Terri Lyne Carrington had a childhood that afforded her the opportunity to know and work with jazz musicians including her father, Sonny Carrington–a saxophonist. There is no doubt that it was Terry’s destiny to have a substantial and rewarding career in music. She is full of creative energy that propels her to be a consummate professional and musician who is driven to complete tangible pieces of work. In the midst of it all, Carrington also maintainins a career as a professor at Berklee in Boston. Throughout her illustrious career, she has collaborated with just about everyone in the business from Stan Getz to Herbie Hancock; that’s just to name a small few. Terri was honored by her peers and won a Grammy in 2011 for The Mosaic Project. With that project, she worked with and celebrated talented women. She believes that to be successful in this business, you have to know that it is a puzzle, and you have to have all the pieces in order to be truly successful. It’s about longevity and maintaining it and always being ready when the door opens. She is such a smart woman and musician that after reading a book about Duke Ellington, she decided to pay tribute to him by recording Money Jungle: Proactive in Blue last year. Terri hopes to “aspire to inspire.” Although she’s been producing for a while, she enjoys the fact that it puts her in the driver’s seat, allowing her room to create. Recently, she produced Dianne Reeves’ latest album, Beautiful Life, and worked with saxophonist Tia Fuller to produce her future project. On the horizon for Terri is Mosiac 2 which fans can be assured will be a masterpiece.

Terri and I briefly chat about her successful career: