Jazz Articles about Ron Carter

like 219

Ron Carter: Dear Miles

by John Barron
June 14, 2007

There certainly hasn't been a shortage of artists recording tributes to Miles Davis since the trumpeter's death in 1991. The list includes contributions as diverse as Benny Golson's I Remember Miles (Milestone, 1992), Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith's Yo Miles! (Shanachie, 1998) and Cassandra Wilson's Traveling Miles (Blue Note, 1999). Almost forty years since parting ways with the iconic jazz legend, heavyweight bassist Ron Carter has decided to throw his name in the hat with Dear Miles, a swinging ...

like 522

Ron Carter: Dear Miles,

by J Hunter
June 12, 2007

The fact that the late iconic trumpeter Miles Davis still generates controversy is a real indicator of his earth-shaking impact on the genre. What's your favorite Miles debate: Acoustic Miles, or Electric Miles? Kind of Blue (Legacy, 1959), or Bitches Brew Legacy, 1969)? Bill Evans, or Bill Evans? Tutu: An affront to all that's good and true, or just a really bad career move?As one-fifth of the “second great Miles Davis Quintet, bassist Ron Carter had a ringside ...

like 379

Coleman Hawkins: The Hawk Relaxes

by Samuel Chell
April 9, 2007

Coleman Hawkins had every right to rest on his laurels by the time of this 1961 recording. But The Hawk Relaxes finds the father of the tenor saxophone--aka Hawk or Bean--doing anything but clinging to his perch. He may no longer be soaring in search of prey but he's gliding on buoyant and vital air-streams, performing to near-perfection an all-ballad program that rewards the attentive listener at each turn.

When the history of the tenor saxophone was being ...

like 375

Ithamara Koorax: Brazilian Butterfly

by Chris M. Slawecki
February 12, 2007

Except for two ballads--the cosmopolitan “Carinhoso with her Brazilian jazz fusion compatriots Azymuth, and Herbie Hancock's title track--Ithamara Koorax's ninth album is her most adventurous release. It seems constructed to honor legendary Brazilian vocalist Flora Purim and her husband/bandleader/percussionist Airto. This Brazilian Butterfly soars and flutters while multiple percussionists (often as many as four on the same song, most often led by the late and legendary Dom Um Romão, with Koorax frequently flailing away among them) knit together, pull apart, ...

like 546

Ron Carter

by Brian P. Lonergan
January 1, 2006

To create one of the most storied careers in jazz, a good recipe might be equal parts innate talent, hard work and the karma of being as stand-up a person as the bass you play. Ron Carter's gigging and recording career spans half a century and 100s of albums, including having anchored one of the most esteemed rhythm sections in jazz history; his name is practically synonymous with his instrument. Some might consider that having reached the ...

like 138

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Thought Trains

by Robert R. Calder
March 23, 2005

Mike Holober's not just another pianist working within long-established post-Bill Evans methods, he's one of the rare very individually creative ones. Given his more monumental approach, his Gotham Jazz Orchestra can seem something of an extension of his piano work. His orchestration sometimes fills out a piano conception, sometimes interacts with his playing, piano concerto fashion. A band member's solo will sometimes have the full orchestra, sometimes the at times equally full-sounding rhythm section, in accompaniment. Planned and grand. With ...

like 470

McCoy Tyner: Counterpoints

by AAJ Staff
December 7, 2004

McCoy Tyner has basically been making the same insanely luscious and gorgeously dense modal music for nearly 40 years now. Which means that Counterpoints , which consists of five unreleased live tracks from a 1978 Tokyo concert (others were issued in 1979 on the currently unavailable Passion Dance ), is unlikely to offer anything new to anybody who's got more than a passing familiarity with the legendary pianist's work. That said, the sound is clear, Tyner is in ...