“The Mosaic Project” is a Grammy Award winning record in the category Best Vocal Jazz Album 2012 by drummer and producer Terri Lyne Carrington, on which she gathered female contemporary jazz artists.
The album features 20 female musicians, among whom piano player Helen Sung, percussionist Sheila E. and vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater, Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Nona Hendryx, Carmen Lundy and Esperanza Spalding. Carrington who is well known for making music with elements of bebop, soul and funk and reaching a broader audience beyond jazz fans with it produced the album herself.
“I wanted to give a big musical picture made of different elements. I assembled several friends I played with in the past, and all of whom bring their individual story, to help me create the big picture. When you gather all of their individual talents and put them all together, you get a musical story, one that can be told in an interesting and compelling way”, as Terri Lyne explained.
The caliber of these artists speaks for itself, there’s no sense of compromise here, or of an agenda limiting the options, which resulted in an interesting project made of 14 songs including the album’s most politically strident song Bernice Reagon’s “Echo” performed by Dianne Reeves, followed by sumptuous Al Green’s “Simply Beautiful” performed by Cassandra Wilson.