Terri Lyne Carrington

Terri Lyne Carrington (born August 4, 1965) is an American jazz drummer, composer, producer, and educator. She has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Joe Sample, Al Jarreau, Yellowjackets, and many others. She toured with each of Hancock's musical configurations (from electric to acoustic) between 1997 and 2007.

In 2007, she was appointed professor at her alma mater, Berklee College of Music, where she received an honorary doctorate in 2003. Carrington serves as founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and The Carr Center in Detroit, Michigan. She also serves on the board of trustees for The Recording Academy, board of directors for International Society for Jazz Arrangers and Composers and the advisory board for The History Makers and New Music USA.

She has won four Grammy Awards, including a 2013 award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, which established her as the first female musician to win a Grammy in this category. She has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards,

Carrington is also a weekly host of Future Flavors with Terri Lyne Carrington, a one-hour show on SiriusXM's Real Jazz (channel 67).

Early years Carrington was born on August 4, 1965, in Medford, Massachusetts, United States, into a musical family: her mother played piano as a hobby and her father was a saxophonist and president of the Boston Jazz Society. At the age of seven, Carrington was given a set of drums that had belonged to her grandfather, Matt Carrington, who had played with Fats Waller and Chu Berry. After studying privately for three years, she gave her first major performance at the Wichita Jazz Festival with Clark Terry. At the age of 11, she received a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music.

At Berklee College of Music she played with musicians such as Kevin Eubanks, Donald Harrison, and Greg Osby. She also studied under drum instructor Alan Dawson and made a private recording entitled TLC and Friends, with Kenny Barron, Buster Williams, George Coleman and her father.

Music career

In 1983, encouraged by her mentor, Jack DeJohnette, Carrington moved to New York, where she worked with Lester Bowie, Stan Getz, James Moody, David Sanborn, Pharoah Sanders, and Cassandra Wilson. In the late 1980s Carrington moved to Los Angeles, where she was the house drummer for The Arsenio Hall Show and later the drummer on Quincy Jones' late-night TV show VIBE hosted by Sinbad.

As a bandleader, she has worked with Geri Allen, James Genus, Josh Harri, Bob Hurst, Everette Harp, Nona Hendryx, Munyungo Jackson, Ingrid Jensen, Aruan Ortiz, Greg Phillinganes, Tineke Postma, Patrice Rushen, Nêgah Santos, Dwight Sills, Esperanza Spalding, Helen Sung, and Gary Thomas.

In summer 2011, she appeared with Wayne Shorter, John Patitucci, Danilo Perez in South America. She was musical director of the Sing the Truth Tour with Dianne Reeves, Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo (with Romero Lubambo, Geri Allen, James Genus, and Munyungo Jackson).

As a recording artist, in 1988 Carrington started concentrating her efforts on writing and producing her own works, resulting in Real Life Story, her 1989 Grammy-nominated debut album with Gerald Albright, Hiram Bullock, Greg Osby, Dianne Reeves, Patrice Rushen, Carlos Santana, John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, and Grover Washington Jr.; Jazz Is a Spirit, her 2002 European album with Terence Blanchard, Kevin Eubanks. Herbie Hancock, Wallace Roney, and Gary Thomas; and Structure, her 2004 European album with Greg Osby, Jimmy Haslip, and Adam Rogers.

In 2009, Carrington released More to Say ... Real Life Story: NextGen, a sequel to Real Life Story. The album includes Walter Beasley, George Duke, Lawrence Fields, Ray Fuller, Everette Harp, Jimmy Haslip, Robert Irving III, Chuck Loeb, Christian McBride, Les McCann, Lori Perry, Greg Phillinganes, Patrice Rushen, Dwight Sills, Chris Walker, Kirk Whalum, Anthony Wilson, Nancy Wilson, and a special appearance by Sonny Carrington.

In 2011 The Mosaic Project, her fifth album and her first for Concord Jazz, was released. It won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Carrington's 2013 album, Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue, included covers of songs by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach's 1962 album, Money Jungle, and won the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. She is the first female musician to win a Grammy in this category.

Carrington's interdisciplinary work includes collaborations with visual artists Mickalene Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, and choreographer Winifred R. Harris.

In October 2020, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced Carrington as one of four recipients of the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships, celebrated in an online concert and show on 22 April 2021. Awarded in recognition of lifetime achievement, the honor is bestowed on individuals who have made significant contributions to the art form. The other 2021 recipients were Albert "Tootie" Heath, Phil Schaap, and Henry Threadgill.

September 2022 saw the publication of Carrington's book New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers and her album New Standards Vol. 1, an ambitious new endeavor created to uplift the voices of women composers. The 2022 album of 11 selections from the songbook features an all-star band plus a dozen special guests.

Awards and honors

Discography As leader/co-leader TLC and Friends (CEI, 1981) Real Life Story (Verve Forecast, 1989) Jazz Is a Spirit (ACT, 2002) Structure with Adam Rogers, Jimmy Haslip, Greg Osby (ACT, 2004) Onetake: Volume Two with Robi Botos, Phil Dwyer, Marc Rogers (Alma, 2005) More to Say (Real Life Story: NextGen.) (E1 Entertainment, 2009) The Mosaic Project (Concord Jazz, 2011) Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue (Concord Jazz, 2013) The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul (Concord/Universal, 2015) The Act Years (ACT, 2015) – compilation with selections from Jazz Is a Spirit, Structure, and Nguyên Lê's Purple: Celebrating Jimi Hendrix Murray, Allen & Carrington Power Trio, Perfection (Motéma, 2016) Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science, Waiting Game (Motéma, 2019) New Standards Vol. 1 with Nicholas Payton, Kris Davis, Linda May Han Oh, Matthew Stevens (Candid, 2022) Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival with Wayne Shorter, Leo Genovese, Esperanza Spalding (Candid, 2022) We Insist 2025! with Christie Dashiell (Candid, 2025) Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science, "Trip the Night Fantastic" (Candid, 2026)

As sidewoman Release Leading artist Album Label 1985 Rufus Reid Trio Seven Minds Sunnyside 1986 Nancy Harrow You're Nearer Tono Records 1986 Mulgrew Miller Work! Landmark 1986 Scott Robinson Winds of Change MultiJazz 1987 Greg Osby Greg Osby and Sound Theatre JMT 1987 Michele Rosewoman Quintessence Enja 1988 Niels Lan Doky The Truth - Live at Montmartre Storyville 1988 John Scofield Flat Out Gramavision 1988 Wayne Shorter Joy Ryder Columbia 1988 Cassandra Wilson Blue Skies JMT 1989 Niels Lan Doky Daybreak Storyville 1989 Robin Eubanks Different Perspectives JMT 1990 Eric Marienthal Crossroads GRP 1990 John Patitucci Sketchbook GRP 1991 Dianne Reeves I Remember Blue Note 1992 David Benoit Letter to Evan GRP 1992 Mitchel Forman What Else? RCA 1992 Gary Thomas Till We Have Faces JMT 1992 Gust William Tsilis Heritage Ken 1992 Tony Lakatosh Different Moods Lipstick Records 1993 John Beasley Change of Heart Windham Hill 1993 Dianne Reeves Art & Survival EMI 1993 Nino Tempo Nino Atlantic Jazz 1993 Gary Thomas Exile's Gate JMT 1994 Gabrielle Goodman Until We Love JMT 1994 Klymaxx One Day Eighteen Sixty Three EP Wrekudz 1994 Dianne Reeves Quiet After the Storm Blue Note 1994 Patrice Rushen Anything but Ordinary Sindrome 1995 Paul Bollenback Original Visions Challenge 1995, 1997 Doky Brothers Doky Brothers, Vol. 1 & 2 Blue Note 1995 James Moody Moody's Birthday Celebration: Live at the Blue Note Warner 1995 Wayne Shorter High Life Verve 1995 Nino Tempo Live at Cicada Atlantic 1996 Stan Getz His Last Recording / In Concert Loft 1996 Cæcilie Norby My Corner of the Sky Blue Note 1996 Danilo Perez PanaMonk Impulse! 1996 Michael Wolff Trio 2 AM Cabana Boy 1996 Rachel Z Room of One's Own NYC 1997 James Moody Moody Plays Mancini Warner 1997 Dianne Reeves That Day Blue Note 1998 Herbie Hancock Gershwin's World Verve 1998 Niels Lan Doky Niels Lan Doky Verve Forecast 1998 Mulgrew Miller Chapters 1 and 2 32 Jazz 2000 Paul Bollenback Double Vision Challenge 2000 Greg Osby The Invisible Hand Blue Note 2000 Diane Schuur Friends for Schuur Concord Jazz 2002 Herbie Hancock The Jazz Channel Presents Herbie Hancock (DVD) Image Entertainment 2002 Herbie Hancock Future 2 Future - Live (DVD) Columbia 2002 Nguyên Lê Purple – Celebrating Jimi Hendrix ACT 2003 Wayne Shorter Alegría Verve 2003 Cassandra Wilson Glamoured Blue Note 2004 Diana Krall The Girl in the Other Room Verve 2005 Rita Coolidge And So Is Love Paddle Wheel 2005 Don Friedman Live at Jazz Baltica Skip Records 2006 Tineke Postma For the Rhythm Munich 2006 George Duke In a Mellow Tone BPM 2006 Jan Shapiro Back to Basics Jan Shapiro 2006 Grace Kelly Every Road I Walked PAZZ Productions 2007 Tineke Postma A Journey That Matters Foreign Media Jazz 2009 Grace Kelly Mood Changes Pazz Productions 2009 Teena Marie Congo Square Stax 2009 Tineke Postma The Traveller Etcetera 2009 Mike Stern Big Neighborhood Heads Up 2010 Esperanza Spalding Chamber Music Society Heads Up 2010 Nona Hendryx Mutatis Mutandis Righteous Babe 2010 Mikkel Nordsø Five Steps 2 Seven Stunt Records 2012 Jazz Soul Seven Impressions of Curtis Mayfield BFM Jazz 2012 Esperanza Spalding Radio Music Society Heads Up 2012 Hey Rim Jeon Introducing Hey Rim Jeon PHASE ONE 2013 Dianne Reeves Beautiful Life Concord 2014 Gabrielle Goodman Spiritual Tapestry Goodness Music 2015 Franco Ambrosetti After the Rain Enja 2016 Grégoire Maret Wanted Sunnyside Sunnyside 2018 Tia Fuller Diamond Cut Mack Avenue 2018 Lewis Porter (Trio with John Patitucci) Beauty & Mystery Altrisuoni 2018 Kenny Werner Church on Mars Newvelle 2018 Luren Henderson Ármame Brontosaurus Records 2020 Tim Ray Excursions and Adventures Whaling City Sound 2022 Walter Smith III & Matthew Stevens In Common III Whirlwind Recordings 2022 Hey Rim Jieon Groovitude Baseline Live Entertainment 2024 Kevin Harris Embers N/A 2024 Cédric Henriot French Stories Plus Loin Music 2025 Milena Casado Reflections of Another Self Candid Records 2026 Matthew Stevens Matthew Stevens Candid Records