Boston Jazz Hero
Jazz is often characterized as democracy in action, an art form whose constitution guarantees everyone a say in how music is shaped on the bandstand. But far too often bandstands and other spaces of influence within jazz continue to be dominated by men. Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington is working to create an entirely new paradigm to change that. As the Artistic Director and Founder of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice of Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Terri Lyne’s ongoing vision imagines “Jazz Without Patriarchy.” She leads a groundbreaking program exploring the heart of the music’s systemic issues with race and gender.
Terri Lyne’s career is a study of intersectional brilliance. As an instrumentalist, composer, bandleader, producer, educator, program director and activist, she’s cultivated an extraordinary array of professional and lived experiences – a keen foundation geared towards unpacking the “gendered” nature of Jazz. Multiple honors (2021 NEA Jazz Master, 2020 Edison Award, 2019 Doris Duke Artist, three ground breaking Grammy Awards, winner of JJA Jazz Awards for Musician of the Year and Drummer of the Year in both 2020 and ‘21) reflect her life-long pursuit of excellence and innovation, embodied in her albums such as the Mosaic Project, Money Jungle: Provocation In Blue and Waiting Game. All of these incisive works speak to social issues while fusing r’n’b, rock, rap and hip-hop into an irresistible mix that invites jazz to re-embrace its past as American popular music.
During the Covid-19 pandemic Terri Lyne found even another gear. Pivoting to the virtual world, she conducted online educational workshops, master classes and concerts, and was often featured on panels exploring music, race and gender justice (for instance, with Jane Ira Bloom, Kris Davis and Linda May Han Oh, here). Exposing the “invisible labor” associated with gender inequity in jazz, Carrington’s work as an Artistic Director at Detroit’s Carr Center focused on the cultural erasure of women’s contributions within the canon of popular musical history. As Resident Artistic Director at SFJAZZ, she recently presented her “New Jazz Standards” project, flipping the script on traditional repertoire of jazz education by showcasing 100 compositions by women.
Invisibility transformed into agency. Indifference and ignorance forged into an inspiring vision of how jazz can look, act, sound and inspire if more of its contributors are women. This is exactly the kind of “corrective work” Carrington is pioneering while creating inclusive and equitable spaces for all musicians to be seen, heard and educated on their own terms. Access, support, mentorship and “proving a safe and nurturing environment for people of all gender identification to study jazz,” are the core values of institutional pedagogy she’s refining at Berklee.
And while her vision is enlightening and uplifting, it remains a complicated work in progress. Last year’s analysis by NPR studying the gender imbalance of its own Jazz Critics Poll demonstrated the slim gains women made as contributors and leaders on recordings.
Drummers are musical catalysts, traditionally using jazz as a transformative tool for social justice (for instance, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln’s We Insist!). Challenging societal norms, Jazz Hero Terri Lyne Carrington continues to transform how we celebrate, support, design and build a resilient future for greater gender justice in jazz.– Michael Ambrosino
