From Wednesday to Sunday this week, SFJAZZ hosts the residency of Terri Lyne Carrington – 2021 NEA Jazz Master, GRAMMY® Award-winning composer, drummer, activist and 2019 Doris Duke Award recipient – as she presents five fabulous nights of music.
Terri Lyne Carrington – current SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director – previews her series of programs on Wednesday, February 16th, with a Listening Party. During this session, she’ll chat to fellow activist Angela Davis and SFJAZZ Director of Education Rebeca Mauleón, trace her history – highlighting the intersection between jazz, gender and social justice – and play recorded or live excerpts from her career. The conversation, which takes place in the Miner Auditorium, starts at 7.30 pm, and closes with questions from the audience, followed by a complimentary reception.
In the first session of her residency, Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science on Thursday, February 17th, she is joined by her new group, comprising guitarist Matthew Stevens, keyboardist Aaron Parks, Morgan Guerin on bass, tenor saxophone and EWI, Kokayi on vocals and electronics (standing in for DJ Kassa Overall) and vocalist Debo Ray. They’ll perform numbers from Social Science’s GRAMMY®-nominated double album Waiting Game, released on the Motéma label in 2019. At the time, The Jazzman wrote: “With its hard hitting political and social commentary, genre fluid music, and its impressive list of guest performers Waiting Game has the feel of an ‘important’ record”, adding that it’s “…..a musical triumph in its own right”. Downbeat referred to it as “a recording that could be the best jazz album of the year”. This performance takes place in the Miner Auditorium at SFJAZZ at 7.30 pm.
The following evening’s concert, New Standards, on Friday, February 18th is being streamed as well performed live, and features an evening of jazz tunes all composed by women. Terri Lyne Carrington is joined by pianist Kris Davis, bassist Linda May Han Oh, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, flutist Elena Pinderhughes and guitarist Matthew Stevens, to perform pieces from her recently published compilation of New Standards composed by women – artists such as Carla Bley, Cassandra Wilson, Marilyn Crispell, Lil Hardin Armstrong, Eliane Elias, Jaime Branch, Luciana Souza, Hiromi, Emily Remler and Anat Cohen. In challenging the inequity of most songs having been composed by men, Carrington aims to establish a new legacy for jazz – highlighting the contribution of women to the world of jazz. The performance takes place in the Miner Auditorium at 7.30 pm. Details about streaming can be found on the SFJAZZ website.
Having toured extensively with saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter in her early years of performing, Terri Lyne Carrington regards him as a guiding light and an inspiration. “Wayne’s just one of the most amazing human beings I’ve ever been around,” she says. “He definitely changed my life.” Her multi-media performance on Saturday, February 19th, Musing Emanon: Wayne Shorter’s Orbits, is devoted to pieces from Shorter’s 2018 album Emanon, and features a virtual Shorter on video, reading from the novel he created with writer Monica Sly and artist Randy DuBurke. Performing with Carrington are flutist Nicole Mitchell, guitarist Brandon Ross and jazz pianist and composer David Virelles. The performance takes place at 7.30 pm in the Miner Auditorium.
The final performance of Terri Lyne Carrington’s residency at SFJAZZ – on Sunday, February 20th, is Genius, Grace and Fire: A Tribute to Geri Allen [ . In this concert Carrington honours the legacy of the late jazz pianist, composer and band leader, who “was one of the first people who made me feel like it wasn’t awkward or weird that women played jazz”, she says. The jazz masters joining Carrington in this performance are saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, pianist Jason Moran – both mentored by Allen – and bassist Dave Holland who played and recorded with her. Terri Lyne Carrington’s tribute to Geri Allen takes place in the Miner Auditorium at 7.00 pm.
Further details on all these performances can be found on the SFJAZZ website together with details on buying tickets and becoming a member.
Information sourced from:
SFJAZZ program notes
Artists’ websites