Marching to Her Own Beat

She’s probably heard it 100 times before, but Terri Lyne Carrington is a renowned jazz drummer who truly marches to the beat of her own drum. She is also a composer, singer, record producer, entrepreneur and three-time Grammy winner. She made history in 2013 as the first woman to win a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album.

Carrington was born to a musical family in 1965 – her father was a pianist and president of the Boston Jazz Society. At seven, she was given a set off drums that belonged to her grandfather, musician Matt Carrington – these hallowed drums had played with the likes of Fats Waller and Chu Berry. She made her grandfather proud and at the tender age of 11 she received a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. At 12, she was profiled on a PBS program, Rebop. She spent her high school years traveling the country giving drum clinics. And then it was her turn to step into the spotlight.  She was the house drummer on The Arsenio Hall Show and later on VIBE, hosted by Sinbad. She collaborated with Peabo Bryson writing “Always Reach for Your Dreams,” which was commissioned for the 1996 Olympic Games. She also toured for ten years with Herbie Hancock, and performed with such jazz giants as Stan Getz, Natalie Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Carlos Santana, Al Jarreau, Ingrid Jensen  and Esperanza Spaulding. 

In 2003, Carrington was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by Berklee College of Music, where she is a professor and artistic director of the annual Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival. She is also musical director for the “Sing the Truth Tour” with Dianne Reeves. In her most recent album,  “Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL,” Carrington juxtaposed a salute to female artists by paying homage to the male artists who have influenced her along the way. “Whenever I do something that celebrates women, I never want it to feel like it’s something that excludes men,” she explained — as always, marching to the beat of her prolific and very personal drum.