MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Missoula company is getting a $2.5 million contract to make special sensors invented by a University of Montana professor that will be used to monitor oceans, the National Science Foundation announced.
The contract announced Friday with Sunburst Sensors LLC has the company making 110 of the devices developed by chemistry professor Mike DeGrandpre.
"It's a big thing for Missoula," DeGrandpre said. "We'll be hiring. We just don't really know (how many). We haven't scaled up to this level before."
DeGrandpre started Sunburst Sensors in 1999, the Missoulian reported (http://bit.ly/yWTITS ), but he continues to work as a chemistry professor at the University of Montana. The company is run full-time by Jim Beck, a mechanical engineer who joined Sunburst Sensors in 2005.
"We've really made a lot of progress over the past several years in proving our work and getting national recognition," Beck said. "It's going to be a lot of work. There will be some growing pains, but we're definitely excited we were chosen for this."
Over the next three years, the Submersible Autonomous Moored Instruments will be deployed as part of the 30-year Ocean Observatories Initiative. The sensors, which cost about $22,000 each, are designed to track pH levels and the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide in water. Officials said most of the sensors will be moored off coastal North America.
DeGrandpre said the company's selection for the contract is recognition that it is building a good product.
"Not getting it financially wouldn't be devastating," he said. "But oceanographers know our company. If we didn't get it, that would signal our technology isn't the best."
The sensors are part of a plan to better understand ocean acidification, in which bodies of water absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the air.
DeGrandpre said the submersible sensors he developed have a pressure housing system and sensor information system that make them able to collect information more accurately. The sensors are also able to send continuous information through satellite transmitters.
"We can look at small changes in levels from more time and across more space," DeGrandpre said.
2012年2月12日星期日
More Than Beads: Mardi Gras for Families
There's more to Mardi Gras than beads and boobs, at least if you stay off Bourbon Street.
Though the carnival celebration has long been synonymous with debauchery, the key components of New Orleans Mardi Gras seem to have been dreamed up with kids in mind. Lavish costumes and intricate masks, beautiful floats on parade, music all day long and people throwing treats -- it seems like a vacation tailormade for children. And the good news for parents? Most of the events are free.
But what about the boobs?
They're easy enough to avoid, said Jennifer Day at the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. Avoiding the flashers means avoiding Bourbon Street from the weekend before Fat Tuesday, the apex of the celebration, through the day itself. "It's a huge party," she said, "but definitely adults only."
The famous French Quarter consists of more than just Bourbon Street, however, and it doesn't need to be avoided altogether. Families should feel comfortable heading to Jackson Street and Chartres Street, also in the French Quarter, on Fat Tuesday and the days leading up to it to see the incredible costumes. Eileen Ogintz, author of the syndicated family travel column seconded Jackson Square for the "great street performers playing musical instruments and tap dancing."
Cats Play Dress Up for Mardi Gras Watch Video
Mardi Gras in Full Swing Watch Video
When to Go The secret of a truly family-friendly Mardi Gras is to think of the event as a season instead of just a raucous few days. There are plenty of festivities leading up to the big event that are less crowded and far more appropriate for the kids. Weekend parades start two weeks before Fat Tuesday. The parades move to a daily schedule the Wednesday before (Feb. 15 – 21 in 2012). Travelers will also pay less for their hotel rooms by avoiding the peak travel days surrounding the event.
Kid-friendly Attractions For parade viewing, the rule of thumb, says Day, is that the party gets wilder the farther downtown you go. She suggests viewing anywhere from Napoleon Avenue to the Lee Circle roundabout. And if you can get your hands on one of the so-called Mardi Gras ladders, definitely do -- they resemble very tall high-chairs and make it easier for the kids to catch treats being thrown along parade routes.
Be sure to sample a king cake. Readily available in New Orleans and ubiquitous during Mardi Gras, the cake is made of cinnamon-filled dough and baked in a hollow circle and topped with glaze and sugar. There's a tiny plastic baby baked inside. The tradition is that whoever gets the piece of cake with the baby has to buy the next king cake or throw the next party. The baby is said to represent the baby Jesus and is eaten to celebrate King's Day, the start of the Mardi Gras season.
In nearby Jefferson Parish, Family Gras attracts parents and kids -- 80,000 of them in 2011. Family Gras takes place two weekends before Fat Tuesday and includes music acts. This year the Bacon Brothers (as in Kevin Bacon) and the Doodlebops will be there. Fright Night Friday, when families are encouraged to dress up in their scariest costumes, and Sports Saturday, when everyone wears his or her favorite team's colors, are two of the festivities that take place at Family Gras.
Though the carnival celebration has long been synonymous with debauchery, the key components of New Orleans Mardi Gras seem to have been dreamed up with kids in mind. Lavish costumes and intricate masks, beautiful floats on parade, music all day long and people throwing treats -- it seems like a vacation tailormade for children. And the good news for parents? Most of the events are free.
But what about the boobs?
They're easy enough to avoid, said Jennifer Day at the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. Avoiding the flashers means avoiding Bourbon Street from the weekend before Fat Tuesday, the apex of the celebration, through the day itself. "It's a huge party," she said, "but definitely adults only."
The famous French Quarter consists of more than just Bourbon Street, however, and it doesn't need to be avoided altogether. Families should feel comfortable heading to Jackson Street and Chartres Street, also in the French Quarter, on Fat Tuesday and the days leading up to it to see the incredible costumes. Eileen Ogintz, author of the syndicated family travel column seconded Jackson Square for the "great street performers playing musical instruments and tap dancing."
Cats Play Dress Up for Mardi Gras Watch Video
Mardi Gras in Full Swing Watch Video
When to Go The secret of a truly family-friendly Mardi Gras is to think of the event as a season instead of just a raucous few days. There are plenty of festivities leading up to the big event that are less crowded and far more appropriate for the kids. Weekend parades start two weeks before Fat Tuesday. The parades move to a daily schedule the Wednesday before (Feb. 15 – 21 in 2012). Travelers will also pay less for their hotel rooms by avoiding the peak travel days surrounding the event.
Kid-friendly Attractions For parade viewing, the rule of thumb, says Day, is that the party gets wilder the farther downtown you go. She suggests viewing anywhere from Napoleon Avenue to the Lee Circle roundabout. And if you can get your hands on one of the so-called Mardi Gras ladders, definitely do -- they resemble very tall high-chairs and make it easier for the kids to catch treats being thrown along parade routes.
Be sure to sample a king cake. Readily available in New Orleans and ubiquitous during Mardi Gras, the cake is made of cinnamon-filled dough and baked in a hollow circle and topped with glaze and sugar. There's a tiny plastic baby baked inside. The tradition is that whoever gets the piece of cake with the baby has to buy the next king cake or throw the next party. The baby is said to represent the baby Jesus and is eaten to celebrate King's Day, the start of the Mardi Gras season.
In nearby Jefferson Parish, Family Gras attracts parents and kids -- 80,000 of them in 2011. Family Gras takes place two weekends before Fat Tuesday and includes music acts. This year the Bacon Brothers (as in Kevin Bacon) and the Doodlebops will be there. Fright Night Friday, when families are encouraged to dress up in their scariest costumes, and Sports Saturday, when everyone wears his or her favorite team's colors, are two of the festivities that take place at Family Gras.
Santorum's surge means new strategy for Romney
WASHINGTON (AP) — Staggered by Rick Santorum's surge, Mitt Romney is trying to reset his presidential campaign by defining himself as a strict conservative.
The former Massachusetts governor had focused on his business credentials and played down his ideology, four years after he failed in his attempt to win the GOP nomination by running as a social conservative.
"I was a severely conservative Republican governor," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Committee's annual gathering Friday. It was a speech that, advisers said, Romney viewed as an important chance to speak directly to the conservatives who rejected him in three contests last Tuesday.
He insisted that he is a conservative in both record and background, trying to convince the GOP's skeptical right flank that he is acceptable as the party's nominee.
"My path to conservatism came from my family, from my faith and from my life's work," Romney said.
He's working to gain trust from the activists who make up the GOP base and who drive the Republican primary contest. They view him skeptically because of his past shifts on a variety of issues, including his previous support for abortion rights.
Conservatives generally view Romney's chief rivals, Santorum and Newt Gingrich, as having views more in line with their own.
Romney's new message comes as he's trying to prove he can win over a broad spectrum of Republicans. He has yet to win a majority of GOP votes in any of the contests he's won so far. And he's looking to emerge strongly from Super Tuesday, March 6, when 10 states hold nominating contests.
In offering the defense, though, Romney drew attention to the problem he's faced throughout the primary contest.
"I've never heard anybody say, 'I'm severely conservative,'" conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Friday.
Romney's conservative opposition remains divided — the former House speaker has won one state and the former Pennsylvania senator four. But Santorum is suddenly threatening Romney's dominance in states where his team had previously felt comfortable.
This past week, Santorum won contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. While Romney's team decided not to compete in Missouri's nonbinding primary and acknowledged early that Minnesota might pose problems, they were much more optimistic about Colorado. Romney spent several days campaigning there ahead of the caucuses, but his team spent just $32,000 on TV ads in the state.
In a sign it's nervous about continued losses, Romney's team abruptly added campaign events in Maine, where results from the caucuses were to be announced Saturday. He also held a town hall in the state Friday night; it was the first event where he took questions from voters since he campaigned in South Carolina in January.
Romney's team is preparing an aggressive push against Santorum in Michigan, where Romney was born and where Romney is a household name and where his advisers had hoped for an easy victory. Romney's father, George, served as governor of Michigan and chairman of American Motors Corp. before mounting a failed bid for president in 1968.
Romney all but ignored Santorum ahead of this week's contests. Advisers say that will change, with Romney taking on Santorum's record on union issues during his time in the Senate from heavily unionized Pennsylvania.
Santorum joined a filibuster of a national right-to-work act and voted to defend legislation that sets pay for public sector workers. He defends that record as an issue of states' rights.
Romney has also planned a more aggressive campaign schedule in Michigan in the coming weeks. He plans to stop in Grand Rapids on Wednesday and the Detroit area on Thursday, and stay in the Midwest through the end of the week. He's likely to spend some time campaigning in Ohio, which holds its primary on March 6, Super Tuesday, and is the second Rust Belt state to hold a nominating contest.
Romney's big advantage is money. He and his allies, the super PAC Restore Our Future, have spent a combined $25 million on TV ads to date, helping to drive wins in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada. That dwarfs the $7.1 million Gingrich and his allies have spent on airtime and the $2.5 million Santorum backers have shelled out.
Still, Romney is facing a crush of primaries and caucuses on March 6, when his financial edge will be tested. But he always could add to that himself. He hasn't said if he'll contribute any of his considerable personal fortune to the campaign. In 2008, he spent $45 million.
The former Massachusetts governor had focused on his business credentials and played down his ideology, four years after he failed in his attempt to win the GOP nomination by running as a social conservative.
"I was a severely conservative Republican governor," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Committee's annual gathering Friday. It was a speech that, advisers said, Romney viewed as an important chance to speak directly to the conservatives who rejected him in three contests last Tuesday.
He insisted that he is a conservative in both record and background, trying to convince the GOP's skeptical right flank that he is acceptable as the party's nominee.
"My path to conservatism came from my family, from my faith and from my life's work," Romney said.
He's working to gain trust from the activists who make up the GOP base and who drive the Republican primary contest. They view him skeptically because of his past shifts on a variety of issues, including his previous support for abortion rights.
Conservatives generally view Romney's chief rivals, Santorum and Newt Gingrich, as having views more in line with their own.
Romney's new message comes as he's trying to prove he can win over a broad spectrum of Republicans. He has yet to win a majority of GOP votes in any of the contests he's won so far. And he's looking to emerge strongly from Super Tuesday, March 6, when 10 states hold nominating contests.
In offering the defense, though, Romney drew attention to the problem he's faced throughout the primary contest.
"I've never heard anybody say, 'I'm severely conservative,'" conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Friday.
Romney's conservative opposition remains divided — the former House speaker has won one state and the former Pennsylvania senator four. But Santorum is suddenly threatening Romney's dominance in states where his team had previously felt comfortable.
This past week, Santorum won contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. While Romney's team decided not to compete in Missouri's nonbinding primary and acknowledged early that Minnesota might pose problems, they were much more optimistic about Colorado. Romney spent several days campaigning there ahead of the caucuses, but his team spent just $32,000 on TV ads in the state.
In a sign it's nervous about continued losses, Romney's team abruptly added campaign events in Maine, where results from the caucuses were to be announced Saturday. He also held a town hall in the state Friday night; it was the first event where he took questions from voters since he campaigned in South Carolina in January.
Romney's team is preparing an aggressive push against Santorum in Michigan, where Romney was born and where Romney is a household name and where his advisers had hoped for an easy victory. Romney's father, George, served as governor of Michigan and chairman of American Motors Corp. before mounting a failed bid for president in 1968.
Romney all but ignored Santorum ahead of this week's contests. Advisers say that will change, with Romney taking on Santorum's record on union issues during his time in the Senate from heavily unionized Pennsylvania.
Santorum joined a filibuster of a national right-to-work act and voted to defend legislation that sets pay for public sector workers. He defends that record as an issue of states' rights.
Romney has also planned a more aggressive campaign schedule in Michigan in the coming weeks. He plans to stop in Grand Rapids on Wednesday and the Detroit area on Thursday, and stay in the Midwest through the end of the week. He's likely to spend some time campaigning in Ohio, which holds its primary on March 6, Super Tuesday, and is the second Rust Belt state to hold a nominating contest.
Romney's big advantage is money. He and his allies, the super PAC Restore Our Future, have spent a combined $25 million on TV ads to date, helping to drive wins in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada. That dwarfs the $7.1 million Gingrich and his allies have spent on airtime and the $2.5 million Santorum backers have shelled out.
Still, Romney is facing a crush of primaries and caucuses on March 6, when his financial edge will be tested. But he always could add to that himself. He hasn't said if he'll contribute any of his considerable personal fortune to the campaign. In 2008, he spent $45 million.
RalDetroit Symphony webcast sets record for viewers
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit symphony has set what it believes is a record for the most viewers of a live, online performance by a U.S. symphonic group.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra said Saturday a Friday performance of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances" drew about 15,000 viewers.
New York-based digital media expert Vince Ford told the orchestra live webcasts by other ensembles get about 10,000 viewers.
Detroit symphony officials say about 50,000 people have listened to its webcasts since they started 10 months ago. They credit the recent increase in viewers to partnerships with Russian classical music platform ParaClassics and Detroit Public Television. The concert was simulcast on ParaClassics' website.
The symphony's executive producer of digital me
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra said Saturday a Friday performance of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances" drew about 15,000 viewers.
New York-based digital media expert Vince Ford told the orchestra live webcasts by other ensembles get about 10,000 viewers.
Detroit symphony officials say about 50,000 people have listened to its webcasts since they started 10 months ago. They credit the recent increase in viewers to partnerships with Russian classical music platform ParaClassics and Detroit Public Television. The concert was simulcast on ParaClassics' website.
The symphony's executive producer of digital me
Rag & Bone show: From Brit roots to Asia
NEW YORK (AP) — Rag & Bone designers David Neville and Marcus Wainwright put their cool, modern twist on clothes that are classic in the truest sense of the word for their fall collection that debuted Friday at New York Fashion Week.
The British-born designers started with English mainstays, including tweeds, tails and jackets fit for military officers. But a recent trip to India also got them thinking about former British colonies and the traditional dress in those mostly Asian places, they explained backstage before the show.
"We looked at the British Empire and the influence of British culture there," Neville said. Then they saw a reciprocal relationship and how those faraway lands have moved into European fashion, too, he said.
On the runway that meant folded skirts — a particularly nice one done in walnut-colored leather — that was paired with a polo-neck T-shirt and a high-neck, below-the-hip raj jacket, and draped, low-slung dhoti pants with a striped wool biker tailcoat.
The tapestry-style brocade outfits, jazzed up with flashes of silver and copper, were dressier than garments the crowd of stylists, editors and retailers might be used to seeing from Rag & Bone but the silhouettes were in keeping with the theme. The most tempting looks in the chilly, raw space along the Hudson River were the cozy belted blanket coats and wraps.
Backstage had a much warmer feeling, with the designers' young children running around, moving between the models, makeup artists and hairstylists. Wainwright also showed to a select few — including his sons — photos of his new daughter, born Friday morning before he rushed off to do two fashion shows.
"My wife is very understanding," he said.
The British-born designers started with English mainstays, including tweeds, tails and jackets fit for military officers. But a recent trip to India also got them thinking about former British colonies and the traditional dress in those mostly Asian places, they explained backstage before the show.
"We looked at the British Empire and the influence of British culture there," Neville said. Then they saw a reciprocal relationship and how those faraway lands have moved into European fashion, too, he said.
On the runway that meant folded skirts — a particularly nice one done in walnut-colored leather — that was paired with a polo-neck T-shirt and a high-neck, below-the-hip raj jacket, and draped, low-slung dhoti pants with a striped wool biker tailcoat.
The tapestry-style brocade outfits, jazzed up with flashes of silver and copper, were dressier than garments the crowd of stylists, editors and retailers might be used to seeing from Rag & Bone but the silhouettes were in keeping with the theme. The most tempting looks in the chilly, raw space along the Hudson River were the cozy belted blanket coats and wraps.
Backstage had a much warmer feeling, with the designers' young children running around, moving between the models, makeup artists and hairstylists. Wainwright also showed to a select few — including his sons — photos of his new daughter, born Friday morning before he rushed off to do two fashion shows.
"My wife is very understanding," he said.
Blackburn bounce back as QPR downed
Blackburn bounced back from their 7-1 mauling at Arsenal to down fellow strugglers QPR 3-2 on Saturday.
Nigerian international Ayegbeni Yakubu, back in the starting line-up after suspension, fired Rovers ahead on 15 minutes, latching on to a Steven Nzonzi flick-on before rifling a shot past Paddy Kenny.
Rovers took a stranglehold on the game when Nzonzi added a second eight minutes later.
David Hoilett surged into the box and teed up Nzonzi who swept hope emphatically to the delight of the Ewood Park faithful.
It got worse for Rangers on the stroke of half-time as Blackburn went 3-0 up. Scott Dann headed across the area for Hoilett whose shot flew in off QPR's transfer window signing Nedum Onuoha.
Blackburn suffered a setback shortly after half time when the rampant Hoilett suffered an injury and was replaced by Adam Henley.
However the substitution barely disrupted Rovers pressure, and they might have gone 4-0 up soon afterwards only for Yakubu's chip to hit the crossbar.
QPR, without the suspended Djibril Cisse, struggled to create much in attack, with Onuoha squandering a half chance on 65 minutes before Taye Taiwo shot wide.
However the introduction of Jamie Mackie for Akos Buzsaky midway through the half was the cue for a Rangers fightback.
The Scottish international finished from close range to make it 3-1 and could have had another shortly afterwards only to shoot tamely at Paul Robinson.
QPR continued to dominate possession however and both Adel Taarabt and Sean Wright-Phillips had chances to make it 3-2.
Mackie scored in the dying minutes to give Rangers hope but time ran out as Rovers grabbed only their fifth win of the season.
Nigerian international Ayegbeni Yakubu, back in the starting line-up after suspension, fired Rovers ahead on 15 minutes, latching on to a Steven Nzonzi flick-on before rifling a shot past Paddy Kenny.
Rovers took a stranglehold on the game when Nzonzi added a second eight minutes later.
David Hoilett surged into the box and teed up Nzonzi who swept hope emphatically to the delight of the Ewood Park faithful.
It got worse for Rangers on the stroke of half-time as Blackburn went 3-0 up. Scott Dann headed across the area for Hoilett whose shot flew in off QPR's transfer window signing Nedum Onuoha.
Blackburn suffered a setback shortly after half time when the rampant Hoilett suffered an injury and was replaced by Adam Henley.
However the substitution barely disrupted Rovers pressure, and they might have gone 4-0 up soon afterwards only for Yakubu's chip to hit the crossbar.
QPR, without the suspended Djibril Cisse, struggled to create much in attack, with Onuoha squandering a half chance on 65 minutes before Taye Taiwo shot wide.
However the introduction of Jamie Mackie for Akos Buzsaky midway through the half was the cue for a Rangers fightback.
The Scottish international finished from close range to make it 3-1 and could have had another shortly afterwards only to shoot tamely at Paul Robinson.
QPR continued to dominate possession however and both Adel Taarabt and Sean Wright-Phillips had chances to make it 3-2.
Mackie scored in the dying minutes to give Rangers hope but time ran out as Rovers grabbed only their fifth win of the season.
Carrington's Grammy-nominated CD spotlights women
NEW YORK (AP) — Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington couldn't have imagined producing an all-female jazz album like her Grammy-nominated "The Mosaic Project" when she launched her career three decades ago. Back then, she got used to being the only woman on the bandstand.
"The pool of female jazz musicians was not the same before," said Carrington. "But now there's like a surge of younger players ... and that made me feel like I can actually do a project like this."
Over the years, Carrington has helped mentor a new generation of female instrumentalists who have gone beyond the roles of singers and pianists that women traditionally filled in a male-dominated jazz world.
The inspiration for "Mosaic Project" came at the 2007 Red Sea Jazz Festival in Israel when Carrington performed in a quartet with Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma, pianist Geri Allen, and bassist Esperanza Spalding.
"I looked up on the stage and there were four women, and it just felt very organic and natural, and I thought maybe I would use it as a nucleus for a group for a recording project," she said.
The 46-year-old Carrington says that having the CD with 21 female performers receive a Grammy nomination for best jazz vocal album is "just icing on the cake for a project that I did deep from my heart."
"I think people could feel its honesty," said Carrington, speaking by telephone from her home in Medford, Mass. "I wasn't trying to go for any kind of gimmick effect. It was a sincere attempt to just celebrate the really great women in jazz — people that I've been close to over the years."
The album carries its own Grammy pedigree. The featured vocalists include Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson and Dee Dee Bridgewater, who between them have won more than half of the Grammys awarded in the jazz vocal category over the past 15 years. There's also Spalding, the upset winner over Justin Bieber for best new artist at last year's Grammys, who plays bass on all 14 tracks and sings on two of them, including her own whimsical "Colors."
Carrington says she felt a strong connection with Spalding the first time they played together after meeting six years ago as faculty members at Boston's Berklee College of Music. The drummer performed on Spalding's CD "Chamber Music Society" and the soon-to-be-released "Radio Music Society." They also recently formed a collective trio with Allen that plays open-ended arrangements of jazz standards.
"Terri has played with so many masters from so many different generations, and she carries with her in her sound elements of all of the music that she's been part of," said Spalding, interviewed at last summer's Newport Jazz Festival after leading a band that included Carrington. "Terri's never talking about being a woman or that it's different or harder or easier or anything. She's just a musician's musician."
Carrington's grandfather, who died shortly before she was born, played drums with Gene Ammons and Duke Ellington, among others, and her father was a professional saxophonist. She started playing tenor sax at 5, but at 7 her teeth fell out and she started practicing on her grandfather's drum set in the cellar.
"My father wanted a son to carry on the music tradition in the family so he was very disappointed, but then as soon as I started playing music he was really happy and definitely encouraging," she said.
She gave her first major performance at age 10 at the Wichita Jazz Festival with trumpeter Clark Terry, whose band she joined after receiving a scholarship to Berklee and then moving to New York. In 1989, she released her debut CD, the Grammy-nominated crossover "Real Life Story," with an impressive guest list that included Carlos Santana, Grover Washington Jr. and Wayne Shorter.
Carrington wouldn't make another album as a leader until 13 years later when she recorded "Jazz Is a Spirit" for a European label. But she built up an impressive resume playing in groups led by Shorter, Danilo Perez and Herbie Hancock as well as high-profile TV gigs on Arsenio Hall's show and the Quincy Jones-produced "Vibe."
She took to heart lessons learned from Jones and Hancock when the opportunity came to produce "Mosaic Project." Carrington selected songs and wrote arrangements to match each singer's personality, assembling a lineup that is cross-generational and cross-cultural.
"I wanted to make a product that had these different colors and styles and shapes come together that felt like one total picture — and that's what inspired the word 'mosaic,'" said Carrington, in an earlier interview at the Newport festival. "I'm a person that likes to play different styles and genres. ... I'm a jazz musician at heart, but I play many R&B and funk gigs."
Carrington also meant the album to spotlight some of the best female jazz musicians of recent decades by featuring vocal arrangements with lots of space for the instrumentalists and three instrumental tracks that she wrote. Besides her Red Sea bandmates, the lineup includes percussionist Sheila E., trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, keyboard player Patrice Rushen, pianist Helen Sung, and Israeli-born clarinetist Anat Cohen.
Cohen places "Mosaic Project" in a historic lineage that includes the all-female International Sweethearts of Rhythm swing band of the 1940s and the Diva Jazz Orchestra, formed in 1990.
"When I started playing, it was still like,'Oh wow, you're a woman playing jazz,'" said Cohen. "Today it's not a thing anymore. There are definitely way more women out there doing their thing and being accepted by the audience and other musicians."
Carrington insists that "Mosaic Project" shouldn't be seen as any kind of feminist statement. Close your eyes and listen, she says, and "you don't hear gender."
"There's some aggressive qualities and a lot of just beautiful qualities to it. The idea is to be able to be aggressive and seductive at the same time. And that's what a woman can be and has to be in life a lot of times."
"The pool of female jazz musicians was not the same before," said Carrington. "But now there's like a surge of younger players ... and that made me feel like I can actually do a project like this."
Over the years, Carrington has helped mentor a new generation of female instrumentalists who have gone beyond the roles of singers and pianists that women traditionally filled in a male-dominated jazz world.
The inspiration for "Mosaic Project" came at the 2007 Red Sea Jazz Festival in Israel when Carrington performed in a quartet with Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma, pianist Geri Allen, and bassist Esperanza Spalding.
"I looked up on the stage and there were four women, and it just felt very organic and natural, and I thought maybe I would use it as a nucleus for a group for a recording project," she said.
The 46-year-old Carrington says that having the CD with 21 female performers receive a Grammy nomination for best jazz vocal album is "just icing on the cake for a project that I did deep from my heart."
"I think people could feel its honesty," said Carrington, speaking by telephone from her home in Medford, Mass. "I wasn't trying to go for any kind of gimmick effect. It was a sincere attempt to just celebrate the really great women in jazz — people that I've been close to over the years."
The album carries its own Grammy pedigree. The featured vocalists include Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson and Dee Dee Bridgewater, who between them have won more than half of the Grammys awarded in the jazz vocal category over the past 15 years. There's also Spalding, the upset winner over Justin Bieber for best new artist at last year's Grammys, who plays bass on all 14 tracks and sings on two of them, including her own whimsical "Colors."
Carrington says she felt a strong connection with Spalding the first time they played together after meeting six years ago as faculty members at Boston's Berklee College of Music. The drummer performed on Spalding's CD "Chamber Music Society" and the soon-to-be-released "Radio Music Society." They also recently formed a collective trio with Allen that plays open-ended arrangements of jazz standards.
"Terri has played with so many masters from so many different generations, and she carries with her in her sound elements of all of the music that she's been part of," said Spalding, interviewed at last summer's Newport Jazz Festival after leading a band that included Carrington. "Terri's never talking about being a woman or that it's different or harder or easier or anything. She's just a musician's musician."
Carrington's grandfather, who died shortly before she was born, played drums with Gene Ammons and Duke Ellington, among others, and her father was a professional saxophonist. She started playing tenor sax at 5, but at 7 her teeth fell out and she started practicing on her grandfather's drum set in the cellar.
"My father wanted a son to carry on the music tradition in the family so he was very disappointed, but then as soon as I started playing music he was really happy and definitely encouraging," she said.
She gave her first major performance at age 10 at the Wichita Jazz Festival with trumpeter Clark Terry, whose band she joined after receiving a scholarship to Berklee and then moving to New York. In 1989, she released her debut CD, the Grammy-nominated crossover "Real Life Story," with an impressive guest list that included Carlos Santana, Grover Washington Jr. and Wayne Shorter.
Carrington wouldn't make another album as a leader until 13 years later when she recorded "Jazz Is a Spirit" for a European label. But she built up an impressive resume playing in groups led by Shorter, Danilo Perez and Herbie Hancock as well as high-profile TV gigs on Arsenio Hall's show and the Quincy Jones-produced "Vibe."
She took to heart lessons learned from Jones and Hancock when the opportunity came to produce "Mosaic Project." Carrington selected songs and wrote arrangements to match each singer's personality, assembling a lineup that is cross-generational and cross-cultural.
"I wanted to make a product that had these different colors and styles and shapes come together that felt like one total picture — and that's what inspired the word 'mosaic,'" said Carrington, in an earlier interview at the Newport festival. "I'm a person that likes to play different styles and genres. ... I'm a jazz musician at heart, but I play many R&B and funk gigs."
Carrington also meant the album to spotlight some of the best female jazz musicians of recent decades by featuring vocal arrangements with lots of space for the instrumentalists and three instrumental tracks that she wrote. Besides her Red Sea bandmates, the lineup includes percussionist Sheila E., trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, keyboard player Patrice Rushen, pianist Helen Sung, and Israeli-born clarinetist Anat Cohen.
Cohen places "Mosaic Project" in a historic lineage that includes the all-female International Sweethearts of Rhythm swing band of the 1940s and the Diva Jazz Orchestra, formed in 1990.
"When I started playing, it was still like,'Oh wow, you're a woman playing jazz,'" said Cohen. "Today it's not a thing anymore. There are definitely way more women out there doing their thing and being accepted by the audience and other musicians."
Carrington insists that "Mosaic Project" shouldn't be seen as any kind of feminist statement. Close your eyes and listen, she says, and "you don't hear gender."
"There's some aggressive qualities and a lot of just beautiful qualities to it. The idea is to be able to be aggressive and seductive at the same time. And that's what a woman can be and has to be in life a lot of times."
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