Terri Lyne Carrington is an accomplished musician, composer and producer. She also teaches at Berklee College of Music, and is their artistic director for the annual Boston Beantown Jazz Festival. Over the span of four decades (her professional career began at the age of eleven as a jazz drummer prodigy), she has won three Grammys – one of which reached a pinnacle in jazz history. In 2014, Terri won Best Jazz Instrumental Album (Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue) where she played the drums, as well as produced and rearranged Duke Ellington’s original compositions of Money Jungle. Before Carrington, no woman has ever won a Grammy as a jazz instrumentalist. Recently, she has once again paved the way for women artists in the jazz world by creating The Berklee College of Music Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice.
“The culture at the college is pretty progressive, but the culture still has to really shift when it comes to women. The Institute will work with students of transgender identity, not just women. We will be trying to create more equitable conditions for everyone.”
She continued by saying:
“There’s an ‘unspoken phrase’ in the jazz world that has long steered the narrative: The men play the music and the women sing. But even beyond that, the field has been historically biased on both the music and the business side.”
On November 9, 2018, Carrington will perform at UCLA’s Royce Hall with vocalists Lizz Wright, Ledisi, and Jazzmeia Horn. They will be celebrating the music of living legends Nancy Wilson, Tina Turner, and Joni Mitchell. I spoke with Carrington over the phone about the upcoming concert and her professional work during this past year.
Interview by Sheryl Aronson
Responses by Terri Lyne Carrington
Sheryl: Please talk about your upcoming concert at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Who are you playing with?
Terri Lyne: We are celebrating the music of Nancy Wilson, Tina Turner, and Joni Mitchell, who are all living legends. The vocalists who will be participating are Lizz Wright, Jazzmeia Horn, and Ledisi.
Sheryl: How did you choose the singers? I know Liz Wright and Ledisi have worked with you before. Jazzmeia Horn won the Thelonious Monk vocal competition in 2015 and has had quite a career since then.
Terri Lyne: Jazzmeia Horn is one of the finest jazz singers on the scene today in the tradition of Betty Carter and Ella Fitzgerald as well as more contemporary vocalists from the R&B tradition. She’s a great combination of all of these genres. But truly she is an amazing jazz singer.
Sheryl: Lizz Wright and Ledisi sang on your CD, The Mosaic Project.
Terri Lyne: Correct. Lizz is also on the CD I did covering Money Jungle.
Sheryl: Who else is in the band?
Terri Lyne: I have Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, Jon Cowerd on piano/keyboards, Solomon Dorsey on bass, Marvin Sewell on guitar, and Edmar Colon on sax.
Sheryl: UCLA presents a very good program of jazz concerts. What has been your experience playing there?
Terri Lyne: It’s been about ten years since I played there. I’ve played with Herbie Hancock in the past; I did a tribute to Billie Holiday there as well. It will be very nice to be back at Royce Hall. I go to UCLA periodically to give workshops for students.
Sheryl: Congratulations on making NPR’s Turning the Tables list of “The 200 Greatest Songs by the 21st Century Women” and “The 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women.”
Terri Lyne: I was very happy to be included on both of these lists. The greatest song was for the “Mosaic Triad” composition. And I was number 148 on the album list with The Mosaic Project.
Sheryl: You were recently on Downbeat’s Producer Critics Poll list as well.
Terri Lyne: I don’t keep up with these things. (Laughter) Actually I did make that list. I got Rising Star Producer a few years back from Downbeat.
Sheryl: You teach at Berklee College of Music and tour nationally plus worldwide. Please tell us some of the highlights from your touring year.
Terri Lyne: I went to Australia, Switzerland, and Germany a few months ago. I have travelled quite a bit in the United States this year, too.
Sheryl: You’ve been doing tribute concerts for Geri Allen, a very good friend of yours who passed away.
Terri Lyne: We’re still doing that. The big one was a symposium at Harper University, and I just played another with Ingrid Jensen and Tia Fuller in Monterey, California. Esperanza Spaulding and I were also artists-in-residence at the Detroit Jazz Festival and we did three nights paying tribute to Geri, spending each night celebrating a different time period of his. One concert was with the symphony orchestra; another was using technology to have people play with us in another location (Geri was really into using technology). We then had a night with Chris Davidson and Ravi Coltrane, and the music was more avant-garde.
Sheryl: You mentioned performing with Esperanza Spaulding. I know you have played with Esperanza quite a bit, plus you have played with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter over the years – talk about your relationships with all of these jazz greats.
Terri Lyne: I first started playing with Wayne Shorter when I was twenty-one, which led to my relationship with Herbie. I played with Herbie off and on for over ten years. I still play with Herbie; in fact, I just played with him and Esperanza a couple of weeks ago in Anaheim for a Soka Gakkai (SGI) function. I met Esperanza through Berklee College of Music when she graduated. From there, we formed a friendship and began doing musical collaborations over the last ten years or so. I have also worked with Diane Reeves and produced a couple of her records. (Terri produced the Grammy winning Best Jazz Vocal album, Beautiful Life.)
Sheryl: What other projects have you been working on?
Terri Lyne: I just produced the latest record from Tia Fuller (saxophonist) called Diamond Cut. My biggest project now is my founding of the Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice at Berklee College of Music.
Sheryl: I have interviewed you over the years and we have talked about being a woman in this field of music. I am excited that your Institute approaches this subject plus other components regarding gender issues in the music industry. Tell us about your program.
Terri Lyne: The way I see it is… up to this point I have had a pretty great career, but I’m looking around and I don’t see enough women with me. Of course, there has always been and will always be great female musicians, but when you look at the numbers, they are very low for women who have careers in jazz. This goes across the board, not just for players but composers, engineers, and journalists. There are more than before but the numbers are not equitable. I want my organization to address this and create a place that looks at the contributions that women have done in the past and those that are happening now as well. My hope is that current artists can do some corrective work in that area.
Sheryl: Your organization is out of Berklee College of Music, but it sounds like you’re reaching out to the whole community of female musicians.
Terri Lyne: Yes. You work with the microcosm that you’re involved with and anticipate that affecting the macrocosm overall. In turn, I am hoping to be involved with the recruitment and interviewing process at Berklee. The culture at the college is pretty progressive, but it still has to really shift when it comes to women. The Institute will also work with students of transgender identity, not just women, in trying to create more equitable conditions for everyone.
Sheryl: What else is coming up on your agenda for the rest of the year?
Terri Lyne: I have been working on a project called Social Science, which is the name of the band. We have been doing shows here and there for a year and a half. The record is almost done and I can’t wait until it’s finished.
Sheryl: Thank you Terri for this interview. Terri Lyne Carrington will be performing at Royce Hall, UCLA on November 9th. You can get tickets at:
Most impressive Sheryl…