1 3 Ron Carter

Ron Carter plays here with pianist Kenny Barron, drummer Harvey Mason, and guitarist Hugh McCracken, in a setting that is augmented by an off-kilter string section, and which has that sort of bright sound that characterized some of Carter's recordings from the time. Many of the tracks have a relaxed funky groove, and Carter's bass is very up front in the recording, with lots of tight plunked hard solo notes. Tracks include "12+12", "Woolaphant", and "One Bass Rag". (Source: Dusty Groove America, Inc.)

Guitarist Greg Skaff assembles a masterful trio with bassist Ron Carter and drummer Albert "Tootie" Health, two NEA Jazz Masters for this rewarding set. Well-known for his work with soul jazz legends and with groups based around the Hammond B-3 organ, this date is surprisingly Skaff's first recording in the past 30+ years leading a guitar trio alone without piano or organ. It's also special set for the legendary reunion of Carter and Heath who worked together with history making results in the early 60s on landmark recordings by pianist Bobby Timmons and by guitarist Wes Montgomery. But, they have collaborated only once since. Skaff takes full advantage of this moment delivering an album all three are immensely proud of.

Ron Carter is one of the most recorded bassists in jazz. In his mid-seventies at the time of these sessions, he is very much still at the top of his game as he leads the first big-band date of his own, with potent arrangements by conductor Robert M. Freedman and including some of New York's busiest musicians, including Jerry Dodgion, Steve Wilson, Wayne Escoffery, and Scott Robinson in the woodwind section, brass players Steve Davis, Douglas Purviance, and Greg Gisbert, plus pianist Mulgrew Miller and drummer Lewis Nash, among others. Freedman's charts are short and sweet, all of them under five minutes, with much of the focus on imaginative writing and Carter's melodic bass central in the mix. The material spans from the 1920s to the present, played with imagination…

The strings vibrate gently. Accurate tone, unconditionally clear. And quietly. The longest ngers of jazz seem to dance weightlessly along the wooden bridge; yearning, ligree and elegant. No one else sounds like Ron Carter. His double bass often produces a crisp groove like an electric bass, yet it is always clearly de nable as the sound of a classical music instrument. Then the sound under the scorpion-like hands irresistibly swells. Payton Crossley gently caresses the cymbal, and Jimmy Green, the „new member“ on the tenor saxophone as well as pianist Renee Rosnes push the chorus onto the nely crocheted rhythm cover. “With us, nobody knows exactly what happens when,” Carter praised the Foursight Quartet‘s unique selling point. “This is precisely why every concert is a real challenge. We almost always play 35 to 40 minutes without a stop at the beginning. No breaks, just slight changes that show the beginning of a new song.

Ron Carter - Stardust (2001) {Blue Note 7243 5 37813 2 3}
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© 2001 Blue Note | 7243 5 37813 2 3
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Third Stream / Bass

Stardust is another satisfying record from Ron Carter, this one in part a tribute to the late Oscar Pettiford. Leading a quintet with Benny Golson on tenor, Joe Locke on vibes, Sir Roland Hanna on piano, and Lenny White on drums, Carter picks three choice tunes by Pettiford – the swing-to-tango "Tamalpais," the minor-key bop classic "Bohemia After Dark," and the masterfully simple "Blues in the Closet."