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Family Affair
A pair of 1983 alums welcome the new freshman class.
By Rob Hochschild
Berklee.edu Editor
September 17, 2003
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Terri Lyne Carrington (left) and Makoto Ozone received honorary degrees 20 years after playing together as students. |
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Farnsworth Blalock Photos |
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The Class of 2007 is Berklee's largest ever entering group of students, but they would be fortunate to keep up with the much smaller Class of 1983. Two alumni from that year—drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and pianist Makoto Ozone—have already received the highest degree Berkee awards: the honorary doctor of music.
Berklee President Lee Eliot Berk presented the degrees to Carrington and Ozone at the 2003 Convocation in the Berklee Performance Center this month, as members of the more than one thousand students of the entering class watched. Becoming Berklee doctors puts Carrington and Ozone on a list that includes music legends like Duke Ellington, Sting, and Sonny Rollins. Just being mentioned in the company of such greats would be a source of pride for any musician, but for Carrington, that the honor came from her alma mater provided the greatest satisfaction.
"Out of the many things that have happened thus far in my life, I would have to say this is the moment I am most proud of," Carrington said in a speech to students. "And that's because ever since I can remember, this school and (the Berk) family have been there for me second only to my own parents and my own family."
A native of Medford, Massachusetts, Carrington was only 11 years old when her talent was discovered by Berklee founder Lawrence Berk, who offered her a full-tuition scholarship after hearing her perform at a jazz festival in Boston. She attended Berklee part-time while going to junior and senior high and enrolled full-time after high school.
Carrington left Berklee for New York, where she worked with musicians such as Stan Getz, David Sanborn, and Cassandra Wilson. She eventually moved to Los Angeles where she became the house drummer for The Arsenio Hall Show. Later she toured with artists such as Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau, and Wayne Shorter, and has recently produced recordings by several musicians, including Dianne Reeves and Gino Vannelli.
"It was here that I developed the knowledge and the discipline needed to be successful playing music and dealing with the music business," Carrington said. "I am very happy to be able to say that I can't imagine what course my life may have taken without Berklee."
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Terri Lyne Carrington (left) and student bassist Bryan Ladd perform on "Jazz is a Spirit." |
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Farnsworth Blalock Photos |
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The same could be said of Ozone, whose talents so impressed Berklee vibraphonist and faculty member Gary Burton, now the college's Executive Vice President, that Burton invited him to join his quartet for a world tour in 1983. In the past two decades Ozone has become recognized as a gifted jazz musician, both as a leader on 13 recordings, and as a sideman to artists such as Burton, Paquito D'Rivera, and Marc Johnson.
"This is the only place in the world, I believe, that you can study music in such a way that it can make you confident and proud," Ozone said after receiving his degree. "If you give everything you've got to Berklee, Berklee's going to give back to you."
After the speeches, current upper-class students gave the freshman group a taste of what they've been giving to and getting from Berklee, in a concert that moved smoothly from rock to jazz to pop ballads.
As impressive as that was, midway through the show, Burton and Ozone strolled from their audience seats to the stage and played Ozone's "Times Like These" as a duet. It marked the first time in years that a convocation honoree had performed for students, but it was quickly followed up by another surprise, when Carrington took a seat behind the drums and led students in a rendition of her "Jazz is a Spirit." Then Ozone and Burton returned to the stage to perform "All The Things You Are," with Carrington on drums and second-year student Toshi Tanahashi on bass.
Tanahashi, who reportedly knew he would be performing with the three musicians only about 45 minutes in advance, gave another in a long line of outstanding student performances.
The mixture of students, administrators, alumni, and honorees all performing together on stage was unusual, but gave this year's freshman class an idea of the college's improvisational flavor. After the event, they officially became the newest members of one of the world's largest musical families. And that's something they'll always have in common with the class of 1983.
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