Recorded over a single session at the Jimmy Madison Studio, NYC, on 19 October 1981, just a few months after her 16th birthday, TLC & Friends documents the very first recording of the four-time Grammy-winner, NEA Jazz Master, composer, activist and educator, Terri Lyne Carrington. The A-list line-up features tenor saxist George Coleman, pianist Kenny Barron and bassist Buster Williams, while Carrington’s tenor saxist father, Sonny, also joins on the concluding Sonny Rollins classic, ‘Sonnymoon for Two’.

Awarded a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music at the age of just 11, the album not only showcases Carrington’s prodigious, preternatural skills as a drummer, but also reveals her to be an exceptional composer, courtesy of her fine original, ‘La Bonita’. In addition to blazing interpretations of standards including ‘What Is This Thing Called Love?’ and ‘Seven Steps To Heaven’, with the former featuring extraordinary solos from both Coleman and Barron, Carrington dazzles with an incredibly musical solo on Rollins’ signature tune, ‘St Thomas’. This Candid reissue features the original liner notes by Terri Lyne and Sonny Carrington, plus a new note by Dianne Reeves. The original album had an initial pressing of just 500 copies, so it’s great to see this remarkable debut finally get a wider release.