Exclusive: Jazz Artist Terri Lyne Carrington On Consulting Pixar’s Soul, Her Recent Grammy Nomination & Being Among The 2021 NEA Jazz Masters

Coming out this Christmas Day from Pixar is ‘Soul’ their first animated film starring a predominant Black cast, led by Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx. Directed by Pete Docter, the Academy Award-winning director behind “Inside Out” and “Up,” and co-director/writer Kemp Powers (“One Night In Miami”), the film also stars the voice talents of Tina Fey, Phylicia Rashad, Ahmir Questlove Thompson, Angela Bassett and Daveed Diggs

Joe is a middle-school band teacher whose life hasn't quite gone the way he expected. His true passion is jazz -- and he's good. But when he travels to another realm to help someone find their passion, he soon discovers what it means to have soul.

Among a group of musicians who were consultants on the project are Herbie Hancock, Terri Lyne Carrington, Marcus McLaurine, George Spencer and Jon Batiste.

For Carrington, she’s having a banner year, despite the constraints that the pandemic crisis has had on many artists. Recently, the National Endowment for the Arts named Carrington among the 2021 NEA Jazz Masters and she and band Social Science also received a nomination in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category for the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. Back in 2013, Carrington was the first woman to win a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue. Terri was also the music curator and consultant for The HistoryMakers’ 20th anniversary series of events, “20 Days and 20 Nights” this year.

BlackFilmandTV.com caught up with Carrington as she spoke about her experience working on Soul, her Grammy nomination and being among the 2021 Jazz Masters honorees.

How did you go about being involved with Pixar’s Soul?

Terri Lyne Carrington: Basically, I got a phone call from a stranger - Tom McDougall. He's Executive Vice President of Music at Pixar. He knew my music and just basically asked me if I wanted to consult on this film. Then I went out to the Bay Area. Pixar is located in Emeryville, California. I saw the film and they asked my opinion and then we started this relationship. I went back out there and they would send me things as the movie was being developed.

When you consult, what did they want you to come in with?

Terri Lyne Carrington: My knowledge about the genre, or the field that they're investigating in their film. So for this one, it's jazz. They have lots of different people involved, but I became a lead consultant. I helped with making sure their cultural take on it all was accurate.

I know that Herbie Hancock, Jon Baptiste and other musicians were brought in as well and some of them are your colleagues. Did you guys talk about what each of you were contributing to the film?

Terri Lyne Carrington: Well, the first time I went out there, Herbie was there and a few other musicians were there as well. The second time I went, I don't think there was so many musicians. Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole, who was president of Spelman, was there. Because I'm also a professor, and the lead character is a teacher, I spilled over into their educational component as well as music. I went out a couple of times and got into things like, how the characters were dressed, and the slang and those things being said that were written in the script. Most (of the dialogue) felt good, but some still needed some tweaking.

What do you think this movie will do for kids? This is the first Pixar film led by Black cast? Do you think this is going to introduce kids to the world of jazz?

Terri Lyne Carrington: I certainly hope so. These are all Black characters being portrayed. It's really incredible to see that in a Pixar film, and animated so well. Pixar is known for really doing the deep dive into their subject matters. I think the kids that see it, and adults will surely learn about the music, but I also think that it's just great for them to see characters that look like them on the big screen.

Congrats on your Grammy nomination. How special is it to get recognize for your work?

Terri Lyne Carrington: It's very special this time, especially because I have a band, Social Science. So it's not just me nominated. It's six people. I'm really proud of this project and our collaboration. The six of us worked hard on this record for two and a half years. I'm happy for them because this is their first nomination. I'm hopeful that people listen to the record. A lot of times people vote for names they recognize, without taking deep dives into the recordings. Ours is different because it's a double album.

The first album is produced in a way that you can hear these genres blending - jazz with indie rock and hip hop and R&B. There’s a Joni Mitchell cover, which is the only cover on the album. But the second album is a real improvisational jazz album with strings and woodwinds, overdubbed and orchestrated into the improvisation. There is something there for everybody but you have to have patience and listen, which is harder these days because people are used to hearing one song at a time. So I'm hoping that people take the time.

How many Black women are in your line of work?

Terri Lyne Carrington: There are some, but there needs to be more. It's interesting question, because jazz originated as Black music, created from the Black experience. As Black music changed with the times, I think people forgot where jazz came from, as well as blues. So these forms being taught in colleges where you can get a PhD, the people that are studying, they aren't necessarily always of color. Most people of color don't have access to the early jazz education programs which helps to gain access to these higher institutions, nor the resources to study it. It's a little frustrating for me, especially as an educator, to not have as many Black students as I would like. I can't give you the answer on how you can fix this but more and more exposure is an important factor. Films like Soul hopefully will help with that.

But to answer your question, yes, there are a lot of Black women that play. If you were to look up on the internet, women in jazz, you would probably find in today's group, not as many. But if you were to look up from the past, most would be Black women. So it's interesting how this thing has changed over the years. With the hip hop community, I joke with my friends in that community, saying, “You should look at what has happened to jazz and the blues, through education, because there's more and more institutions offering graduate degrees in hip hop." I say look out because when that happens, it's showing you the direction of the music and the players and the participants once it's commodified in that way.

Congrats, again, on be included among the NEA Jazz Masters. How did you feel when you got notified?

Terri Lyne Carrington: Well, it was interesting because when I got the call, I thought it was about the show we just did. I was the musical director for their previous show that aired this past August. So when they called me the next month, I thought maybe they were going to ask us about the previous show, or ask me to music direct next year's show. I was pretty shocked when they said that I had been voted in as a Jazz Master this year. The first thing I thought was some people are going to think I'm too young. There were only a couple of people that were younger than me before, and that was early on with Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman. But I started professionally when I was 10. I'm 55 now so that's still 45 years of doing it.

Where does the love come from to continue to do this as opposed to doing something else?

Terri Lyne Carrington: I think that you said it right there. The love is it. Once you get that bug, for this music, you care about it. You care about its future. That's why I'm doing so much in the educational realm, and trying to mentor as many people as possible because I want to see the music continually flourish and grow, but also with equity. I started an institute at Berklee College of Music called the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, focusing on the issue of not having enough women and non-binary instrumentalists, with the intention to mentor and provide safe nurturing spaces to develop. The music really won't reach its full potential until this happens. I'm doing this because I care about the music and I think once you get the jazz bug, you don't really ever leave it. I do like all forms of music, but there's something really special about being able to improvise on the stage and make things up as you go along. The success of the performance is based on how well you improvise. You can't really feel it like that in any other place other than in jazz.