Ron Carter | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Ronald Levin Carter |
Born | Ferndale, Michigan, U.S. | May 4, 1937
Genres | Jazz |
Occupations |
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Instruments | |
Years active | 1959–present |
Labels | |
Formerly of | |
Website | roncarterjazz |
Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) [1] is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. [2] He has won three Grammy Awards, [3] and is also a cellist who has recorded numerous times on that instrument. [4] In addition to a solo career of more than 60 years, Carter is well-known for playing on numerous iconic Blue Note albums in the 1960s, as well as being the anchor of trumpeter Miles Davis's "Second Great Quintet" from 1963-1968. [5]
Beginning with Where? in 1961, Carter's studio albums as leader also include Uptown Conversation (1969), Blues Farm (1973), All Blues (1973), Spanish Blue (1974), Anything Goes (1975), Yellow & Green (1976), Pastels (1976), Piccolo (1977), Third Plane (1977), Peg Leg (1978), A Song for You (1978), Etudes (1982), The Golden Striker (2003), Dear Miles (2006), and Ron Carter's Great Big Band (2011).
Carter was born in Ferndale, Michigan. [1] At the age of 10, he started playing the cello, switching to bass while at Cass Technical High School. [4] He earned a B.A. in music from the Eastman School of Music (1959) and a master's degree in music from the Manhattan School of Music (1961). [1]
Carter's first jobs as a jazz musician were playing bass with Chico Hamilton in 1959, followed by freelance work with Jaki Byard, Cannonball Adderley, Randy Weston, Bobby Timmons, and Thelonious Monk. [1] One of his first recorded appearances was on Hamilton alumnus Eric Dolphy's Out There , recorded on August 15, 1960, and featuring George Duvivier on bass, Roy Haynes on drums, and Carter on cello. The album's advanced harmonies and concepts were in step with the third stream movement. [6] In early October 1960, Carter recorded How Time Passes with Don Ellis, and on June 20, 1961, he recorded Where? , his first album as a leader, featuring Dolphy on alto sax, flute, and bass clarinet; Mal Waldron on piano; Charlie Persip on drums; and Duvivier playing basslines on tracks where Carter played cello.
Carter was a member of the second Miles Davis Quintet in the mid 1960s, which also included Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and drummer Tony Williams. [7] Carter joined Davis's group in 1963, appearing on the album Seven Steps to Heaven , [7] and the follow-up E.S.P. , the latter being the first album to feature only the full quintet. It also featured three of Carter's compositions (the only time he contributed compositions to Davis's group). He stayed with Davis until 1968 [7] (when he was replaced by Dave Holland), and participated in a couple of studio sessions with Davis in 1969 and 1970. Although he played electric bass occasionally during this era of early jazz-rock fusion, he has subsequently stopped playing that instrument, and in the 2000s plays only double bass.
Carter also performed on some of Hancock, Williams and Shorter's recordings during the 1960s for Blue Note. [7] He was a sideman on many Blue Note recordings of the era, playing with Sam Rivers, Freddie Hubbard, Duke Pearson, Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Horace Silver, and others. He also played on soul-pop star Roberta Flack's album First Take and Gil Scott Heron's Pieces of a Man , including the iconic bass-line on "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". [8]
After leaving Davis, Carter was for several years a mainstay of CTI Records, making albums under his own name and also appearing on many of the label's records with a diverse range of other musicians. Notable musical partnerships in the 1970s and 1980s included Joe Henderson, Houston Person, Hank Jones, Gabor Szabo and Cedar Walton. During the 1970s he was a member of the New York Jazz Quartet. [9] In 1986, Carter played double bass on "Big Man on Mulberry Street" on Billy Joel's album The Bridge . [10]
In 1987, Carter won a Grammy for "an instrumental composition for the film" Round Midnight . [3] In 1994, he won another Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Group for a tribute album to Miles Davis. [11] He appears on the alternative hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest's influential album The Low End Theory on a track called "Verses from the Abstract". [12] He appeared as a member of the jazz combo the Classical Jazz Quartet. [13] In 1994, Carter appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool . [14] The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African-American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by TIME . [15] In 2001, Carter collaborated with Black Star and John Patton to record "Money Jungle" for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Red Hot + Indigo , a tribute to Duke Ellington. [16]
Carter is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the music department of City College of New York, having taught there for 20 years, [17] and received an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music in spring 2005. [18] He joined the faculty of the Juilliard School in New York City in 2008, teaching bass in the school's Jazz Studies program. [19] Carter made an appearance in Robert Altman's 1996 film, Kansas City , at the center of which is a jazz club called the Hey Hey Club. [20] The film's end credits feature Carter and fellow bassist Christian McBride duetting on "Solitude" [21] at the club, owned by a black gangster called Seldom Seen, who was played by a "show-stealing" Harry Belafonte. [22] (In a 2023 tribute, Carter would reveal how it came about that Belafonte had been his landlord. [23] )
Carter sits on the advisory committee of the board of directors of The Jazz Foundation of America and on the Honorary Founder's Committee. [24] Carter has worked with the Jazz Foundation since its inception to save the homes and the lives of America's elderly jazz and blues musicians including musicians that survived Hurricane Katrina. [25]
Carter appeared as himself in an episode of the HBO series Treme entitled "What Is New Orleans". [12] His authorized biography, Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes ( ISBN 978-0989982511), by Dan Ouellette, was published by ArtistShare in 2008. [26]
In 2010, Carter was honored with France's premier cultural award, the medallion and title of Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. [27] Carter was elected to the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2012. [28]
In August 2021, Carter was the featured guest in a 47-minute video interview with YouTuber and musician Rick Beato. [29] [30] In November 2021, the Japanese government honored Carter with The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette. Japanese officials credited Carter with helping to popularize jazz in Japan and facilitating cultural exchange. [31] In April 2022 Carter sat in with Bob Weir at Radio City Music Hall. [32] In May 2022, Carter celebrated his birthday by releasing a Tiny Desk Concert recorded at the Blue Note Jazz Club featuring Russell Malone and Donald Vega. [33]
Carter continues to record as a sideman, most recently appearing on Daniele Cordisco's 2023 album "Bitter Head." [34]
Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes is a documentary film about Carter's career, [35] produced and directed by Peter Schnall. [36] It was released in November of 2022 on PBS.
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, Hancock experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles, using a wide array of synthesizers and electronics. It was during this period that he released perhaps his best-known and most influential album, Head Hunters.
Frederick Dewayne Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives for modern jazz and bebop.
Wayne Shorter was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary composer. In 1964 he joined Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet, and then co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report in 1970. He recorded more than 20 albums as a bandleader.
Somethin' Else is an album by American jazz saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, recorded on March 9, 1958 and released on Blue Note in August later that year—his only album for the label. Also on the session is trumpeter Miles Davis in one of his handful of recording dates for Blue Note. Adderley was a member of Davis' group at the time, and the album was recorded shortly after Davis' own landmark album Milestones.
Maiden Voyage is the fifth album led by jazz musician Herbie Hancock, and was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder on March 17, 1965, for Blue Note Records. It was issued as BLP 4195 and BST 84195. Featuring Hancock with tenor saxophonist George Coleman, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams, it is a concept album aimed at creating an oceanic atmosphere. As such, many of the track titles refer to marine biology or the sea, and the musicians develop the concept through their use of space. The album was presented with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.
Seven Steps to Heaven is a studio album by the jazz musician Miles Davis. It was released through Columbia Records on July 15, 1963. The recording took place at Columbia Studios in Los Angeles in April 1963, and at Columbia's 30th Street Studios in Manhattan in May 1963. It presents the Miles Davis Quintet in transition, with the New York session introducing the rhythm section of Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, who would become Davis' regular sidemen for the next five years. Upon release, the album was Davis' most successful on the Billboard pop LPs chart up to that point, peaking at number 62.
Miles in the Sky is a studio album by the jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis. It was released on July 22, 1968 through Columbia Records. It was the last full album recorded by Davis' "Second Great Quintet" and marked the beginning of his foray into jazz fusion, with Herbie Hancock playing electric piano and Ron Carter playing electric bass guitar on opening track “Stuff”. Additionally, electric guitarist George Benson features on “Paraphernalia”.
George Edward Coleman is an American jazz saxophonist known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. In 2015, he was named an NEA Jazz Master.
A Tribute to Miles is a tribute album recorded by the then surviving members of the Miles Davis "Second Great" Quintet: pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams. Taking the Davis role was trumpeter Wallace Roney.
Hubert Laws is an American flutist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 50 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhythm-and-blues genres, moving effortlessly from one repertory to another. He has three Grammy nominations.
Charles Anthony "Buster" Williams is an American jazz bassist. Williams is known for his membership in pianist Herbie Hancock's early 1970s group, as well as working with guitarist Larry Coryell, the Thelonious Monk repertory band Sphere and as the accompanist of choice for many singers, including Nancy Wilson.
Chick Corea (1941–2021) was an American jazz pianist and composer born on June 12, 1941, in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Corea started learning piano at age four. He recorded his first album, Tones for Joan's Bones, in 1966. Corea performed with Blue Mitchell, Willie Bobo, Cal Tjader and Herbie Mann in the mid-1960s. In the late 1960s he performed with Stan Getz and Miles Davis. The National Endowment for the Arts states, "He ranked with Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett as one of the leading piano stylists to emerge after Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner, and he composed such notable jazz standards as 'Spain', 'La Fiesta', and 'Windows'."
Speak Like a Child, the sixth album by American jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, which was recorded and released by Blue Note Records in 1968, features Hancock's arrangements for an unusual front line of Jerry Dodgion on alto flute, Peter Phillips on bass trombone, and Thad Jones on flugelhorn. Critic Nat Hentoff described the album as an "impressive further stage in the evolution of Herbie Hancock as writer and player," saying it is characterized by a "singular quality of incisive, searching lyricism." Unusually, none of the wind players perform solos on any song. The rhythm section is bassist Ron Carter and drummer Mickey Roker.
White Rabbit is an album by George Benson. The title track is a cover of the famous Jefferson Airplane song by Grace Slick.This album was George Benson's second CTI Records project produced by Creed Taylor and was recorded nine months after Beyond the Blue Horizon.
First Light is an album by jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. Recorded in 1971, it features string arrangements by Don Sebesky. It was his third album released on Creed Taylor's CTI label and features performances by Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Eric Gale, George Benson, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Airto Moreira and Richard Wyands. The album is part of a loose trilogy including his two previous records at the time, Red Clay and Straight Life. First Light won a 1972 Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Performance by a Group".
Freddie Hubbard/Stanley Turrentine In Concert Volume One is a live album recorded in 1973 by jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. It was recorded in Chicago and Detroit for Creed Taylor's CTI label and features performances by Hubbard, Turrentine, guitarist Eric Gale, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jack DeJohnette and pianist Herbie Hancock.
In Concert Volume Two is a live album recorded in 1973 by jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Herbie Hancock and tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. It was recorded in Chicago and Detroit for Creed Taylor's CTI label and features performances by Hubbard, Turrentine, Hancock, guitarist Eric Gale, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jack DeJohnette.
Stephen Scott is an American jazz pianist. Scott played piano from the age of five. While attending New York’s High School of the Performing Arts he was introduced to jazz by alto saxophonist Justin Robinson, in particular the music of Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Later, he took private lessons at the Juilliard School of Music.
Directions is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1981 by Columbia Records. It collects previously unreleased outtakes that Davis recorded between 1960 and 1970. Directions was the last of a series of compilation albums—mostly consisting of, at that time, previously unreleased music—that Columbia released to bridge Davis' recording hiatus that ended with the Man with the Horn in July 1981.
Third Plane is an album by jazz bassist Ron Carter, released on the Milestone label in 1977. It features performances by Carter, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams.
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