He left the Jazz Messengers in 1990 to pursue a solo career. In the 1990s, after an embouchure change, Blanchard recorded his self-titled debut for Columbia Records which reached No. 3 on the "Billboard" Jazz chart. After performing on soundtracks for Spike Lee movies, including "Do the Right Thing" and "Mo' Better Blues", Lee wanted Blanchard to compose the scores for his films beginning with "Jungle Fever" (1991). Blanchard has written the score for most of Spike Lee's films since, including "Malcolm X", "Clockers", "Summer of Sam", "25th Hour", "Inside Man", "BlacKkKlansman", and "Da 5 Bloods". In 2006, he composed the score for Spike Lee's four-hour Hurricane Katrina documentary for HBO entitled "". Blanchard appeared in front of the camera with his mother to share their journey back to find her home destroyed. He also created an album titled "A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina)", in which he recreated some pieces used in the documentary, as well as creating more pieces along with his band, to provide audiences with the opportunity to sympathize with those who had been affected by Hurricane Katrina. Blanchard has also composed for other directors, including Gina Prince Bythewood, Ron Shelton, and Kasi Lemmons. "Entertainment Weekly" proclaimed Blanchard "central to a general resurgence of jazz composition for film." In a 1994 interview for "Down Beat", Blanchard said, "Writing for film is fun, but nothing can beat being a jazz musician, playing a club, playing a concert". He has recorded several award-winning albums for Columbia, Sony Classical and Blue Note Records, including "" (1994), "Romantic Defiance" (1995), "The Heart Speaks" (1996), "Wandering Moon" (2000), "Let's Get Lost" (2001) and "Flow" (2005), which was produced by pianist Herbie Hancock and received two Grammy Award nominations. Terence Blanchard's 2001 album "Let's Get Lost" featured arrangements of classic songs written by Jimmy McHugh and performed by his quintet with vocalists Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves, and Cassandra Wilson. In 2005, Blanchard was part of the ensemble that won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for his participation on McCoy Tyner's "Illuminations", an award he shared with Tyner, Gary Bartz, Christian McBride and Lewis Nash.