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Ron Carter: When Skies Are Grey
by Michael Fortuna
The album cover for Ron Carter's When Skies Are Grey shows the jazz bassist contemplatively looking up toward an overcast New York City sky.Perhaps the title is in reference to how Carter felt during the recording sessions because his wife had died the week before. He attended funeral services over that weekend and came to the studio the following Monday morning.But when you listen to the music that came from those sessions, you'll hear the consummate ...
Continue ReadingBenny Golson: One Day, Forever
by AAJ Staff
Benny Golson’s latest Arkadia release, One Day, Forever, arose from a taping of some of Golson’s previous band members from the Jazztet: Art Farmer and Curtis Fuller. At the end of a European tour, they were so rushed they that they didn’t record long enough to fill an entire CD. Arkadia owner Bob Karcy kept the tape in the can, and he and Golson kept that recording in mind, in the intervening five years, during which Farmer passed. After Golson ...
Continue ReadingRon Carter: When Skies Are Grey...
by C. Andrew Hovan
Sometimes knowing the whole story can enhance the appreciation of a work of art. In the case of When Skies Are Grey..., the death of Carter's wife around the same time as the recording session helped make the disc a tangible example of the human spirit overcoming adversity. Far from the gloomy state that its title might suggest, this record could arguably be one of the bassist's finest efforts to date, and that's saying something considering that his capacious catalog ...
Continue ReadingRon Carter: When Skies Are Grey...
by Jim Santella
While a Latin jazz element is his focus for this project, veteran Ron Carter’s recordings always hold the mainstream of jazz in high regard. A quiet session that swings, the bassist’s latest album swirls through the tradition with a light conga tinge. Bob Freedman’s intricate arrangements place the bassist in roles ranging from opening obbligato to soothing melody and focused improvisation. Pianist Stephen Scott brings a fresh approach to the session, particularly on Ray Bryant’s “Cubano Chant,” where he stretches ...
Continue ReadingRon Carter: When Skies Are Grey
by AAJ Staff
Ron Carter's expansive interests long have included investigations into the nature of Latin music, and then the recording of his own interpretations of it. Fusing his legendary experience as a bassist extraordinaire with the rhythmic displacements and variety of Latin music, Carter's seeming ease and his statesman-like approach to the instrument have made the music accessible without sacrificing its complexity or inspirational value .Carter's interest in Latin music regained recorded fulfillment recently with his CD of Brazilian music, ...
Continue ReadingRon Carter: Parade
by Derek Taylor
The decade of the 70s was a time of artistic uncertainty in jazz. Faced with a dwindling audience many musicians buckled under to commercial pressures and diluted their sounds to fit into the frameworks of popular trends. While this is nothing new in music, there was something particularly bromidic about 70s pop and remaining economically viable often meant playing music that catered to broader audiences and incorporated heavy arrangements and high production values. Ron Carter was just one of many ...
Continue ReadingRon Carter: Brazilian Charm
by AAJ Staff
All About Jazz: You have said that Brazilian changes are different from the ways that Americans adapt Brazilian tunes. Do you think you were true to the Brazilian changes in your latest album, Orfeu? Ron Carter: Absolutely. Definitely. AAJ: What's different about Brazilian changes that Americans can't seem to grasp? RC: Well, most American musicians haven't heard Brazilian musicians play. All they hear is Americans trying to play Brazilian music. Fortunately for me, I've ...
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