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Ron Carter

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 lengthy solo career that began in the early 1960s, Carter is well-known for playing on several iconic Blue Note albums of the 1960s, as well as being part of the Miles Davis Quintet from 1963-1968.

This article is about the jazz double-bassist. For other uses, see Ron Carter (disambiguation).

Ron Carter

Ronald Levin Carter

(1937-05-04) May 4, 1937
Ferndale, Michigan, U.S.

  • Musician
  • educator

1959–present

Beginning with Where? in 1961, Carter's numerous 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).

Early life[edit]

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.[5] 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.

Career[edit]

1960s–1980s[edit]

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.[6] Carter joined Davis's group in 1963, appearing on the album Seven Steps to Heaven,[6] 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[6] (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.[6] 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".[7]


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.[8] In 1986, Carter played double bass on "Big Man on Mulberry Street" on Billy Joel's album The Bridge.[9]

Documentary films[edit]

Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes is a documentary film about Carter's career,[34] produced and directed by Peter Schnall.[35]

(New Jazz, 1961)

Where?

(Embryo, 1969)

Uptown Conversation

(Milestone, 1972) with Jim Hall

Alone Together

(CTI, 1973)

Blues Farm

(CTI, 1973)

All Blues

(CTI, 1974)

Spanish Blue

(Kudu, 1975)

Anything Goes

(CTI, 1976)

Yellow & Green

(Milestone, 1976)

Pastels

(Milestone, 1977)

Piccolo

(Milestone, 1977)

Third Plane

(Milestone, 1978)

Peg Leg

(Milestone, 1978)

A Song for You

(JVC, 1978)

1 + 3

(Galaxy, 1983) with Hank Jones, Sadao Watanabe and Tony Williams – recorded in 1978

Carnaval

(Milestone, 1980) – recorded in 1978

Pick 'Em

(Milestone, 1979)

Parade

(Milestone, 1979)

New York Slick

(Milestone, 1980)

Patrão

(Milestone, 1982) – recorded in 1980

Parfait

(RSO, 1980)

Empire Jazz

(Milestone, 1981)

Super Strings

(Timeless, 1981) with Cedar Walton

Heart & Soul

(Elektra/Musician, 1982)

Etudes

(Concord Jazz, 1984) with Jim Hall – recorded in 1982

Live at Village West

(Concord Jazz, 1984) with Jim Hall

Telephone

(EmArcy, 1988)

All Alone

(Muse, 1990) with Houston Person – recorded in 1989

Something in Common

(EmArcy, 1989) with Helen Merrill

Duets

(Muse, 1990) with Houston Person

Now's the Time

(Victor (Japan), 1990)

Eight Plus

(Dreyfus Jazz, 1991) with Richard Galliano – recorded in 1990

Panamanhattan

(Somethin' Else, 1995)

Mr. Bow-tie

(Somethin' Else, 1997)

The Bass and I

(Somethin' Else, 1998)

So What?

(Somethin' Else, 1999)

Orfeu

(Somethin' Else, 2000)

When Skies Are Grey...

(HighNote, 2000) with Houston Person – recorded in 2000

Dialogues

(Somethin' Else, 2001)

Stardust

(Somethin' Else, 2002)

The Golden Striker

(HighNote, 2008) with Houston Person – recorded in 2005

Just Between Friends

(Somethin' Else, 2006)

Dear Miles

(HighNote, 2016) with Houston Person – recorded in 2015

Chemistry

An Evening with Ron Carter and Richard Galliano (In+Out, 2017) with

Richard Galliano

(HighNote, 2018) with Houston Person

Remember Love

2003: Ron Carter & Art Farmer: Live at Sweet Basil with and Billy Higgins[36]

Cedar Walton

2002: Herbie Hancock Trio: Hurricane! with Ron Carter and [37]

Billy Cobham

2019:

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

2022: [38]

Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes

Ron Carter Library Official Website

DTM Interview 1

DTM Interview 2

2006 Interview with Ron Carter

on YouTube

Ron Carter Video interview at underyourskin

Ron Carter Interview — NAMM Oral History Library (2005)

on YouTube

Ron Carter: Insights and Revelations from a Bass Icon; Video interview by Rick Beato