Terri Lyne Carrington - More to Say... (Real Life Story: NextGen) (2009)

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Terri Lyne Carrington - More to Say... (Real Life Story: NextGen) (2009)

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Terri Lyne Carrington's dual identity as an extraordinary progressive jazz drummer and powerful in-the-pocket groove driver has been presented on her previous recordings. While straddling those lines appeals to different audiences, this CD reverts back to her more commercial roots from 20 years ago, centering on the contemporary, rhythm & blues oriented side of music from an instrumental standpoint. One look at the contributors she has employed here tells the tale, as George Duke, Everette Harp, Dwight Sills, Kirk Whalum, Walter Beasley, and Jimmy Haslip are present and accounted for. This lends to a more produced side, rather than creative aspects of music that can only marginally be called jazz. Though spurts of improvisation, blues, or minimal swing do occur, this is a blatant attempt to appeal to the urban crowd, and the result is relatively bland though danceable music. When you hear the opener "More to Say," you wonder in what limited language? "Everyday" is pretty much straight funk standard fare, while "Favorite Lullaby" is not really a lullaby, as Whalum grooves via a predictable stolid beat while guitarist Dave Fiuczynski at least attempts to add some mystery on his electric guitar. Carrington offers no real spice, as her steadied beats reduce her immense talent into mechanically derived cotton candy. There's some actual good music played during "Dorian's Playground" with overdubbed saxes, while "Papa San," with her father Sonny Carrington's tenor sax, Ambrose Akinmusire's trumpet, and Anthony Wilson's guitar chords is somewhat interesting. "No Not One" and "Abuelita" break the mold, the former an Afro-Cuban feature for pianist Danilo Perez with a much larger band that crackles with excitement via a horn section, while a bonus track, "Real Life," is a better funk with horns, vocals, and a nice guitar inserted. As blatant pop covers, the pleasant light samba "Imagine This" featuring Nancy Wilson with Duke's acoustic piano and Christian McBride on bass, or the Ramsey Lewis composition "Mesmerized" with Beasley and Chuck Loeb, work to a certain extent. A throwaway version of the somber John Lennon/Paul McCartney song "Let It Be" is rendered more tired and lazy than anew. When keyboardist Patrice Rushen plays, the songs are uplifted to a certain degree due to her talent. If a great artist decides to water down their music to appeal to a commercial palate, one must question why. Does Carrington need the money that badly (she did write most of this music) to receive royalties for limited airplay? Or, as she stated, is this the best way of effectively expressing her personally admitted "grown and sexy" self?
Terri Lyne Carrington's dual identity as an extraordinary progressive jazz drummer and powerful in-the-pocket groove driver has been presented on her previous recordings. While straddling those lines appeals to different audiences, this CD reverts back to her more commercial roots from 20 years ago, centering on the contemporary, rhythm & blues oriented side of music from an instrumental standpoint. One look at the contributors she has employed here tells the tale, as George Duke, Everette Harp, Dwight Sills, Kirk Whalum, Walter Beasley, and Jimmy Haslip are present and accounted for. This lends to a more produced side, rather than creative aspects of music that can only marginally be called jazz. Though spurts of improvisation, blues, or minimal swing do occur, this is a blatant attempt to appeal to the urban crowd, and the result is relatively bland though danceable music. When you hear the opener "More to Say," you wonder in what limited language? "Everyday" is pretty much straight funk standard fare, while "Favorite Lullaby" is not really a lullaby, as Whalum grooves via a predictable stolid beat while guitarist Dave Fiuczynski at least attempts to add some mystery on his electric guitar. Carrington offers no real spice, as her steadied beats reduce her immense talent into mechanically derived cotton candy. There's some actual good music played during "Dorian's Playground" with overdubbed saxes, while "Papa San," with her father Sonny Carrington's tenor sax, Ambrose Akinmusire's trumpet, and Anthony Wilson's guitar chords is somewhat interesting. "No Not One" and "Abuelita" break the mold, the former an Afro-Cuban feature for pianist Danilo Perez with a much larger band that crackles with excitement via a horn section, while a bonus track, "Real Life," is a better funk with horns, vocals, and a nice guitar inserted. As blatant pop covers, the pleasant light samba "Imagine This" featuring Nancy Wilson with Duke's acoustic piano and Christian McBride on bass, or the Ramsey Lewis composition "Mesmerized" with Beasley and Chuck Loeb, work to a certain extent. A throwaway version of the somber John Lennon/Paul McCartney song "Let It Be" is rendered more tired and lazy than anew. When keyboardist Patrice Rushen plays, the songs are uplifted to a certain degree due to her talent. If a great artist decides to water down their music to appeal to a commercial palate, one must question why. Does Carrington need the money that badly (she did write most of this music) to receive royalties for limited airplay? Or, as she stated, is this the best way of effectively expressing her personally admitted "grown and sexy" self? ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide


Pop-culture junkies may recall that Terri Lyne Carrington was the drummer who held down the groove for the Posse on Arsenio Hall’s popular talk show from 1989 to 1994. She’s gained well-deserved respect since then for her composing and producing skills, not to mention her touring and session work with heavyweights like Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. She’s released a few straightahead CDs overseas, but is calling her new one More to Say, a bookend to her 1989 Grammy-nominated debut, Real Life Story. How do we know this? Well, she’s subtitled the new project Real Life Story: NextGen. Arsenio would approve of Carrington’s latest, where the R&B, jazz, pop, rap and vocal songs fit nicely into an adult-contemporary and smooth-jazz framework. Carrington has signaled her shift from traditional to pop-jazz by enlisting such contemporary musicians as George Duke, Kirk Whalum, Lori Perry, Dwight Sills, Everette Harp, Chuck Loeb and more. If you know jazz and its various landscapes, you know where this is going. That established, More to Say mostly lacks modernity and edge. Carrington shows her smooth-jazz knowledge with “Sherwood Forest” and “Mesmerized,” and her blues acumen with “Hold Me Again,” where her pitch-perfect vocals contrast Les McCann’s smoky pipes. And her jazz background shines on “Imagine This,” with the wonderful Nancy Wilson supplying vocals.