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. After beginning her recording career with bassist Rufus Reid, 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. Three years later 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.