GRAMMY® Award-winning drummer, producer, educator, activist and 2019 Doris Duke Award recipient, Terri Lyne Carrington debuts new band Social Science, to boldly confront social justice issues with the eclectic collaborative double album, Waiting Game, released November 8, 2019 on Motéma Music.
Galvanized by seismic changes in the ever-evolving social and political landscape, Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science confront a wide spectrum of social justice issues. The band’s stunning double disc debut, Waiting Game, immediately takes its place in the stirring lineage of politically conscious and activist music, expressing an unflinching, inclusive and compassionate view of humanity’s breaks and bonds through an expansive program melding jazz, R&B, indie rock, contemporary improvisation, and hip-hop.
Released via Motéma Music, Waiting Game is as thought-provoking and artistically evocative as it is musically exhilarating. Produced by Carrington and built around her friendship and collaboration with co-producers, pianist Aaron Parks and guitarist Matthew Stevens, and additional band members Morgan Guerin (bass & sax), Debo Ray (vocals) and Kassa Overall (MC/DJ), the album features a diverse ensemble that spans multiple generations, racial, ethnic, sexual and gender identities. The band states: “Along with a message of wakefulness, inclusiveness, and noncompliance, we’ve summoned our musical influences to offer an eclectic alternative to the mainstream. Music transcends, breaks barriers, strengthens us, and heals old wounds. Music is Social Science.”
The vocal-driven DISC 1 features the band along with a powerhouse lineup of featured guests: MC’s Rapsody, Maimouna Youssef (aka Mumu Fresh), Kokayi and Raydar Ellis; vocalist Mark Kibble (Take 6); trumpeter Nicholas Payton; and spoken word artists Malcolm Jamal-Warner and Meshell Ndegeocello words of resistance are pulled from recordings of Marilyn Buck, Angela Davis, Leonard Peltier, Assata Shakur and Laura Whitehorn as well as a special, newly recorded, contribution from Mumia Abu Jamal from “In Prison Nation Radio.”
On the purely instrumental DISC 2 is a breathtaking, 42-minute improvised suite entitled “Dreams and Desperate Measures,” by Carrington, Parks, Stevens and long-time Carrington cohort, bassist Esperanza Spalding. With additional orchestration by Edmar Colón, the suite presents an adventurous excursion musing on the idea of freedom, both personal and musical.
As Social Science was in its early stages, Carrington also founded the Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where she holds the position of Zildjian Chair in Performance. Both projects point to Carrington’s drive to combine her musical passion with her profound regard for humanity, inflamed by the cultural divisiveness brought into the light by the 2016 presidential election. “I think there’s an awakening happening in society in general,” she says. “I feel a calling in my life to merge my artistry with any form of activism that I’m able to engage in.”
Waiting Game is not the first time that Carrington has addressed her concerns for society, though it is the most direct and impactful. On her 2013 release Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue (GRAMMY winner for Best Jazz Instrumental Album), she offered a 21st-century reimagining of the Ellington-Mingus-Roach classic with a jaundiced eye on late-stage capitalism. Her previous and first GRAMMY-winning album, The Mosaic Project (2012) let its all-star, all-female ensemble speak for itself, though its argument for gender equity in jazz rang through loud and clear.
At that time, Carrington preferred to focus on the music of The Mosaic Project rather than the gender of its musicians, though her thinking has shifted in the years since. “For a long time women in jazz didn’t really embrace the issue because many of us were involved and somewhat invested in this patriarchal system that’s controlled jazz for so long,” she explains. “The culture nudged us to want to be considered one of the guys. There came a turning point for me where I realized we had the whole thing backwards. We need to be our authentic selves playing this music, and that needs to be accepted and nurtured. The same opportunities that help to develop young male musicians need to be there to develop young female musicians, and traditionally that hasn’t been the case, especially in early stage development.”
Carrington cites as one of her inspirations for the change in approach the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), the African American youth organization founded by activists Charlene Carruthers and Dr. Cathy Cohen in the wake of George Zimmerman’s acquittal for the killing of Trayvon Martin. The organization’s work helped Carrington to more fully integrate her personal identity into her musical life.
“I’ve realized that at this point in my life the lines between my politics and personal life have become blurred,” she says. “BYP100 really resonates with me, as a political home for anti-capitalists, radical Black feminists, abolitionists, artists, educators and many other types of freedom fighters. It’s helped me to see the value in the idea of collective liberation, which is really the core message of Waiting Game. I aspire to see the world through a Black, Queer, Feminist lens and want to encourage others to do so as well, because no one is liberated until everyone is.”
“In order to empower the current generation of women and girls,” reflects Matthew Stevens, “we must also engage men and boys. Gender equality should never be sold as a zero-sum game, but rather, (as research has repeatedly shown by studying counties with higher rates of gender equality) as being in everyone’s best interest. For white men” he adds, “the unconscious luxury of not being self aware – unaware of our gender, race and privilege – is, in fact, destructive and can’t continue to be left unexamined if we want a more equal society.”
The subjects addressed on Waiting Game run the gamut of social concerns: mass incarceration (“Trapped in the American Dream,” featuring Kassa Overall’s bold rap); police brutality (“Bells [Ring Loudly]),” intoned by actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner); homophobia (“Pray The Gay Away,” featuring Nicholas Payton’s impassioned horn); the genocide of indigenous Americans (“Purple Mountains,” featuring Kokayi); political imprisonment (“No Justice [for political prisoners]),” with Meshell Ndegeocello’s recitation in honor of iconic resistance voices, and gender equity (as expressed in the powerful messages of “The Anthem,” featuring Rapsody and “If Not Now,” featuring Maimouna Youssef).
“There is a tremendous amount of work to be done if we want to make this country actually live up to its as-yet-unrealized aspirations toward true freedom and equality,” adds Aaron Parks. “Activists and organizers have been doing a lot of the heavy lifting for a long time, and are absolutely crucial, but there’s an important role for everyone to play in this process. As a member of Social Science, I aim to listen to, learn from, and amplify the voices of those who have been far too often marginalized and unheard. To help to share these stories, these songs of outrage, of hope, of despair, of healing, of love.”
Sonically, Waiting Game is a vivid reflection of the broad horizons of the band’s musical tastes, embellished and amplified by their receptiveness to dynamic collaboration. In regard to Carrington, this outing’s genre-blurring blend is more dazzling and expansive than anything she’s done in the past; what’s most impressive about Waiting Game is the way that it allows Carrington’s social consciousness to catch up to her virtuosic musicianship.
“In previous projects I’ve hinted at my concerns for the society and the community that I live in,” Carrington says. “But everything has been pointing in this direction. At some point you have to figure out your purpose in life. There are a lot of drummers deemed ‘great.’ For me, that’s not as important as the legacy you leave behind.”
There are no tour dates listed for this artist.
SOCIAL SCIENCE HI-RES IMAGES
^ Photo Credit: Delphine Diallo
VIDEO
Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science: Tiny Desk Concert (Embed)
Social Science – Trailer (Download/Embed)
Social Science – Studio (Download/Embed)
Social Science – Live (Download/Embed)
Social Science – Berklee Intervals (Embed)
Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science – Bells (Ring Loudly) Live at Berklee (Embed)
BIOGRAPHY/PROGRAM NOTES
Social Science Biography/Program Notes: Download (doc)
Official Website: www.terrilynecarrington.com
Label: www.motema.com
CURRENT RELEASE
Waiting Game (Motéma Music, November 8, 2019)
QUOTES
“Carrington [has] phenomenal expertise and versatility as a drummer and composer, as well as [the] ability to lead and accentuate the talent she surrounds herself with”
NPR
“A slow-funk project rooted in the rhetoric of protest”
The New York Times
“A gritty and politically charged hybrid of jazz, rock, rap and R&B. This was undeniably music as social activism – sometimes tough and uncompromising, bristling with elusive grooves, but also glinting with a kind of dark beauty.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
“[At 16 years old], She [Terri Lyne] was very serious about what she was doing, not in a stiff way, but in a very thorough and concentrated way. She was quite at home on the drum set and extremely musical and original. I know I influenced her in some ways, but she already had her own thing. Terri Lyne and I never talked about rudiments or things like that. With us, it was all about the music, the feel. I just encouraged her to be original. She already had everything else: the intensity, the drive, and the passion.”
Jack DeJohnette
“Terri Lyne Carrington can play drums at the highest level. She’s a master. She’s one of the most experienced people in the music business’“not only jazz, but any genre you can name.”
Herbie Hancock
“Terri Lyne is one of the best drummers on the planet. She plays with total confidence and relaxation’“she can explode with fury and power or play with ultimate finesse. She can play R&B with the deepest pocket or play out with unpredictable creativity. With Terri it is all in service of the music. I will consider one of my greatest achievements as President of Berklee to be recruiting Terri to join our faculty, direct the Beantown Jazz Festival, and share her brilliance with us all. She is the rare artist who is also a dynamic and devoted teacher and is passing both the spirit and soul of jazz to the next generation.”
Roger Brown, President of Berklee College of Music
“Terri doesn’t shy away from any musical challenge or adventure. And she puts her all into all that she does. I couldn’t even begin to list the things I’ve learned from her. When I think of her energy as a person, her playing, her writing, her knowledge’“when I think of any of these things it brings me to a higher relationship with my music.”
Esperanza Spalding
“She’s a bridge. She’s steeped in the jazz tradition, but is also connected to the newer music. I learn from just hearing her talk about how she listens.”
Dianne Reeves
“A bridge-builder. She lights a fire, and not just in our [jazz] music. Terri has a worldwide sense of drumming, both in terms of cultural force and chronological development. She’s a virtuoso with a modern approach whose whole perspective is innovative.”
Geri Allen
“With Terri Lyne Carrington, I share one of my favorite creative friendships. In her presence I’m armed with a pocket pad or some other means to take notes for research on the artists, mentors, movements and films that have informed her remarkable journey and broad musical palette. She is on my (very) short list of persons who can ask anything of me in the studio and I’ll try it.”
Lizz Wright
“‘Geri-Rigged’ by Ms. Carrington for instance’“the trio works with a firmly articulated rhythmic premise that gradually gives way to an expressionistic scrawl. The tension between form and freedom is obvious but never overstated, and the rapport within the trio is exceptionally strong. Mr. Murray, Ms. Allen, and Ms. Carrington have caused, anyway, to consider a collective future beyond their current tour.”
The New York Times
“This significant addition [Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue] to Carrington’s body of work has the overall feel of a tapestry that affirms life through weaving arrangements containing blues, jazz, fusion, Afro-Cuban and even world music approaches.”
New York Daily News
“Carrington plays drums like she’s forcing all the world’s chaos into cool syncopation.”
The Oregonian
“If Mosaic Project and now ‘Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue’ speak to the creativity that bubbles just beneath her surface at this stage in her career, then the world had better pay attention.”
Examiner
“Mosaic Project fans will appreciate LOVE and SOUL’s exceptionally sophisticated take on R&B. Fans of Robert Glasper and José James should take note, too. Carrington has proven on all of her outings that she knows exactly what she wants and how to get it’“from any group of musicians. This one is no exception.”
All Music
“Multi-talented powerhouse Terri Lyne Carrington is not only one of the finest drummers to sit behind the skins. Her multiple Grammy Awards and her honorary doctorate from Berklee are evidence that she has the artistic vision and the ear for fresh, poignant sounds that lead to an immensely successful career like hers [The Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL].”
Revive Music
“Several tracks, including those sung by Lizz Wright, [Nancy] Wilson and Carrington herself (her own ‘Can’t Resist’) straddle stylistic lines easily: Jazz changes meet soul-pop dance beats and vocal performances [The Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL].”
JazzTimes
“Terri Lyne Carrington’s The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul is incredible from start to finish. Each song’s a pleasurable listening experience with a tremendous degree of reply value; an outstanding body of work that, at its core, may yet be ahead of its time.”
SoulTrain.com
“With all the synergy between Carrington and her musical friends backed by her uncanny ability to re-craft material in keeping the content relevant to today’s market, The Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL further justifies the case of why jazz music continues to flourish.”
TheUrbanMusicScene
“Carrington is a whiz. It’s almost not fair how much talent she possesses…”
Classicalite
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Congratulations to newly named NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington! “This honor and distinction serve as a beautiful recognition of my dedication to preserving, promoting, and furthering this incredible art form of which I love dearly. I’m beyond thrilled to be acknowledged by the National Endowment for the Arts for my contribution to jazz as a drummer, composer, producer, and...
Posted Oct 21st, 2020
Congratulations to this year’s DownBeat Critics Poll winners! Most especially to those in the IMN family of artists, including a triple crown for Terri Lyne Carrington – becoming the first female instrumentalist to win Jazz Artist of the Year: Jazz Artist: Terri Lyne Carrington Jazz Album: Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science, Waiting Game (Motéma) Jazz Group: Terri Lyne Carrington...
Posted Jul 6th, 2020
From NPR ‘Hope, Rage And Cries For Help’: 5 Essential Tiny Desk Concerts By: Bobby Carter As a black man on the Tiny Desk team, I’ve always felt a responsibility to amplify black artistry. In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, the subsequent protests and the fight for legislative reform, I sit in this moment and reflect on...
Posted Jun 8th, 2020
Congratulations to all of this year’s Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards winners! Most especially to those from the IMN family including: Musician of the Year: Terri Lyne Carrington Multiple Reeds Player of the Year: Joe Lovano Tenor Saxophonist of the Year: Chris Potter Clarinetist of the Year: Anat Cohen Drummer of the Year: Terri Lyne Carrington Photo of the Year:...
Posted May 19th, 2020
From Drum Magazine Technique Focus: 3 Queens of Grooving Drum Solos By: Amy Jayne I’ve come to realize there are key ingredients to making the perfect, most delicious, rise-up-and-dance-the-night-away drum grooves and solos. And I’ve also come to realize that Emmanuelle Caplette, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Jordan West are the queens of this kingdom… …As a jazz drummer, the signature...
Posted Mar 18th, 2020
From WBUR – The ARTery Beating Her Own Drum, Terri Lyne Carrington Continues To Push Jazz Forward By: Charley Ruddell “I hope you’re enjoying this music because it can be heavy,’ says Terri Lyne Carrington to the crowd at her recent Tiny Desk Concert. There’s an old-school quality to that line, like it could have been said by Miles Davis...
Posted Mar 12th, 2020
From NPR Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science: Tiny Desk Concert By: SURAYA MOHAMED ““I hope that you can enjoy this music because it can be heavy,” bandleader Terri Lyne Carrington told the NPR crowd gathered for this Tiny Desk. “We’ve tried to figure out a way to make it feel good and still give these messages.” In the jazz...
Posted Mar 4th, 2020
From jazztimes Social Science Becomes Social Art for Terri Lyne Carrington’s New Band By: GEOFFREY HIMES “aiting Game, the debut album from Terri Lyne Carrington’s new trio Social Science, is a most unusual package. The first disc finds the drummer/leader and her two bandmates’“pianist Aaron Parks and guitarist Matthew Stevens’“joining hip-hop MCs and R&B singers on songs that address various...
Posted Feb 28th, 2020
From NPR 11 Jazz Songs That Spoke Truth To Power In 2019 “Jazz musicians have always spoken their mind in the face of injustice: think of Louis Armstrong and Charles Mingus voicing two different, equally courageous responses to the fight over Little Rock school integration, or the searing power Billie Holiday brought to “Strange Fruit” (and the price she paid)....
Posted Dec 11th, 2019
From JAZZIZ JAZZIZ Music from the Magazine Playlist: Winter 2019-‘20 By: BRIAN ZIMMERMAN “Our Winter 2019-‘20 issue, which is available in print and digital versions now, casts all eyes on London. In it, we talk to five luminaries of the London jazz scene about the city’s heyday of experimentation in the 1960s, and recommend a handful of jazz clubs that...
Posted Dec 7th, 2019
From Stereogum Ugly Beauty: The Month In Jazz ‘” November 2019 By: PHIL FREEMAN “Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science, Waiting Game (Motema) Drummer and educator Terri Lyne Carrington has been balancing art and activism for several years, striving for gender justice in the jazz scene while addressing social issues in her music. Waiting Game, recorded with a new band...
Posted Nov 21st, 2019
“GRAMMY® Award-winning drummer, producer, educator, activist and 2019 Doris Duke Award recipient Terri Lyne Carrington debuts new band Social Science, to boldly confront social justice issues with the eclectic collaborative double album, Waiting Game, due out November 8 on Motéma Music. Galvanized by seismic changes in the ever-evolving social and political landscape, Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science, confront a...
Posted Nov 8th, 2019
From NPR All Songs Considered New Music Friday: Our Top 10 Albums Out On Nov. 8 By: ROBIN HILTON, ANN POWERS, STEPHEN THOMPSON “Leslie Odom Jr., best known for playing Aaron Burr in the original Broadway production of Hamilton, has a new album of his own songs that’s all over the musical map in wonderful ways, drawing together R&B, jazz,...
Posted Oct 6th, 2019
From Jazz News Terri Lyne Carrington And Social Science Link With Rapper Mumu Fresh On ‘If Not Now’ From Double Album Waiting Game Out November 8 (Motema) By:Jazz News “Today Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science have revealed a new song from their upcoming ambitious double album Waiting Game (November 8/Motema). The song, “If Not Now, “ features Maimouna Youssef...
Posted Sep 16th, 2019
From 90.9 WBUR The ARTery Terri Lyne Carrington Shores Up Her Legacy In New Album Centered On Social Justice By: AMELIA MASON “When I spoke to her in October, Carrington, 54, was getting ready to release an album, ‘Waiting Game,’ with a new band she calls Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science. (“Waiting Game” drops Friday, Nov. 8.) Comprised of...
Posted Aug 7th, 2019
From Jazztime Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Receives $3 Million Donation “ ‘It’s an incredible honor to receive this generous gift supporting our institute’s vision and goals; it is really very encouraging,’ Carrington said in a press release announcing the donation. ‘The Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice was created to address the need for gender parity...
Posted Aug 6th, 2019
From Berklee.edu Terri Lyne Carrington Named 2019 Doris Duke Artist By:TORI DONAHUE “The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) announced the names of the 2019 Doris Duke Artists, each receiving an award of $275,000, intended as an investment in and celebration of these artists’ ongoing contributions to the fields of contemporary dance, jazz, and theater. A total of $250,000 of the...
Posted Jul 9th, 2019
From exhalelifestyle.com Terri Lyne Carrington Advocates for Jazz, Justice and Gender By: Wendy Taucher “It’s no secret that jazz holds a significant position in African-American history and American cultural life, overall. ‘Jazz’s birth as an African-American art form came into being as a way of expressing one’s self as a whole and authentic person,’ says Terri Lyne Carrington. ‘Early practitioners...
Posted May 28th, 2019
From 90.9 WBUR Berklee’s Institute Of Jazz And Gender Justice Aims To Combat Sexism In Jazz By: Amelia Mason Though systemic sexism touches all corners of the music industry, jazz is an especially male-dominated field, subject to its own particular set of biases and power dynamics. Enter the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. The new initiative, founded last...
Posted Apr 10th, 2019
From WDET: Ann Delisi’s Essential Conversations Ann Delisi’s Essential Conversations: Terri Lyne Carrington and Esperanza Spalding By: Ann Delisi Hosted by Detroit storyteller Ann Delisi, this interview series recognizes the creative spirit of local and national celebrities. In each episode, Delisi sits down with local and nationally recognized professionals in the fields of music, news and the arts for insightful...
Posted Mar 18th, 2019
From JAZZIZ Celebrate International Women’s Day with These All-Female Ensembles By: Brian Zimmerman Today is International Women’s Day, a day for celebrating women’s achievement, raising awareness against bias and taking action for equality. At JAZZIZ, we’re marking the occasion by taking a look back at some of the most influential all-female ensembles in jazz history (and a few that are...
Posted Mar 8th, 2019
From The Bay State Banner Terri Lyne Carrington tackles gender in Jazz with new institute at Berklee College By: Scott Haas Terri Lyne Carrington, three-time Grammy award-winning jazz drummer, producer and composer extraordinaire, founded the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice in November 2018. Now in its first semester, under the direction of Aja Burrell Wood, the Institute is...
Posted Mar 1st, 2019
From DownBeat Magazine Terri Lyne Carrington Looks to Transform the Culture By: Suzanne Lorge What would jazz without patriarchy sound like? It’s a provocative question’“and one that drummer Terri Lyne Carrington seeks to answer. Patriarchy, a hot-button word in and of itself, is not a topic that often comes up in jazz circles. The omission has puzzled Carrington, given that...
Posted Jan 25th, 2019
From Daily Bruin Grammy award winner encourages equal gender representation in jazz concert By: Max Flora Terri Lyne Carrington received a full scholarship from Berklee College of Music at the age of 11. Now a Grammy award-winning drummer and vocalist, Carrington will perform at Royce Hall on Friday. In 2013, she became the first woman to ever receive a Grammy...
Posted Nov 12th, 2018
From WGBH Berklee’s Institute of Jazz And Gender Justice Asks, What Would Jazz Sound Like Without Patriarchy? By: Under the Radar Staff Only god can make a tree‘¦and only men can play good jazz,’ wrote jazz critic George T. Simon in his 1967 book, ‘The Big Bands.’ His quote all but summed up the consensus about female jazz musicians at...
Posted Oct 30th, 2018
From Metro Berklee College of Music to open jazz and gender justice institute By: Kristin Toussaint This fall, the school will launch the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, spearheaded by Terri Lyne Carrington, a multiple Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer, composer and singer. Carrington, the founder and artistic director of the new Berklee institute, said that there’s an ‘unspoken...
Posted Oct 9th, 2018
From The Improper Bostonian All That Jazz: A Q&A with three-time Grammy winner and Berklee College of Music professor Terri Lyne Carrington By: Matt Martinelli Three-time Grammy winner and Berklee College of Music professor Terri Lyne Carrington is going to have a busy final week of September. The 53-year-old Medford native will perform as part of a tribute show at...
Posted Sep 17th, 2018
From NPR The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+ This list is part of Turning the Tables, an ongoing project from NPR Music dedicated to recasting the popular music canon in more inclusive ‘” and accurate ‘” ways. This year, our list, selected by a panel of more than 70 women and non-binary writers, tackles history in the making,...
Posted Jul 15th, 2018
From ABC News Australia Gender bias in musical instrument selection has stopped Australia’s jazz scene from having more women leading shows and ensembles, according to industry experts. Traditionally instruments such as the drums and the trumpet are perceived as being “masculine”, while an instrument like the flute can be considered “feminine”. But jazz world insiders say they want to “break...
Posted Jun 4th, 2018
From The Australian Terri Lyne Carrington stars at Melbourne International Jazz Festival By: Eric Myers American drummer Terri Lyne Carrington arrives for the Melbourne International Jazz Festival this week. It’s her third visit to Australia, and much anticipated by her growing army of fans. She brings with her, for the first time, her usual performing group, the five musicians who...
Posted May 29th, 2018
From NPR Jazz Giants Take The Stage At The NEA Jazz Masters Listening Party By: Suraya Mohamed […] The celebration of the nation’s highest honor in jazz included a tribute concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and a listening party hosted by Jason Moran, pianist and artistic director for jazz at the...
Posted May 7th, 2018
From MusicWorld Terri Lyne Carrington: From Child Prodigy to Trailblazing Jazz Drummer By: Abby White hree-time GRAMMY winning musician, songwriter and producer Terri Lyne Carrington has always had an incredible passion for music. As a child, her budding talent placed her alongside some of the biggest jazz musicians in the world at an age when most girls are playing with...
Posted Apr 12th, 2018
From PBS News Hour Female Jazz Musicians Raise Their Voices Against Sexism At this year’s Winter Jazzfest in New York, one of the world’s biggest jazz festivals, women took center stage in more ways than one. In a year when more than a third of the festival’s acts had female bandleaders — the highest in its history — it also...
Posted Mar 6th, 2018
From JazzTimes 2018 Jazz Congress at Jazz at Lincoln Center on January 11-12 The Jazz Congress, a new annual conference organized by JazzTimes and Jazz at Lincoln Center, will bring together artists, media and industry leaders from the global jazz community to exchange ideas and resources. The 2018 Jazz Congress will present drummer/bandleader/producer/advocate/educator Terri Lyne Carrington with the Bruce Lundvall...
Posted Dec 13th, 2017
From The New York Times For Women in Jazz, a Year of Reckoning and Recognition By: Giovanni Russonello […] Maybe it bears mentioning, though, that ‘Exposure’ was one of many arresting statements made by female jazz instrumentalists this year. It has been a period of painful revelation and reckoning for women in the workplace across the country, and the same...
Posted Nov 15th, 2017
From The Daily Item DRUMMING UP INTEREST IN NEWPORT By: Bill Brotherton Terri Lyne Carrington never met her grandfather, Mattie Carrington, a talented drummer and one of the greatest musicians to ever come out of Lynn. He died about a month before Terri Lyne, who celebrates her 52nd birthday tomorrow, was born. ‘Even though I never met him, I am...
Posted Aug 4th, 2017
From NPR The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women Terri Lyne Carrington: The Mosaic Project (Concord Jazz, 2011) Some will say jazz, in a word, is improvisation. An equally appropriate word might be transformation: Each player comes to the gig with her arsenal of licks and voicings, but when the tune starts it’s all about reacting to and being inspired...
Posted Jul 25th, 2017
From London Jazz News REVIEW: Terri Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project at Birmingham Town Hall By: A J Dehany ‘It’s important to claim new standards,’ says Terri Lyne Carrington, the Grammy award-winning drummer who has won a longstanding crossover audience and for over 30 years introduced soul tunes to jazz arrangements and jazz tunes to the deep grooves of soul. How...
Posted May 21st, 2017
From The Huffington Post Sexism In Jazz: Being Agents Of Change By: Terri Lyne Carrington There has been abundant dialogue about sexism in jazz’“since I can remember – but not enough conversation with the violators and not enough self-evaluation. These current times feel especially critical and seem to be generating a heightened sense of awareness, so I have recently shared...
Posted Apr 10th, 2017
From Newsday Terri Lyne Carrington Talks Drumming with Kidsday By: Jessica Maixner, Tinia McGee, Ella O’heir – Kidsday Reporters If you had the chance to spend an hour with a three-time Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer, would you? We would! And we did just that when we met with Terri Lyne Carrington at the Sugar Bar, a Manhattan restaurant and bar...
Posted Apr 2nd, 2017
From The Chicago Tribune Carrington and Wright reimagine Ellington’s ‘Money Jungle’ By: Howard Reich Duke Ellington made personal history in the early 1960s, pushing beyond widely held preconceptions about him by recording “Money Jungle” with two younger musical adventurers, Charles Mingus and Max Roach. The three musicians coaxed each other into unexpected directions at a time of tremendous creative ferment...
Posted Jan 30th, 2017
From The New York Times Review: A Jazzfest Marathon With Protest at Its Heart By: Nate Chinen …By now, into its 13th annual edition, the NYC Winter Jazzfest has earned the sensation of urgency that flows among both artists and audiences. This year’s festival began Thursday and will run through Tuesday, when the Liberation Music Orchestra, led by a guest...
Posted Jan 9th, 2017
From The Trove Terri Lyne Carrington By: Sharon Pendana It’s the third day of October and professor of percussion, Terri Lyne Carrington has the rapt attention of graduate students at her alma mater, the Berklee College of Music in Boston where she is now Zildjian Chair in Jazz Performance at Berklee Global Jazz Institute. Her impressive skills and accomplishments, compassion...
Posted Nov 28th, 2016
From Monterey County Weekly Terri Lyne Carrington By: Walter Ryce Terri Lyne Carrington teaches music at Berklee College of Music, her alma mater. She played drums on the Arsenio Hall Show in the ’80s, and for Quincy Jones’ late night show Vibe, hosted by Sinbad, in the ’90s. She’s worked with a list of influential musicians like Stevie Wonder, Dianne...
Posted Sep 15th, 2016
From Jazz à meia noite Jazz à meia noite talked with Terri Lyne Carrington. To hear the interview click here
Posted Jun 8th, 2016
From Billboard By Natalie Weiner Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dianne Reeves & Terri Lyne Carrington Talk About Being Women in Jazz At events like International Jazz Day, the UNESCO-sponsored event designed to promote the music across the globe, ‘Jazz is‘¦’ statements abound, defining the music (on mostly extramusical terms) as everything from freedom to innovation to blues to fun — all...
Posted May 18th, 2016
From Stereophile By Fred Kaplan Murray, Allen & Carrington, Perfection Perfection (on the Motema Music label) shows David Murray in his finest form, and playing in his most simpatico band, in a decade, maybe longer. The bandmates are Geri Allen on piano, Terri Lyne Carrington on drums, and that’s it’“no bass: odd, and possibly unprecedented for a Murray trio, but...
Posted May 6th, 2016
from DRUM! magazine Terri Lyne Carrington: Jazz, Soul, And Sisterhood In recording her latest album, The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul, Terri Lyne Carrington had a hard act to follow: herself. The renowned drummer, composer, bandleader, and producer won her first Grammy in 2012, for Best Jazz Vocal Album, for the record’s precursor, The Mosaic Project, and two years later...
Posted Apr 11th, 2016
from Monterey Herald Talented youth hit the stage for Next Generation Jazz Festival By Beth Peerless In addition, 26 special guest groups will perform, for a total of 89 big bands, vocal ensembles and combos from middle school to college. That’s more than 1,200 students. On Friday, they’ll pack into the pavilion next to the Monterey Conference Center for an...
Posted Apr 7th, 2016
from Los Angeles Sentinel Terri Lyne Carrington recognized as Honorary Member at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Society for American Music By Sentinel News Service Three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning recording artist and Berklee Global Jazz Institute Zildjian Chair in Performance, Terri Lyne Carrington was recently recognized as this year’s Honorary Member at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Society for...
Posted Mar 25th, 2016
From The Boston Globe The best local albums of 2015 Terri Lyne Carrington ‘The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul’ This stellar sequel to the drummer-percussionist’s Grammy-winning 2011 album features an all-star cast of female vocalists and instrumentalists, including Chaka Khan, Meshell Ndegeocello, Oleta Adams, Paula Cole, Regina Carter, Lalah Hathaway, and Natalie Cole, paying tribute to the Medford native’s male...
Posted Dec 17th, 2015
From Music Radar The 8 best jazz drummers in the world right now By: Rhythm The Rhythm Best of drums 2015 polls have received over 102,000 votes, and we’re now ready to roll out the winners. The nominees were what we considered to be the drummers and gear that have excelled in 2015. Here, we present the Best Jazz Drummer...
Posted Dec 8th, 2015
From Jazzwise Magazine Terri Lyne Carrington and Charenee Wade Hit Celebratory Soulful Groove Down at Ronnie Scott’s By: Kevin Le Gendre If there is such a thing as the short straw for improvising musicians it may well be a booking in the days immediately after the London Jazz Festival. The growth of the event in the past decade surely leaves...
Posted Dec 2nd, 2015
From The Guardian Terri Lyne Carrington: The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul review – heartfelt and expertly played By: John Fordham American drummer Terri Lyne Carrington won a Grammy in 2011 for the Mosaic Project, an ambitious vehicle for a powerful cast of influential women in jazz. The eminent guests here include Lizz Wright, Chaka Khan and even the great...
Posted Dec 2nd, 2015
From DRUM! Magazine Terri Lyne Carrington Covers DRUM! Magazine By: Joe Bosso It’s been said: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Indeed, wiser words may have never been spoken, but if in fact you succeed wildly, as Terri Lyne Carrington did when she won her first Grammy Award in 2012 for her all-woman album The Mosaic Project,...
Posted Nov 11th, 2015
From Falls Church News-Press Press Pass: Terri Lyne Carrington By: Drew Costley The last time Terri Lyne Carrington performed at the Howard Theatre, it was the venue’s second annual gala and benefit concert, during which singers Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick and Valerie Simpson were honored. That was 2013. At the time, Carrington wasn’t a stranger to paying musical tribute to...
Posted Nov 5th, 2015
From The Culture Trip The Top 10 Female Jazz Musicians You Should Know By: Helen Armitage Though all too often confined to the role of chanteuse, over the past 100 years, many female jazz instrumentalists have made noteworthy contributions to the genre through their commitment to musicianship. We line up ten of the best, from early pioneers like American pianist...
Posted Oct 16th, 2015
From Okayplayer OKP Premiere: Drummer Extraordinaire Terri Lyne Carrington Shares A Joyful Clip For ‘So Good’ feat. Jaguar Wright With her latest album, The Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL, Grammy winning drummer/composer/vocalist Terri Lyne Carrington proved that the title ‘femme fatale’ was not one solely designated for champions of the microphone. The album saw her leading an all-star cast of...
Posted Oct 13th, 2015
From New Pittsburgh Courier Jazz meets soul on Carrington’s ‘Mosaic Project: Love and Soul’ CD By: Genea L. Webb It took Terri Lyne Carrington 18 months to record the music that was floating around in her head. ‘I had to take time with the CD and get out what I was hearing,’ said Carrington, a Grammy Award winning drummer, composer...
Posted Sep 29th, 2015
From The Boston Herald Women in spotlight at Beantown Jazz fest By: Jed Gottlieb Men still monopolize jazz. But Berklee College of Music professor and master drummer Terri Lyne Carrington has done her best to pound some sense into the genre. At this year’s Beantown Jazz Festival, Carrington will pound some more. The Medford native and the fest’s artistic director...
Posted Sep 24th, 2015
From The ARTery Longtime Beantown Jazz Fest Director Carrington Is Bringing Her Own Band This Year By: Jeremy D. Goodwin Terri Lyne Carrington says she didn’t deliberately set out to feature rising female artists when she put together the lineup for the 15th annual Beantown Jazz Festival. But if that’s the end result, so be it ‘” it does fit...
Posted Sep 24th, 2015
From San Diego County News ‘The Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL’ CD Highlights Penetrating and Engaging Music Composition Genius of Terri Carrington By Danny R. Johnson NEW YORK ‘” GRAMMY winning drummer, composer, and producer, Terri Lyne Carrington, in all of her abundance of originality, scope, and talents, has no rivals when it comes to composing music to fit the...
Posted Aug 20th, 2015
From The New York Times Review: Terri Lyne Carrington’s ‘Mosaic Project’ Sequel By Nate Chinen A few years ago, the drummer, bandleader, composer and producer Terri Lyne Carrington won her first Grammy, for best jazz vocal album. The album was ‘The Mosaic Project’ (Concord Jazz), which highlighted a regal procession of guest talent ‘” heavy-gauge jazz singers like Carmen Lundy,...
Posted Aug 13th, 2015
From Classicalite Terri Lyne Carrington, ‘The Mosaic Project: Love And Soul,’ Concord Records (REVIEW) By Mike Greenblatt Terri Lyne Carrington had a problem. How do you possibly follow up The Mosaic Project, the 2011 Grammy Award winner for “Best Jazz Vocal Album”? That CD featured the cream of the female instrumental and vocal crop. Her answer is to continue to...
Posted Aug 12th, 2015
With all due respect for the artist’s intentions, the most obvious talking point of Terri Lyne Carrington’s new album might also be its most insignificant. Rather than noting that ‘The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul’ features an exclusive cast of female singers and musicians, it’s more apt to say it just happens to be an all-star affair made up of...
Posted Aug 7th, 2015
Lately, Carrington’s been working on something called The Mosaic Project. Her first iteration of the project, back in 2011, featured female jazz singers backed by an all-woman band. That album won a Grammy. The second installment, subtitled Love and Soul, comes out Aug. 7, and while it includes another all-star group of female musicians, she says it has a “different...
Posted Aug 3rd, 2015
From Jazz Police By Ken Vermes Terri Lyne Carrington and the Mosaic Project at SFJAZZ Terri Lyne Carrington may be one of the few women drummers leading a band in today’s jazz world, but she is not unnoticed or unloved. At SFJAZZ on February 14, Valentine’s Day, the Grammy-winning leader of the Mosaic Project received the love and admiration of...
Posted Feb 23rd, 2015
From The Georgia Straight By Alexander Varty It’s easy to see why Terri Lyne Carrington cites Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Jack DeJohnette as her primary mentors. Like DeJohnette, she’s honed her technique on the drums to the point where her playing is more about manipulating energy than keeping a beat. And like all three of those older musicians, she...
Posted Feb 11th, 2015
From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Drums run in the family for Terri Lyne Carrington By Rick Nowlin To many, especially in the jazz world, a female drummer might be considered an anomaly. While not ignoring that, Terri Lyne Carrington is trying to move forward. “Socially it’s a little … odd, but that’s been changing for the last 20 years,” she says. “I...
Posted Oct 30th, 2014
From The Boston Globe Terri Lyne Carrington drums up some interest in music By Mark Shanahan and Meredith Goldstein Celebrated jazz drummer and composer Terri Lyne Carrington paid a visit Friday to Smith Leadership Academy, a charter school in Dorchester, where she spoke to an assembly of students about her life and career. The Medford native’s personal story is nothing...
Posted Apr 14th, 2014
From Recordnet.com Support group: Musician always there to lend a hand By Tony Sauro Terri Lyne Carrington has spent most of her jazz career supporting and mentoring other musicians. She’s a Grammy Award-winning drummer – though she resists the “woman-drummer” label – and a professor at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. So, it’s completely logical that she’d refer to her...
Posted Mar 28th, 2014
From WickedLocal.com West Medford native Terri Lyne Carrington wins second Grammy By Victoria Rathsmill One West Medford native has recently made history. In January, jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington took home the Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, becoming the first woman to ever receive the award in this category. This is her second Grammy win and third nomination. Carrington...
Posted Mar 19th, 2014
From WBUR Terri Lyne Carrington Wins Second Grammy Terri Lyne Carrington is a rarity in jazz ‘” she’s a female drummer. She’s also one of the best drummers in the world, and last night, she took home the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for her Duke Ellington tribute, ‘Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue.’ Meghna Chakrabarti profiled Carrington...
Posted Jan 28th, 2014
From NPR Terri Lyne Carrington On JazzSet By Becca Pulliam Money Jungle has a story. One day in 1962, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach recorded an album and gave it that provocative title. The repertoire was new blues by Ellington, who was in his 60s, while Roach and Mingus were each about 40. As George Wein wrote in...
Posted Sep 27th, 2013
From Music & Musicians Musician, composer, professor’“for this busy drummer, the beat never stops By: Jeff Tamarkin Hearing Terri Lyne Carrington rattle off the list of artists she’s drummed with is jaw-dropping: Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, Wayne Shorter, Stan Getz, Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves, Carlos Santana, for starters. These giants and scores more of their stature seek her out for...
Posted Aug 15th, 2013
From South China Morning Post Blue Notes: Reinterpreting Duke Ellington’s ‘Money Jungle’ By: Robin Lynam Composer-bandleader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was famously reluctant to fire his musicians. He was generally able to make an unwelcome player feel sufficiently uncomfortable to quit of his own accord, but occasionally he had to ask the musician to leave. This was the case with...
Posted Apr 11th, 2013
from The Revivalist Terri Lyne Carrington Presents Money Jungle at Dizzy’s Interview by: Eric Sandler Fresh off of her Grammy-award winning ‘Mosaic Project,’ Terri Lyne Carrington went straight back into the studio to create another project of equal quality and substance. ‘Money Jungle’ was originally recorded in 1962 by Duke Ellington, Max Roach, and Charles Mingus. Just over 50 years...
Posted Mar 26th, 2013
The Guardian Terri Lyne Carrington: Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue ‘” review By: John Fordham Drummer and composer Terri Lyne Carrington won a Grammy for her 2011 album The Mosaic Project, and though its successor features fewer star guests and its idiomatic range is narrower, it’s just as elegantly constructed and dynamically performed. Carrington crafts jazz materials with the expertise...
Posted Mar 15th, 2013
From Oregon Music News Portland Jazz Festival 2013: Q&A with Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington By: Jeff Melton Terri Lyne Carrington returns with the ACS trio (including pianist Geri Allen and bassist Esperanza Spalding) to Portland this weekend. As a composer and educator and repeat Grammy award winner for her album, Mosaic, she has made a name for herself with the...
Posted Feb 25th, 2013
-From Huffington Post_ Review: Carrington’s ‘Money Jungle’ a fresh take By: Charles E. Gans Producer Terri Lyne Carrington follows up her Grammy-winning, all-female “The Mosaic Project” by offering a fresh take on the classic trio recording “Money Jungle” ‘” the session released 50 years ago that teamed pianist Duke Ellington, bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Max Roach. Some of the...
Posted Feb 15th, 2013
From Blogcritics Music Review: Terri Lyne Carrington – Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue By: Phillip Barnett It can be difficult to pay musical homage to a legend, particularly one as towering as Duke Ellington. How do you interpret the music in a fresh way, preventing the music from sounding stale, while keeping the original spirit intact? This challenge is tackled...
Posted Feb 8th, 2013
Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue Terri Lyne Carrington (February 5, 2013 – Concord Records) In 1962, Duke Ellington recorded a trio date with bassist Charlie Mingus and drummer Max Roach that is today considered one of the pivotal jazz recordings of the 1960s. Money Jungle, the 1963 album that emerged from the session, was – among other things – a...
Posted Feb 5th, 2013
From WRTI Zivit Recommends: The Mosaic Project By Zivit Shlank Drummer, composer, producer, and vocalist Terri Lyne Carrington has been on the scene for over 20 years, and her interpretation of jazz has always blurred the alleged boundaries of the genre. She’s a self-proclaimed jazz head who creates complexly evocative melodies and harmonies cross-bred with funk, soul, and pop elements....
Posted Jan 17th, 2013
from tulsaworld.com OK Mozart Festival to Showcase Standout Female Jazz Musicians By: James D. Watts Jr. One thing you’ll rarely hear on a recording by Terri Lyne Carrington is a drum solo. What makes that unusual is that Carrington is herself a drummer, one who has worked with most of the stars of modern jazz, from Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
Posted Jun 7th, 2012
from wbur.org Visionaries: Terri Lyne Carrington, Jazz Prodigy By:Meghna Chakrabarti BOSTON ‘” Terri Lyne Carrington was a prodigy. She was born in 1965 to a musical family in Medford. Her grandfather, Matt Carrington, was a Boston session drummer who played with Duke Ellington and Fats Waller. He died before Terri Lyne was born. But his drums stayed in her family’s...
Posted Apr 24th, 2012
Congratulations to Terri Lyne Carrington and everyone involved in making the her album “The Mosaic Project” this years Grammy winner for “Best Jazz Vocal Album” You can see who Terri Lyne was up against and the winners of the other categories here
Posted Feb 12th, 2012
from cnn.com Terri Lyne Carrington on her Grammy-nominated album, ‘The Mosaic Project’ By:Pat St. Claire She’s a drummer, a producer, a vocalist and a mom. Terri Lyne Carrington knows a lot about transformation. In fact, “Transformation” is the title of the first track on Carrington’s Grammy-nominated CD, “The Mosaic Project.” The vocals on the track “Transformation” are performed by Nona...
Posted Feb 10th, 2012
Today, Terri Lyne Carrington released an official video for her song “Unconditional Love”. You can watch the video below.
Posted Jan 2nd, 2012
_from bostonglobe.com Jazz comes first for all-female Mosaic Project By: Siddhartha Mitter It shouldn’t be this way, but it’s still the case that when a jazz group forms in which all the players are women, that fact attracts at least as much notice as the music they perform. It’s unavoidable: all-women groups remain rare in a jazz world where most...
Posted Dec 9th, 2011
from Dagbladet Kultur For fÃ¥ kvinner i jazzen? Ja, men nÃ¥r noen av de beste samles, blir det sterk musikk av det By Terje Mosnes Det amerikanske trommeesset Terri Lyne Carrington (46) har spilt med “alle” og for lengst vist kvaliteter som har gjort henne til en høyt respektert musiker. Da hun samlet et par hÃ¥ndfuller medsøstre til “The Mosaic...
Posted Sep 29th, 2011
From guardian.co.uk Review: Terri Lyne Carrington: The Mosaic Project By: John Fordham Anyone who caught American drummer Terri Lyne Carrington’s performance at the recent Barbican show featuring Dianne Reeves, Angelique Kidjo and Lizz Wright will want to check out this star-packed session. Like the Barbican gig, its focus is women’s jazz-making. Here, however, there is a much bigger cast, including...
Posted Jul 22nd, 2011
From USA Today Terri Lyne Carrington’s beautiful ‘Mosaic’ By Steve Jones Considering how much men dominate the jazz world, drummer Carrington’s Mosaic would be noteworthy just for its all-female assemblage of talent. But what the 21 stellar musicians and vocalists have accomplished is a soulful, moving work that would stand out regardless of the artists’ gender. Carrington has blended the...
Posted Jul 19th, 2011
*TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON’S MUCH ANTICIPATED “THE MOSAIC PROJECT” RELEASED TODAY* Hebert-Carrington Media co-founder Terri Lyne Carrington today continues her visionary musical odyssey by way of The Mosaic Project (Carrington’s fifth album overall and her first on Concord Jazz), her ambitious cross genre production featuring some of the world’s top musicians. The veteran producer and composer is joined by Esperanza Spalding,...
Posted Jul 19th, 2011
From NPR Nine Women In The Room: A Jazz Musicians’ Roundtable By: Tom Cole Over the summer, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington brought together some pretty high-profile musicians from all over the world to record The Mosaic Project: pianists Geri Allen, Helen Sung, and Patrice Rushen; bassists Esperanza Spalding and Mimi Jones; percussionist Sheila E.; woodwind players Anat Cohen and Tineke...
Posted Nov 1st, 2010
Social Science Rider: Download (pdf)
Mosaic Project Rider: Download (pdf)
Money Jungle Rider: Download (pdf)
Acclaimed co-musical directors Rudresh Mahanthappa (alto saxophone) and Terri Lyne Carrington (drums) celebrate one of the most innovative and influential artists in modern musical history and examine his impact in pop, hip-hop, rap, rock, and jazz.
Joined by a superb lineup including Charenee Wade (vocals), Adam O’Farrill (trumpet), Kris Davis (piano), Larry Grenadier (bass), and Kassa Overall (dj), Mahanthappa and Carrington will honor Charlie Parker’s centennial year by showcasing “Bird’s” uncompromising musical joy, humor, and beauty by mining his deep repertoire and showcasing new, modern compositions.
“In a time where the words ‘innovation’ and ‘genius’ are overused, we are excited to celebrate a man who truly embodied both,” says Rudresh, “and the best way one shows admiration is not to age their work but to show their influence and how their work resonates in a modern age.” Rather than imitating the original, Fly Higher strives to forward the artform by developing new perspectives on tradition. That is the true substance of contemporary expression and, as Rudresh says, “we firmly believe that Bird would have wanted his legacy to resonate in this fashion.” After all, the only way to address the present is to place one foot in the past and one foot in the future.
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Founder and Artistic Director for the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, Carrington has embarked on a project she calls The New Standards – working to share and document the contributions of women like Abbey Lincoln, Geri Allen, Tia Fuller, and 97 other great female composers. The digital program would consist of a 35 minute performance of these works featuring Carrington with pianist Kris Davis and bassist Linda May Han Oh, and an additional 30 minutes for a brief discussion and Q&A. There’s also an opportunity to celebrate the work of one of your local composers.