LISTEN: Valerie Simpson Sings Terri Lyne Carrington’s Arrangement of “Somebody Told A Lie”

buzzz worthy. . .

Valerie Simpson (vocalist) and Terri Lyne Carrington (drummer).Photographer: Kevin Yatarola/Lincoln Center

  It must be an honor to be a Valerie Simpson fan and she agrees to sing a song you arranged. Terri Lyne Carrington know exactly how that feels.

  
“I have always loved the songs of Ashford and Simpson and have always been inspired by the genius of their musical contributions to American culture,” says  Carrington. 

“I knew I wanted to include something of theirs on this CD, as The Mosaic Project: LOVE and SOUL pays tribute to many male artists and composers that have inspired or influenced me. I was between “Somebody Told A Lie” and “Send It” because I felt like both could possibly lend themselves to a jazz influenced approach, but “Somebody Told a Lie” won out. I asked Valerie Simpson to sing it on the CD and was quite nervous about playing the demo for her, but in the end, she liked it and I was extremely honored to have her sing it on the CD. It’s an important addition because it helped to shape the direction of the entire project. This song also features the great Geri Allen on piano.” 

 “‘Somebody Told A Lie’ is the song that Terri Lyne rearranged and produced in her own inimitable style,” says Simpson. “She gave it another treatment and that’s what a songwriter wants—you want a new treatment, it already exist in its old form, so why do that again.  She took it to a whole new place, I love it.”