Jazz / Big Band
Benny Carter
A. Padilla - Translation
Al Grey - Trombone
Alton Moore - Trombone
Arnold Jarvis - Piano
B. Burke - Trombone
Bart Varsalona - Trombone
Billy Ford - Trumpet
Bob Ashton - Sax (Baritone)
Bob Horton - Trombone
Bob Merrill - Trumpet
Bumps Myers - Sax (Tenor)
Butch Ballard - Drums
Carl Pruitt - Bass
Charles Drayton - Bass
Charley Johnson - Trombone
Clarence "Gene" Redd -
Claude Dunson
Cootie Williams & His Orchestra
Curly Russell - Bass
Dan Logan - Trombone
Dan Williams - (Alto)
Dupree Bolton - Trumpet
E. Williams - Vocals, Trumpet
E.V. Perry - Trumpet
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson - (Alto), Vocals
Edward Burke - Trombone
Edward Johnson - Trombone
Edwin Johnson - Sax (Tenor)
Emmett Berry - Trumpet
Frank Comstock - Arranger
Freddy Webster - Trumpet
Gene Porter - (Tenor)
George Favors - Sax (Baritone)
George Treadwell - Trumpet
George Washington - Trombone
Gerald Wiggins - Piano
Gerald Wilson - Trumpet
Harold Clark - Sax (Tenor)
Henry Coker - Trombone
Herman Mitchell - Guitar
Idrees Sulieman - Trumpet
Irving Lewis - Trumpet
J.G. Calvados - Compilation, Annotation
Jake "Vernon" Porter - Trumpet
James Cannady - Guitar
Jewell L. Grant - Sax (Alto)
Jim Glover - Bass
Jimmy Edwards - Guitar
John Jackson - Sax (Alto)
John Taylor - (Baritone)
Johnny Morris - Trombone
Jon Carroll - Trumpet
Julius Watson - Trombone
Karl George - Trumpet
Lee Pope - Sax (Tenor)
Louis Gray
Louis Taylor - Trombone
Max Roach - Drums
Milton Fletcher - Trumpet
Norman Keenan - Bass
Oscar Lee Bradley - Drums
Paul Cohen - Trumpet
Pee Wee Tinney - Guitar
Percy Brice - Drums
Porter Kilbert - Sax (Alto)
Rufus Webster - Piano
Rupert Cole - Sax (Alto)
Sam Allen - Guitar
Savannah Churchill - Vocals
Sylvester Payne - Drums
Teddy Brannon - Piano
Teddy Buckner - Trumpet
Thomas Moultrie - Bass
Ulysses Livingston - Guitar
Wallace Jones - Trumpet
Willard Brown - Sax (Alto), Sax (Baritone)
The Benny Carter's boop big band and Cootie Williams' rhythm and blues orchestra recordings made in 1943-1945 for the Capitol label.
Only original master takes issued at the time.
Benny Carter
Active Decades: '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s
Born: Aug 08, 1907 in New York, NY
Died: Jul 12, 2003 in Los Angeles, CA
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Big Band, East Coast Blues, Jump Blues, Mainstream Jazz, Swing
To say that Benny Carter had a remarkable and productive career would be an extreme understatement. As an altoist, arranger, composer, bandleader, and occasional trumpeter, Carter was at the top of his field since at least 1928, and in the late '90s, Carter was as strong an altoist at the age of 90 as he was in 1936 (when he was merely 28). His gradually evolving style did not change much through the decades, but neither did it become at all stale or predictable except in its excellence. Benny Carter was a major figure in every decade of the 20th century since the 1920s, and his consistency and longevity were unprecedented.
Essentially self-taught, Benny Carter started on the trumpet and, after a period on C-melody sax, switched to alto. In 1927, he made his recording debut with Charlie Johnson's Paradise Ten. The following year, he had his first big band (working at New York's Arcadia Ballroom) and was contributing arrangements to Fletcher Henderson and even Duke Ellington. Carter was with Henderson during 1930-1931, briefly took over McKinney's Cotton Pickers, and then went back to leading his own big band (1932-1934). Already at this stage he was considered one of the two top altoists in jazz (along with Johnny Hodges), a skilled arranger and composer ("Blues in My Heart" was an early hit and would be followed by "When Lights Are Low"), and his trumpet playing was excellent; Carter would also record on tenor, clarinet (an instrument he should have played more), and piano, although his rare vocals show that even he was human.
In 1935, Benny Carter moved to Europe, where in London he was a staff arranger for the BBC dance orchestra (1936-1938); he also recorded in several European countries. Carter's "Waltzing the Blues" was one of the very first jazz waltzes. He returned to the U.S. in 1938, led a classy but commercially unsuccessful big band (1939-1941), and then headed a sextet. In 1943, he relocated permanently to Los Angeles, appearing in the film Stormy Weather (as a trumpeter with Fats Waller) and getting lucrative work writing for the movie studios. He would lead a big band off and on during the next three years (among his sidemen were J.J. Johnson, Miles Davis, and Max Roach) before giving up on that effort. Carter wrote for the studios for over 50 years, but he continued recording as an altoist (and all-too-rare trumpeter) during the 1940s and '50s, making a few tours with Jazz at the Philharmonic and participating on some of Norman Granz's jam-session albums. By the mid-'60s, his writing chores led him to hardly playing alto at all, but he made a full "comeback" by the mid-'70s, and maintained a very busy playing and writing schedule even at his advanced age. Even after the rise of such stylists as Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, and David Sanborn (in addition to their many followers), Benny Carter still ranks near the top of alto players. His concert and recording schedule remained active through the '90s, slowing only at the end of the millenium. After eight amazing decades of writing and playing, Benny Carter passed away quietly on July 13, 2003 at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 95.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
