Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington Shares Remixed Version of Natalie Cole’s Final Recording & the Story Behind It: Exclusive

Natalie Cole’s last studio album was 2013’s Natalie Cole en Espanol. However, the singer who died Dec. 31, 2015 at the age of 65  is also featured on fellow Grammy Award winner Terri Lyne Carrington’s current album, The Mosiac Project: Love and Soul. Released last August, the 12-track set boasts a star lineup of female singers that includes Nancy Wilson, Chaka Khan and Valerie Simpson. Cole’s contribution is the album’s opener, Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday,” whose jazz remix version is being premiered exclusively.

 Terri Lyne Carrington

Describing Cole as “one of the greatest cross-genre artists the music industry has known,” Carrington exclusively recalls how the “Come Sunday” session came about: “When I asked her to guest on my CD, she told me she loved the song ‘Come Sunday,’ especially Jennifer Holiday’s version. So I was reticent about sending her my version because it was much more aggressive. She displayed great trust when she set the date to record without even listening to the arrangement. Her vocal performance was outstanding (even with a bad cold), and inspired me to do four different sessions of drums on this track until I found what I felt would complement both the arrangement and her vocal. In the end I wanted to open the CD with the more aggressive version of the song and close the CD with what I’m calling the ‘jazz remix’ of the song: a more tranquil version that also features trumpeter Ingrid Jensen. The jazz remix ended up only closing the Japanese edition of the CD. It’s more acoustic and sweeter  and frames Natalie’s voice differently, allowing the listener to focus more on her vocal and the lyric rather than the track. Natalie liked both versions and also told me how happy she was that ‘Come Sunday’ opened the record.”

Listen to the jazz remix version of Natalie Cole’s “Come Sunday” collaboration with Terri Lyne Carrington Here