Terri Lyne Carrington Joins the Erroll Garner Project

Photo by Delphine Diallo

Octave Music and The Erroll Garner Project Announce New Collaboration with GRAMMY® Award-winning Drummer, Producer, Educator, and Activist, Terri Lyne Carrington

The Erroll Garner Project (EGP) has gained another incredible advocate with the addition of Terri Lyne Carrington to it’s growing team of collaborators. Carrington, 2019 Doris Duke Artist and 2020 DownBeat Jazz Artist of the Year, will join the project as a Senior Advisor and Producer. “Terri Lyne brings a level of artistry and vision to the project that is really unparalleled. We could not ask for a better person to help shape Garner’s centennial celebration and beyond.” says Peter Lockhart, Senior Producer for Octave Music.

The EGP has a history building strong partnerships in their journey of bringing Garner’s musical and cultural legacy back into the public eye. The project was co-founded in 2015 by the late pianist, composer, and educator Geri Allen. “Terri Lyne was one of Geri Allen’s closest friends and musical collaborators, and I think there is a very real sense of continuity here in terms of the direction that Geri had for the project. Both with the work that’s been done by our Creative ambassador, Christian Sands, and now with Terri Lyne joining the project.” Lockhart says.

“Thanks to the work of the Erroll Garner Project, Erroll’s legacy as a pianist, composer and champion for artists’ rights has seen a renaissance in recent years, and my hope is to bring his music to even more audiences, and help to connect his legacy in a very real way to the modern music he has influenced both directly and indirectly,” Carrington says of the new collaboration.

Over the last five years the EGP has produced fifteen archival recording projects, gaining international media attention and accolades including a GRAMMY® nomination, multiple NAACP Image Award nominations and topping countless critics polls. The EGP’s most recent efforts with Mack Avenue Music Group, exploring Erroll Garner’s Octave Remastered Series, helped to make Erroll Garner the most played artist on all of jazz radio in the U.S. over the last twelve months and re-establish his legacy as pioneer for artists’ rights.

The EGP’s work with their creative ambassador, pianist/composer Christian Sands, has brought Erroll Garner inspired performance programs to major jazz festivals in Pittsburgh, Newport, New Jersey, Atlanta, Paris and beyond. 

Erroll Garner Uncovered, a new podcast series produced by Lockhart and hosted by best-selling author and historian Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley, premiered last month and features in-depth conversations with some of the most important voices in music, including Eric Reed, Chick Corea, Jason Moran, Terri Lyne Carrington, Vijay Iyer, Helen Sung, Miles Okazaki, Christian McBride, Christian Sands, Nicole Mitchell, Dianne Reeves, and more. Each episode is a deep dive into one of Garner’s Octave era albums that also explores the musical journey of the guests, in an effort to answer the central question: Who is Erroll Garner to you? 

As Erroll Garner’s centennial birthday draws nearer in June of 2021, the EGP hopes to bring to life an exciting suite of musical experiences that will thrill his existing fans while capturing a new generation of listeners. 

Terri Lyne Carrington will play a crucial role in the development of the project as the EGP moves into Garner’s centennial and beyond.

About Terri Lyne Carrington: 

Three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning drummer, producer, educator and activist, Terri Lyne Carrington started her professional career as a “kid wonder” while studying under a full scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston. In the mid '80’s she worked as an in-demand drummer in New York before gaining national recognition on late night TV as the house drummer for both The Arsenio Hall Show and Quincy Jones’ VIBE TV show.

In 1989, Carrington released her GRAMMY® Award-nominated debut album,  Real Life Story, and toured extensively with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, among others. In 2011, she released the GRAMMY® Award-winning album The Mosaic Project featuring a cast of all-star women instrumentalists and vocalists.2013 brought her second Grammy® Award with the release of Money Jungle: Povocative in Blue, establishing her as the first woman ever to win in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category.

To date, Carrington has performed on over 100 recordings and has worked extensively with luminary artists such as Al Jarreau, Stan Getz, Woody Shaw, Clark Terry, Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, James Moody, Yellowjackets, Esperanza Spalding, and many more. Additionally, Carrington is an honorary doctorate recipient from Berklee College of Music, and currently serves as Founder and Artistic Director for the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice.

In 2019 Carrington was granted the Doris Duke Artist Award, a prestigious acknowledgement in recognition of her past and ongoing contributions to jazz music. Her current band project, Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science (a collaboration with Aaron Parks and Matthew Stevens), released their debut album, Waiting Game, in November of 2019 on Motema Music.

About Erroll Garner:

Pittsburgh born Jazz pianist, prolific composer, concert hall artist, and recording star. Garner was one of the most well known and influential pianists in the world during his lifetime. Surrounded by a musical family, Garner was by all accounts self-taught, began playing at the age of three and was performing professionally by the age of seven. Throughout his career Garner developed a distinctive and original piano style often compared with Art Tatum, Fats Waller, as well as Claude Debussy.

Garner released music on over 40 labels, received multiple Grammy nominations, and recorded one of the greatest selling jazz albums of all time, Concert By The Sea. His published catalog contains nearly 200 compositions including “Misty”, which was named #15 on ASCAP’s list of the top songs of the 20th century. He scored for ballet, film, television, and orchestra. One of the most televised Jazz artists of his era, Garner appeared on TV shows all over the world, including: Ed Sullivan, Dick Cavitt, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, and many others. His prolific career began on Allegheny riverboats and spanned from the clubs of 52nd street to the top concert halls of the world.

Erroll Garner’s musical and cultural legacy is perhaps stronger today than at any point since his untimely passing in 1977, when Erroll lost his battle with lung cancer at the age of 55. Thanks to the renewed efforts of Octave Music—the successor and namesake of the company Garner formed with his manager Martha Glaser in 1952— and it’s Erroll Garner Jazz Project, his music is once again finding fresh audiences through a series of new record releases, multimedia performances, and creative partnerships.

For more information visit www.errollgarner.com