Home » Jazz Articles » Ron Carter

Jazz Articles about Ron Carter

About Ron Carter

204

Album Review

Ron Carter: When Skies Are Grey...

Read "When Skies Are Grey..." reviewed by Jim Santella

by Jim Santella
February 1, 2001

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 ...

225

Album Review

Ron Carter: When Skies Are Grey

Read "When Skies Are Grey" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
February 1, 2001

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, ...

317

Album Review

Ron Carter: Parade

by Derek Taylor
December 1, 2000

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 ...

Interview

Ron Carter: Brazilian Charm

by AAJ Staff
February 22, 2000

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 ...

328

Album Review

Barry Harris: Magnificent!

Read "Magnificent!" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
January 1, 2000

By the time pianist Barry Harris recorded his first session as a leader in 1958, Breakin' It Up for the Argo label, Charlie Parker had already been dead for three years and the be-bop movement that he had helped usher in was already giving way to the more visceral advance of hard bop and the beginning strains of Ornette Coleman's “new thing" approach. For Harris, who was a died-in-the-wool be-bopper, this meant coming on the scene a bit too late ...

169

Album Review

Barry Harris: Magnificent!

Read "Magnificent!" reviewed by Derek Taylor

by Derek Taylor
January 1, 2000

Despite the suspicious absence of modesty in the title of this disc this is one trio that definitely lives up to their chosen moniker. One tour through the eight tunes that these three players hew to their own devices is all that’s necessary to discover that their contention is no idle boast. Harris is the comparative veteran of the group. A consummate keyboardist, Harris rose to maturity during the bumpy birth of bebop out of swing. As a result his ...

428

Album Review

Ron Carter: Orfeu

by Jim Santella
December 1, 1999

Active in both classical and jazz circles, bassist Ron Carter has also shown a preference for Brazilian music throughout his career. He's returned to Brazil each January for the past six years to perform with his ensemble and to learn from local artists. Carter, 62, and one of the most recorded jazz players of all time, wrote most of the pieces for this latest album with care taken to preserve authentic stylistic concepts. Houston Person's lyrical lead, Bill Frisell's unique, ...