Jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington enlists an all-star lineup for The Mosaic Project.
Considering how much men dominate the jazz world, drummer Carrington's Mosaic would be noteworthy just for its all-female assemblage of talent. But what the 21 stellar musicians and vocalists have accomplished is a soulful, moving work that would stand out regardless of the artists' gender.
Carrington has blended the skills of these wonderfully gifted performers and created something that is, as Cassandra Wilson sings, Simply Beautiful. It's shifting moods and thematic variety are reflective of the diversity of the participants.
The project includes such vocalists as Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Nona Hendryx, and musicians like pianists Patrice Rushen and Geri Allen, bassist Esperanza Spaulding, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, percussionist Sheila E., and violinist Chia-Yin Carol Ma. It's not surprising—given Carrington's long history of collaborating with jazz's biggest names—that through her assured leadership and support she could induce this myriad of distinct voices to work in great harmony.
