The Mosaic Trio, a female band that will perform at Bowdoin next Monday, defies the traditional definition of successful girl groups like the Spice Girls or the Dixie Chicks.
On her website, drummer and founder Terri Lyne Carrington stated that she sometimes felt her gender was underrepresented within the traditionally male genre of jazz. "The Mosaic Project" was an effort to bring her fellow female jazz musicians to the forefront. The different generations, cultures and instruments of each of the contributors make the CD into a musical mosaic—hence the name. The participants in "The Mosaic Project" vary from concert to concert.
"Though it is my project, it is the personalities, the lives, and the talent of all of these women that make this project so special and indeed a group offering [a] unique statement we made together based on common, yet diverse, points of view," wrote Carrington in an e-mail to the Orient.
As a Grammy-nominated musician that has performed with greats like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, Carrington has been a force in the jazz community for years. She is currently a professor at the Berklee College of Music and serves as the artistic director for Boston's Beantown Jazz Festival.
The group performing next Monday is rounded out by pianist Geri Allen and bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding. All three members are well-known solo artists.
"The Trio does not normally tour together, so it is a real treat to have three of today's most celebrated female musicians perform together," said Associate Director of Events Brenna Hensley, who helped put the event together.
Bowdoin is fortunate to host Carrington and Allen for the first time and Spalding for the second.
Spalding performed on campus in Fall 2008, one of many stops in her career forums internationally. After teaching herself to play the violin as a child, Spalding became enamored with the bass and singing. She studied music at the Berklee College of Music, also Carrington's alma mater, and became an instructor at the college at 20 years old—its youngest ever.
Spalding has played on a variety of late night network television shows, on NPR, at the White House and at the Nobel Prize Ceremony.
Allen, the Trio's pianist, has been performing since 1982. She has received a variety of awards, including the first Lady Of Soul Award in Jazz, the Danish Jazzpar Prize, and the keys to the cities of Cambridge, Mass. and Cleveland, Ohio.
The Office of Events has been working for nine months to set up the concert.
"All three of these artists tour independently, so coordinating their schedules with Bowdoin's schedule and finding the right venue can be tough," said Hensley.
The idea for the concert came from faculty members, who requested that Carrington, an internationally-praised jazz musician, perform at Bowdoin. The request happened to coincide with the release of the "The Mosaic Project," an ensemble CD, and so the trio was asked to perform at the College.
The 90-minute concert on Monday is sponsored by the Mellon President's Arts and Lecture Fund.
The performance will be held in Kanbar Auditorium in Studzinksi Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Advance tickets have long been sold out, but tickets will be available at the Studzinski Recital Hall box office beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Monday night.
Tickets are $15 for the general public, $10 for members of the Association of Bowdoin Friends (limit of two per ID), and free for Bowdoin students, faculty and staff (limit of two per ID).