two decades. The more, the merrier, he says.

“I love being on the road,” says Metheny, whose group features longtime partners Lyle Mays (keyboards), Steve Rodby (bass) and Paul Wertico (drums). “I’m still trying to play well, and the only way I’ve found to do that consistently is to play night after night. That’s how I get to my best stuff.”

Metheny will play a variety of material, including tunes from his latest Geffen CD, “We Live Here.”

Information: (213) 480-3232.

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On the Bandstand: Grover Mitchell will be the man at the helm when the Count Basie Orchestra appears Wednesday at the Hollywood Bowl on a program that’s headlined by Joe Williams and Nancy Wilson. Trombonist Mitchell, a 22-year veteran of bands led by the late Basie, replaces Frank Foster, who has been in charge of the band since 1986 and is moving on to form his own groups and spend more time with his family.

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Surfing the Jazzwaves: Oscar Peterson’s trio can be seen on the Bravo channel tonight at 7. . . . Nancy Wilson performs Tuesday and Ramsey Lewis on Wednesday, both on BET’s “Jazz Central,” airing 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. . . . Branford Marsalis sits in with Milt Jackson’s quartet on “JazzSet,” heard Tuesday, 10 p.m., on KPCC-FM (89.3).