Ron Carter: Mr. 2,221…and Counting

If you love jazz, but you don’t know who Ron Carter is, you really don’t love jazz.

Why do we say that?

Because Ron Carter is one of the most prolific, innovative and influential bassists in jazz history.
He’s also played with a number of the greats. From Lena Horne to B.B. King, Miles Davis to even A Tribe Called Quest, Mr. Carter’s talent has transcended a variety of genres.

Carter was born in Ferndale, Michigan on May 4, 1937. He started playing cello at age ten, and later switched to the double bass. He went on to play during his time at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and the Manhattan School of Music in the Big Apple.

His professional career in music started with gigs playing bass for Jaki Byard and Chico Hamilton. Carter hit the big time in 1963 when he became a member of the classic and acclaimed Miles Davis Quintet. In it, he played alongside Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams. He played with the group until 1968. During his time, he recorded two albums with them—Seven Steps to Heaven in 1963 and E.S.P. in 1965.

After his quartet time, Carter went on to forge a number of musical partnerships and was a member of the New York Jazz Quartet. He also was a sideman on many Blue Note recordings playing with Freddie Hubbard, Duke Pearson, McCoy Tyner, Horace Silver and many others.

In a career which spans more than 50 years, Carter has more than 2,221 albums to his credit. He’s the most recorded jazz bassist history and was recognized for it by The Guinness Book of World Records in 2016. At 81, Carter is still teaching and performing.

So far as his style, it’s been described as such.

“What makes Carter so unique is the fact that describing his style is more comparable to describing the entire jazz genre—it includes a grandiose and diverse spectrum of sophisticated music that has evolved over the past several decades. Carter has been at the forefront of various jazz movements, from bebop to bossa nova, straight-ahead to experimental. If that weren’t enough, he has thrived in virtually every form of ensemble playing from conservation-driven duos to quartets to big bands. He has played the bass lines that all students of jazz have to learn and does so with impeccable tone, technique, and temperament.”

Ryan Madora

Bass Players to Know: Ron Carter, notreble.com

Sept. 15, 2017

Night is Alive’s own Donald Vega performs on piano with Carter’s Golden Striker Trio.

This just goes to show the caliber of the great talent that we work with. In a nutshell, we represent legends who have been inspired, mentored and celebrated by jazz greats, and we’d love to share their unique sounds with you—and the world.

Learn more about what we do and who we represent.

How are Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick related?

Nitch Drinkard married Delia McCaskill and had eight children. The second oldest of the Drinkard children was Lee. She married Mancel Warrick. They had three children: Delia (named after the grandmother), Mancel Jr. and Dionne. When Dionne produced her first single in 1962, her last name was mis-spelled as Warwick instead of Warrick. She decided to keep Dionne Warwick as her stage name.

They youngest of the Drinkard children was Emily, who went by the nickname “Cissy.” Cissy married John Houston. Cissy and John had three children. The youngest was Whitney.

Whitney Houston is a cousin of Dionne Warwick. Whitney’s mother, the gospel-trained vocalist, Cissy Houston, is an aunt of Dionne. Cissy is the one who taught Whitney how to sing professionally.

Whitney Houston first performed at 9 years old at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ and become extremely famous as a gospel singer over the next few years.

Whitney Houston is the debut studio album by American contemporary R&B and pop singer Whitney Houston. It was released on February 14, 1985, by Arista Records. The album

initially had a slow commercial response but began getting more popular in the summer of 1985. It eventually topped the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks in 1986, generating three number-one singles — “Saving All My Love for You”, “How Will I Know” and “Greatest Love of All” (a cover of “The Greatest Love of All”, originally recorded in 1977 by George Benson) — on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which made it both the first debut album and the first album by a solo female artist to produce three number-one singles.

Dionne Warwick used to describe her cousin Whitney as “the little girl I never had” which just showed how close the pair was.

There has never been a more famous family relation regarding famous Gospel Singers in the United States than that of Dionne Warwick and Whitney Houston.

Whitney died in February 11, 2012 and the following month of March, Dionne revealed in a conversation with Good Morning America that she had spoken to Whitney that day and that she had asked her to attend the Clive Davis’s Grammy Party at the Beverly Hills Hotel that night. “You’ve got to be there for me.” Whitney told her.

Hour later, Whitney was found dead in a bathtub. A death that Dionne described as “surreal” as she asserted Whitney was up and happy, and her vocals getting ready in those days, and that she had everything to live for.

Order Willie Jones III Tickets Today

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Drummer Willie Jones III is best experienced front row, and “full throttle.” His latest release is Groundwork featuring compositions by Cedar Walton,  Eric Reed and Buster Williams.

When Willie was still living in LA, Billy Higgins told him: “Don’t wait for somebody else to decide when you are ready to be a leader.”  Well… Willie is now one of the world’s leading jazz drummers and a brilliant leader.

Eric Reed says: “Willie has a west-coast swagger to his swing that isn’t lackadaisical and a New York edge that isn’t overwhelming. There is nothing academic about Willie on the bandstand.”  With the band Willie has put together for this gig, we will be hearing what Willie calls… Straight-Swingin’-Real-Jazz!

Featuring

Willie Jones III, drums
Eric Reed, piano
Ralph Moore, tenor saxophone
Mike Olmos, trumpet
Mike Gurrola, bass

ORDER TICKETS HERE: https://jazzbakery.org/events/willie-jones-iii-wj3

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