299: Terri Lyne Carrington

Terri Lyne Carrington started playing drums as a child in Boston. By the time she was 10, she was gigging with Clark Terry. At 11, she had a drum endorsement.

By 20, she was already building a remarkable career. And by 30, she had worked with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter—two of the most visionary artists of their generation.

Today she is a Grammy Award–winning drummer, composer, producer, educator, and activist whose trailblazing career spans over four decades. She has worked with an extraordinary range of artists including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding, Cassandra Wilson, and Dianne Reeves. She’s the first woman to win a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and has earned three Grammys in total. 

In 2021 she became an NEA Jazz Master. Through her playing, teaching, and advocacy, Carrington continues to expand the sound and scope of contemporary jazz.

She’s had an extraordinary life in music. But what strikes me most is how deeply she reflects on her role in the ecosystem—as a performer and composer, and as someone actively shaping the future. At the Berklee College Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, which she founded, she’s helping a new generation imagine what jazz can be—not just who plays it, but how it sounds and what it stands for.

We spoke on the occasion of her new record We Insist 2025!—it’s a collaboration with vocalist Christie Dashiell, and a bold reimagining of Max Roach’s seminal 1960 protest suite. 

The original We Insist! was a rallying cry during the civil rights movement. This version is something different—an invitation to engage with today’s struggles for equity, identity, and freedom, both on and off the bandstand.

We talked about sound and silence, about leaving steady gigs to bet on herself, about being one of the few women in jazz drumming for decades— how that shaped her, and what she had to unlearn. She’s honest about the burden of self-imposed pressure, the evolution of her teaching philosophy, and what it means to hear the humanity in someone’s playing, even when they themselves are personally complicated.

A conversation about music—but also about the deeper work. The stuff that lives under the surface. The choices we make. The systems we inherit and the ones we build. The spaces we create for others. The freedom we fight for—in society, and in ourselves.