Terri Lyne Carrington’s “Money Jungle” is Avail Now | WATCH NEW EPK!

Available Now: GRAMMY® Winner TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON  Pays Homage to Duke Ellington’s Money Jungle



Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue Marks 50th Anniversary
of Release of Historic Ellington-Mingus-Roach Recording

Featuring Gerald Clayton and Christian McBride, with guests
Clark Terry, Lizz Wright, Herbie Hancock and Others

In 1962, Duke Ellington recorded a trio date with bassist Charlie Mingus and drummer Max Roach that is today considered one of the pivotal jazz recordings of the 1960s. Money Jungle, the 1963 album that emerged from the session, was – among other things – a commentary on the perennial tug-of-war between art and commerce. In some ways, the album’s 11 tracks were intended as a sort of counterbalance to the capitalist bent of the Mad Men generation.

Fifty years later, this precarious balance in the world of jazz – or in any art form, for that matter – hasn’t changed much. Enter GRAMMY® Award-winning drummer, composer and bandleader Terri Lyne Carrington, who enlists the aid of two high-profile collaborators – keyboardist Gerald Clayton and bassist Christian McBride – to pay tribute to Duke, his trio and his creative vision with a cover of this historic recording. Carrington’s Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue was released by Concord Jazz on February 5, 2013.

Duke’s original recording is something that has haunted Carrington since she first heard it about a decade ago. “I had bought it on CD, from the discount bin in a music store,” she recalls. “I put it on in my car, and I immediately just felt something mysterious about it. There was just an energy that moved through the tracks. Duke and Charles and Max had a chemistry about them. There was this tension that you could hear, and yet they fit together like a hand in a glove.”

In preparation for the project, Carrington read up on Duke’s biography. “I felt like a method actor, she says. “I just dug as deep as I could in the time that I had to get a glimpse of his perspective on things. When you start rearranging music by someone like Duke Ellington, you better feel really good about what you’re doing. In the end, I felt confident that I didn’t do him a disservice, because he was a very open-minded artist, and he was very much about moving forward.”

Carrington considers her Money Jungle – like its predecessor – primarily a trio album, but she’s not averse to some enhancement and additional textures along the way. Helping out with the rearrangements and reinterpretations is an impressive list of guest artists: trumpeter Clark Terry, trombonist Robin Eubanks, reed players Tia Fuller and Antonio Hart, guitarist Nir Felder, percussionist Arturo Stabile and vocalists Shea Rose and Lizz Wright. Herbie Hancock appears in a spoken word segment as the voice of Duke Ellington.

The set opens with the driving title track, which opens with the simple but unsettling spoken-word observation about a capitalist society: “You have to create problems to create profit.” Despite the ominous message, the music that follows is surprisingly bouyant, thanks to an elastic rhythm set up by Carrington in support of her collaborators’ exploratory piano and bass interplay. All of it is peppered with clips from speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and others.

The pace slows down a bit with “Fleurette Africain,” a track that features Robin Eubanks on trombone, and Tia Fuller and Antonio Hart on flutes, as well as the iconic Clark Terry on trumpet. Terry also delivers a stream-of-conscious vocal line that’s part spoken-word part scatting. “Getting Clark Terry on this track was one of the most special parts of the record, because he’s someone who is really connected to Duke Ellington,” says Carrington. “My first gig was with Clark at 10 years old then I joined his band when I was 18, after I had left home and moved to New York. His vocals really bring it home for me, and this track kind of brings my career full circle.”

Vocalist Lizz Wright – who has participated in numerous live performances in support of Carrington’s all-female, GRAMMY®-Award winning recording, The Mosaic Project – steps up to the mic for “Backward Country Boy Blues.” The track begins in the spirit of deep Delta gospel, then morphs into something much more contemporary and orchestrated. All the while, Wright’s atmospheric vocals bring an element of mystery to the track.


Photo Credit: Annette Brown

Carrington inserts two of her own compositions into the set – the syncopated yet melodic “Grass Roots” and the ominous-turned-lively “No Boxes (Nor Words)” – along with “Cut Off,” a delicate piece written by Clayton. The three tracks replace “Warm Valley,” “Caravan” and “Solitude,” which appear on Duke’s original Money Jungle but were not written specifically for the date. In tribute to Ellington and his original work, Clayton’s “Cut Off” does include numerous melodic references to “Solitude.”

The set ends on the quiet notes of “Rem Blues/Music,” which features the voices of Shea Rose and Herbie Hancock. Rose works her way through the song with a spoken-word recitation of the poem, “Music,” which compares the art form to a multi-faceted and irresistibly seductive woman. Hancock closes the track quoting Duke Ellington, with observations about the role of music in society and the popularity of money versus the popularity of art.

The music of Duke’s Money Jungle may have first emerged a half-century ago, but “there’s nothing old about great music and great musicians,” says Carrington, who sees her own Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue as addressing some of the same issues as its 1963 predecessor. “There’s always something that’s new, if you know how to listen to it. You have to be able to appreciate the past if you want to have a future. I think that’s a big part of our job as artists and entertainers and educators – to keep reminding the younger musicians how important our predecessors were – especially the people who made the music what it is today. So it was my goal to bring some fresh light and fresh energy to some of Duke’s music in general and this recording in particular.”

Terri Lyne Carrington – Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue EPK
Terri Lyne Carrington
Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue EPK
 
For more information on Terri Lyne Carrington,
please visit: terrilynecarrington.net or Like us on Facebook

For more information on Concord Music Group,
please visit: concordmusicgroup.com or Like us on Facebook

For more information on HCM/GrooveJazz Media,
please visit: HCMDigital.com or Like us on Facebook

DL Media

MORE News on T.U.M.S.!

The City of Philadelphia Honoring Frankie Beverly With Street Renaming Ceremony In May
R&B Singer Tony Walk to Release New Single "Tell Me You Want It" on April 5th, 2024
Mariah Carey Receives SoundExchange Hall of Fame Award
Gospel Singer Hezekiah Walker Set to Break Ground on East Brooklyn Affordable Housing Development
Music Legend Maurice White’s Final Recordings "Manifestation" Coming May 3rd, 2024 | WATCH NEW TRAIL...
Kevin Flournoy and Amanda Cole to Release New Track “To The Water” on April 5th, 2024 | LISTEN! New ...
Jazz/Funk Bassist Christian de Mesones to Release New Album “You Only Live Twice” on April 12th, 202...
The Bobby Broom Organi-Sation to Release New Live Project "Jamalot" on May 24th, 2024 | WATCH NEW VI...
Percussionist Eric Frazier to Release New Project "That Place, Featuring Return of The Panther Woman...
Gospel Singer Keri Fraser to Release New Single "You Are Holy" on March 29th, 2024
Nigel Hall & DJ Harrison to Release Tribute Album "The Burning Bush: A Journey Through the Music of ...
Sierra Green & The Giants Releases New Single "Break in the Road" | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Jazz Guitarist Adam Hawley Releases New Album "Unstoppable" | LISTEN! Announces New Tour Dates for 2...
Davido and Lila Iké Release New Single “Flex My Soul” | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Blue Note Records Announces New Run of Titles for Classic Vinyl Reissue Series
GRAMMY-Winning Musician Don Was Announces New Group Don Was and The Pan-Detroit Ensemble | WATCH NEW...
R&B Singer Devon Howard Releases New Album "Morning Son" | LISTEN!
Director P. Frank Williams Launches Multimedia Venture "For The Culture, By The Culture"
Sheila E. Releases New Single "Bemba Colorá" feat Gloria Estefan & Mimy Succar | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Funk/Soul-Jazz Group The New Mastersounds to Release New Album "Old School" on March 29th, 2024 | LI...
Singer Lawrence Rosenborough Releases New EP "Human Relations" | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Soul-Blues Singer Sugaray Rayford to Release New Album "Human Decency" on June 14th, 2024 | LISTEN!
The Powerhouse Fellowship Soul Choir feat. Shawn Cotterell Release New Single "God Is Good" | WATCH ...
Bay Area Saxophonist Raffi Garabedian Releases New Project "The Crazy Dog" | LISTEN!
Latin Jazz Ensemble Dave Schumacher & Cubeye to Release New Album "Smoke In The Sky" on April 12th, ...
Photographer Matthew Jordan Smith to Release New Book "Aretha Cool: The Intimate Portraits" on March...
Jazz Guitarist Ronny Smith to Release New Album "Struttin" on April 19th, 2024
Saxophonist Michael Cates Releases New Single "Get On It" | LISTEN!
Jazz Guitarist Norman Brown to Release New Album "It Hits Different" on March 29th, 2024 | LISTEN!
Singer/Songwriter Gene-o aka “Classic Twist” Releases New Single “Holding Back The Years” feat. Saxo...
Jazz Guitarist Chris Standring to Release New Project "As We Think" on April 5th, 2024
Violinist Alexa Torres & Her Quartet to Release New Album "In Situ" on June 14th, 2024
Vocalist Queen Esther to Release New Album "Things Are Looking Up" on April 9th, 2024 | LISTEN!
Saxophonist Mo Louis Releases New Track "To The Maxx" feat. Jeff Lorber | LISTEN!
Sevana Releases New Single "Keep Going (Chosen)" | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Norah Jones Releases New Album "Visions" | WATCH NEW VIDEO! Announces New Tour for 2024
R&B Singer Ledisi Releases New Single “Perfect Stranger” feat. Kenny Lattimore | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Saxophonist Melissa Aldana Releases New Track "A Story" | WATCH NEW VIDEO! New Album Drops April 5th...
The Stylistics To Re-Release Album "Love Is Back In Style" On March 8th, 2024 | WATCH & LISTEN!
Singer ROME Releases Cover of Lee Fields Soul Song "Forever" | WATCH NEW VIDEO!