The drummer-bandleader’s albums aim to expand our cultural knowledge.
About Terri Lyne Carrington
Hometown
Medford, MA, United States
Born
August 4, 1965
Genre
Jazz
Terri Lyne Carrington is a drummer, composer, bandleader, and producer. Her playing style ranges across jazz, soul, funk, rock, blues, and even crossover classical. She released Real Life Story, her Grammy-nominated debut, in 1989. She spent the next 12 years as a first-call session drummer. Following 2002's Jazz Is a Spirit, she began leading her own bands. In 2011, Grammy-winning The Mosaic Project straddled jazz and R&B with a cast of women. The following year, she won a Grammy for Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue. 2015's Mosaic Project: Love and Soul landed at the top of the jazz charts. 2019's politically themed The Waiting Game featured her Social Science band, while 2022's New Standards, Vol. 1 featured tunes written by women. Carrington teamed up with vocalist Christie Dashiell and a cast of top-shelf players in reinterpreting 1961's We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite, titled We Insist 2025.