Leveling the Playing Field: The Quest of Women in Jazz

ATerri Lyne Carrington Money Jungle event at Xavier University 9.25.2019 The day immediately began with Xavier student and community engagement, with a masterclass and demonstration headed by Terri Lyne Carrington herself. She began the class with a drum improvisation to warm up the learning environment and make those in attendance more comfortable before her Q&A. Although students were admittedly speechless after hearing her play, they asked Ms. Carrington many insightful questions regarding her career, musicianship, and her work in social justice, and she responded to each question professionally and confidently. The academic setting didn’t intimidate her; her love for education and promoting youth were made evident throughout the master.

The students present represented a variety of majors, but the majority were jazz students. These jazz students were required to do research and prepare questions for Ms. Carrington and her musical journey. It was clear that these students put a great deal of effort in formulating their questions; one female student in particular recalls: “The question that impacted me the most was when someone asked Terri how she plays with the intention of changing the world. She mentioned that she always incorporates her goals into her playing and how she is always trying to impact the world around her every time she plays. A lot of the individuals that attended the master class were not music majors, as a lot of students just play for fun. Thus, this concept of always having an important message to share with the audience listening really intrigued us. She urged the students in the masterclass to really strive to integrate our systemic goals into our playing as anyone can walk away from listening to someone play with a message.”

Ms. Carrington concluded her masterclass by inviting attendees to her evening show, which many enthusiastically agreed to, since the event was open and free to the Xavier community.

Ms. Carrington and her band arrived for a sound check and rehearsal three hours prior to the performance. The band, comprised of musicians dedicated to their craft and who were students of Ms. Carrington at the Berklee College of Music, only took a short break for dinner. At 8 p.m., Ms. Carrington, Ben Jeptha (saxophone), Takeshi Ohbayashi (piano and fender rhodes), and Mark Shim (bass) were ready to perform for an excited, anticipatory crowd.

The whole band mirrored the crowd’s enthusiasm. The band passionately performed hits from her Grammy award-winning album, Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue. In between songs, Ms. Carrington conversed with the audience regarding the songs’ backgrounds, as well as her upcoming album, Waiting Game. Following a rousing finish, the audience gave the band a standing ovation.

However, the audience’s interaction with Ms. Carrington didn’t end there. In the lobby, attendees had the chance to meet, speak with, and take photos with her. A few even brought LPs for her to sign. She was incredibly attentive to every audience member she met, and engaged in personal discussions with multiple patrons. Following the masterclass and concert, a female student pursuing a Computer Science major and a Music minor opted to further her studies in playing the drums. After speaking with Ms. Carrington, she felt connected to Ms. Carrington’s work, and was empowered to stay true to her passions. She is currently the drum player in the Xavier student Jazz Band, and recently performed at a student concert at Caffe Vivace, which was open to the whole community. Although I cannot speak for everyone else in attendance, I hope that other females felt as empowered as this student

did. I discussed this grant with Ms. Carrington, and she responded very positively, expressing how honored she was to come to a university with a focus on supporting female musicians.

WOX PROJECT BUDGET Projected Expenses

WOX Actual

Expenses Music Series Vendor(s)

Artist Fee $ 8,000.00 $8,000.00 $7,832.00

Advertising - Poster Printing $ 45.00 $45.00 $42.82 Prographics

Food/Hospitality Room for the Artist $ 200.00 $200.00 $415.88 East West Cuisine & Jason's Deli

One night of Lodging for 4 people (the Artist and other 3 members of the quartet) $600.00 $667.67

Hilton Garden Inn (Three standard rooms at $163.44; One suite at $177.35)

Production Expenses - Sound Mixing $ 420.00 $420.00 $300.00 Rick Andress

Bass, Drums Rental $ 480.00 $480.00 $936.00 Robert Sharp Transportation to and from CVG $ 160.00 $160.00 $346.77 Executive Transportation

Radio Advertising $ 550.00 $550.00 $550.00 WVXU

Piano Tuning $ 200.00 $200.00 $200.00 Piano Perfect

TOTAL $10,655.00 $9,985.67 $1,305.47

J Series Essay by Emma Robinson

Terri Lyne Carrington: Money Jungle

This semester I attended the Jazz Series concert presenting Grammy award winning, jazz

drummer, Terri Lyne Carrington. She was touring with her latest work Money Jungle, a provocative,

aesthetically pleasing collaboration of soothing Jazz, and emotional musical phrasing. When I arrived

at the show, I had very little background on Carrington, as I normally attend the classical piano series

concerts which is more my focus of study. I was very surprised to read her background and discover

how successful Carrington was, winning multiple awards, performing with artists such as Dianne

Reeves, Carlos Santana, and Stevie Wonder, and winning a Grammy Award for her work The Mosaic

Project in 2011. She is a groundbreaking artist, changing the world of Jazz music for both women and

African Americans combined.

What impressed me most about the performance was how emotionally charged and raw the

music was. Her ensemble consisted of ethnically, and racially different people which allowed for each

of their life experiences to flow into the music. I also believe that these backgrounds allowed for unique

individuality when performing. I felt that Carrington’s presence was cool and confident which allowed

her to portray the music’s message effectively. My favorite piece was her second performed work,

which expressed a profound amount of sadness through the individual musical phrasing, especially

shown in the piano and saxophone players solo interludes. Her album titled song Money Jungle was

especially exciting to listen to as themes through changed and focus on different instrumentation

allowed again for her ensemble to display different styles. I found that the changing themes really

providing a different take to Jazz music; one that I felt more interesting to listen to. Out of the music

series concerts I’ve attended, Carrington was definitely one of my favorites along with Josh Nelson,

another modern artist changing the music world who I saw my sophomore year.