Terri Lyne Carrington

Celebrating 40 years in music, NEA Jazz Master and three-time GRAMMY® award-winning drummer, producer, and educator, Terri Lyne Carrington started her professional career in Massachusetts at 10 years old when she became the youngest person to receive a union card in Boston. She was featured as a “kid wonder” in many publications and on local and national TV shows. After studying under a full scholarship at Berklee College of Music, Carrington worked as an in-demand musician in New York City, and later moved to Los Angeles, where she gained recognition on late night TV as the house drummer for both the Arsenio Hall Show and Quincy Jones’ VIBE TV show, hosted by Sinbad.
While still in her 20’s, Ms. Carrington toured extensively with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, among others and in 1989 released a GRAMMY®-nominated debut CD on Verve Forecast, Real Life Story. In 2011 she released the GRAMMY®Award-winning album, The Mosaic Project, featuring a cast of all-star women instrumentalists and vocalists, and in 2013 she released, Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue, which also earned a GRAMMY®Award, establishing her as the first woman ever to win in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category.
To date Ms. Carrington has performed on over 100 recordings and has been a role model and advocate for young women and men internationally through her teaching and touring careers. She has toured or recorded with luminary artists such as Al Jarreau, Stan Getz, Woody Shaw, Clark Terry, Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, James Moody, Yellowjackets, Esperanza Spalding, and many more. Ms. Carrington’s 2015 release, The Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL, featured performances of iconic vocalists Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole, and Nancy Wilson.
In 2003, Ms. Carrington received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music and was appointed professor at the college in 2005, where she currently serves as the Founder and Artistic Director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, which recruits, teaches, mentors, and advocates for musicians seeking to study jazz with racial justice and gender justice as a guiding principles. She also serves as Artistic Director for The Carr Center, Detroit, MI. and for Berklee’s Summer Jazz Workshop.
In 2019 Ms. Carrington was granted The Doris Duke Artist Award, a prestigious acknowledgment in recognition of her past and ongoing contributions to jazz music. Her current collaborative project, Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science (formed with Aaron Parks and Matthew Stevens), released their debut album, Waiting Game, in November, 2019 on Motema Music, inspired by the seismic changes in the ever-evolving social and political landscape. The double album expresses an unflinching, inclusive, and compassionate view of humanity’s breaks and bonds through an eclectic program melding jazz, R&B, indie rock, contemporary improvisation, and hip-hop.
Both Waiting Game and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice point to Carrington’s drive to combine her musical talents with her passion for social justice. The subjects addressed on Waiting Game run the gamut of social concerns: mass incarceration, police brutality, homophobia, Native American injustice, political imprisonment, and gender justice.
“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.”
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Radio & Podcasts
- Terri Lynne Carrington, Michael Manring, Gary Willis, John Novello, Dave Weckl
- Willie Oteri, Glenn Cannon, Terri Lyne Carrington, Michael Manring and Gary...
- Jack DeJonette, Miles Davis & Terri Lyne Carrington
- Terri Lyne Carrington's Latest Project Sets New Standards For Women Composers
November 08, 2018
Terri Lyne Carrington: A Bi-Coastal Weekend
April 01, 2017
Newly Formed Non-Profit Organization The Philadelphia Jazz Experience...
October 29, 2013
Al Jarreau, Eddie Palmieri, Terri Lyne Carrington Headline 2014 Brubeck...
March 02, 2013
Available Now: Grammy Winner Terri Lyne Carrington Pays Homage to Duke...
December 19, 2012
Signature Music Series At Berklee Presents Terri Lyne Carrington, The...
October 11, 2012
John Coltrane Memorial Concert: "35th Annual" Featuring Terri Lyne...
April 25, 2012
Back To The Garden: The Artistry Of Joni Mitchell, Featuring Paula Cole...
April 06, 2011
Wayne Shorter to Perform With Danilo Pérez, Joe Lovano, Terri Lyne...
November 04, 2009
Tineke Postma's "The Traveller" Featuring Geri Allen, Terri Lyne...