Terri Lyne Carrington is the curator of The Carr Center and Midtown Detroit’s Jazz Crawl on October 14-28th. The New Standards Jazz Crawl, Shifting The Narrative: Jazz and Gender Justice kicks off its inaugural series of free concerts at eight of the city’s cultural and educational institutions this month. Carrington, who is also a Grammy-winning jazz drummer and composer is among the list of performers that includes vocalists Lisa Fischer, Carmen Lundy, Jazzmeia Horn, Lizz Wright, Daryn Dean, and Charenée Wade, saxophonists Tia Fuller, Nicole Glover, and Camille Thurman, bassists Linda May Han Oh and Marian Hayden, pianists Andy Milne and Paul Cornish, drummers Susie Ibarra and Savannah Harris, flutist Nicole Mitchell, percussionist JoVia Armstrong, guitarist Matthew Stevens, and The Gathering Orchestra Nonet.
The Jazz Crawl is part of The Carr Center’s yearlong 30th-anniversary celebration and the opening of the new Carr Center performance studio. Oliver Ragsdale Jr. President and CEO of The Carr Center says, “The opening of the Performance Studio is the pinnacle of our anniversary celebration. As we move closer to the opening, we are honored to work closely with partners Midtown Detroit Inc., and our Artistic Director Terri Lyne Carrington, who is not only expanding her artistry with compelling publications, visual arts, and film, but she continues to provide high-level and innovating programming and is a great collaborator for the Carr Center.”
The New Standards Installation opens on October 14th and is a four-part interdisciplinary look at jazz through the lens of gender equality. There are works created by jazz artists Cécile McCLorin Salvant, Carmen Lundy and Jazzmeia Horn and contributions from visual artists Monica Haslip, Joe Diggs, Yesmin Tosuner and Ramsess. Sherry Rubel has a portrait of 30 influential women instrumentalists and Lizz Wright will present a recipe inspired by the New Standards theme.
Carrington’s first-ever children’s book Three Of A Kind will be introduced. The story revolves around the musical partnership of comprised of Carrington, the late Geri Allen, and Esperanza Spalding (ACS Trio). The book is written by Carrington, illustrated by Ramsess and designed to inspire young women to play instruments. The installation also includes a New Standards film documenting the creators, and the purpose of the book and album.
On Friday, October 14th the Carr Center will present a panel discussion, “Jazz and Gender: Forging a New Legacy” with scholar and cultural icon Angela Davis; and educators and authors Gina Dent and Robin D.G. Kelly, along with Carrington at the Carr Center Performance Studio.
On Saturday, October 15, the Carr Center will present a Professional Development Master Class with Carrington for band directors and band leaders to engage with her and other composers featured in her new book.
Carrington has promoted equality in the arts since founding the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice in 2018. Last month the Berklee Press debuted her book New Standard: 101 Lead Sheets By Women Composers. The book brings light to compositions not usually thought of as jazz standards from composers like Lil’ Hardin Armstrong, Mary Lou Williams, Alice Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby, Dianne Reeves, Geri Allen, Cécile McClorin Salvant, Maria Schneider, Cassandra Wilson, Nubya Garcia, Esperanza Spalding, Mary Halvorson, Nicole Mitchell and the recently departed Jamie Branch.
In addition to the book, Carrington’s new STANDARDS vol.1 album was just released.
For more information about the Jazz Crawl check out The Carr Center site.
