Chan Centre to Offer Jazz Double Bill, 2/15

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is proud to present an evening of jazz and cross-genre musical exploration in a spectacular double bill featuring drummer, composer, producer, and entrepreneur, Terri Lyne Carrington's Mosaic Project and vocalist and Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition winner Cécile McLorin Salvant on Sunday, February 15 at 7pm in the Chan Shun Concert Hall. The concert will be preceded by a pre-concert talk with Terri Lyne Carrington, moderated by CBC's Margaret Gallagher, at 6:15pm in the Royal Bank Cinema, during which Carrington will discuss her GRAMMY Award-winning The Mosaic Project.

Terri Lyne Carrington has been at the top of the music industry for more than 20 years, collaborating with many of the greatest jazz luminaries of our time, including the legendary Dizzy Gillespie. In the 1980s, she gained recognition on late night TV as the house drummer for the Arsenio Hall Show. Notable examples of her work include Herbie Hancock's GRAMMY Award-winning CD Gershwin's World, which she recorded with Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder. The Mosaic Project, which was released as an album in 2011, is a highly-acclaimed celebration of accomplished female artists collaborating to make a unique musical statement based on common, yet diverse, points of view.

For the Vancouver premiere, Carrington has assembled an outstanding ensemble for the project including vocalist Lizz Wright, saxophonist Tia Fuller, Nanaimo-raised trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, pianist Helen Sung, bassist Josh Hari, and guitarist Matt Stevens. She says of this work, "For me, there is magic in every piece because of the incredible line-up of players and guest artists. It's the personalities, lives, and talent of all of these women that make this project so special."

Ahead of Carrington's Mosaic Project is jazz songstress Cécile McLorin Salvant, appearing for the first time in Vancouver. Classically trained in Aix-en-Provence, France, this young singer continues to make her mark with her GRAMMY-nominated debut album, WomanChild, which has been described as displaying exquisite technique, pitch-perfect phrasing, and thoughtful song selection. Famed trumpeter Wynton Marsalis noted, "Cécile has poise, elegance, soul, humor, sensuality, power, virtuosity, range, insight, intelligence, depth, and grace." In addition, the New York Times has raved that "if anyone can extend the lineage of the Big Three - Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald - it's this 23-year-old virtuoso." Her repertoire includes early gems from the 20th Century American songbook.

As a special treat for jazz enthusiasts who wish to equip themselves with a better understanding of the struggle faced by female artists seeking legitimacy in the jazz world since the 1930s, the Chan Centre will also present the captivating film The Girls in the Band at The Cinematheque (1131 Howe St.) on February 5, 2015 at 7pm. This primer to the Chan Centre concert depicts the perserverence of aspiring young jazz musicians in overcoming sexism, racism, and diminished opportunities in a field that seldom welcomed women - paving the way for the success of today's towering female talents.