Why We Love Terri Lyne Carrington’s The Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL

We asked ethnomusicologist Aja Burrell Wood (@alwaysAja) to talk to us about jazz master drummer Terri Lyne Carrington’s latest offering: The Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL. So we suggest you read Aja’s thoughtful response and then press play on the album at the bottom. Please check out Aja’s latest feature at Ebony.com and follow her at AjaBurrellWood.com.

In a follow-up to her 2011 release, The Mosaic Project, drummer, composer, bandleader and three-time Grammy Award winner, Terri Lyne Carrington recently released The Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL which carries the listener on an exploration of love, romance, and spiritual connection through the voices of an all-star line-up of brilliant women artists.

Now exactly which women you may ask?

Well, everyone pull out your notebooks, because class is in session and today we will be covering Excellence. Terri Lyne Carrington called on some of the best instrumentalists and vocalist today…and yesterday…and tomorrow. Just to name a few: Valerie Simpson, Nancy Wilson, Natalie Cole, Chaka Khan,  Lalah Hathaway, Chanté Moore, Lizz Wright,  Ledisi, Jaguar Wright as well as bassists Meshell Ndegoecello and Linda Oh, keyboardists Geri Allen, Patrice Rushen, saxophonist Tia Fuller, and trumpeter Ingrid Jensen.

Still, the powerful brilliance in celebration of women does not happen at the exclusion of men.  Carrington also pays homage to musical influences such as Duke Ellington, Nick Ashford, George Duke, Luther Vandross, Bill Withers, and Frank Sinatra.

For example, “Come Sunday” performed by the great Natalie Cole does honor the beauty and eloquence delivered to us by the majesty that is Duke Ellington and Mahalia Jackson in the 1958 recorded version of “Black, Brown and Beige” for Columbia records. It also offers a new captivating arrangement by Carrington, which features propelling rhythms that feel like it carries the original sentiments earnestly and necessarily forward into the present and future.

And by the way, the there-at-just-the-right-moment presence of Billy Dee Williams’s voice through spoken word makes you sit back and realize how much you actually need more of Billy Dee Williams’s voice in your life and wonder what you can do to make that happen. Not now, but right now.  More importantly, the reflective spoken word moments, which are actually quotes from legend Wayne Shorter, truly draw you in to not only listen, but also hear.

For much of the album, the soulful quality and grooves of many of the songs featured on this album make them ready for inclusion on any self-respecting Quiet Storm radio segment worth it’s weight in forever-jams.  Still, the impeccable arrangements offer an attentive and just really dope perspective on both original works and covers.

Overall, this album is an artful and thoughtful blending of R&B and jazz. But more than that, it’s a blending of the very best of what these two genres have to offer.  And we love the ways and reasons why this happens throughout the album. Which in some ways makes Terri Lyne Carrington like the BFF in your head – meaning, she get’s it. Maybe your favorite artists are hers too…and maybe, just maybe your jams are her jams for the exact same reason. Nonetheless, it’s her musicianship, creativity and artistry that keep us coming back for more.

So our recommendation? Pour yourself a glass of wine (or a few), start the album from the very beginning, get into it and thank Terri Lyne Carrington for giving you what you needed in an album.

Here are some of our favorites on this album:

• “Get To Know You” featuring Ledisi
• “Can’t Resist”
• “This Too Will Pass” featuring Lalah Hathaway
• “Somebody Told A Lie” featuring Valerie Simpson
• “I’m A Fool To Want You” featuring Chaka Khan
• “When I Found You” featuring Lizz Wright