Ron Carter is the epitome class and elegance. He’s also a great cellist and bassist. He is a great accompanist and has released many albums that showcase his amazing technique. He is a master rhythmic and melodic musician, using every instrument in his arsenal, including walking lines, deep, rich, prominent notes and tones, drones, strumming effects and melody snippets. His bowed solos can be as impressive as his finger-based ones. Carter has been featured on clothing, pipe, and instrument advertisements. He’s almost as popular as Duke Ellington for his eclectic musical and extra-musical interests. Carter is almost as proficient in jazz as he is in classical music, and has performed with orchestras around the globe. Carter is almost exclusively an acoustic musician. He did briefly play electric in the late 1960s and early 1970s but hasn’t used it for many, many years. Carter started playing cello when he was ten years old. Carter switched to bass when his family moved from Ferndale (MI) to Detroit. Carter was troubled by racial stereotypes about the cello. He was a member of the Eastman School’s Philharmonic Orchestra and received his degree in 1959. While enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music, he moved to New York where he played in Chico Hamilton’s quintet alongside Eric Dolphy. In 1961, Carter received his master’s degree. Carter returned to the West Coast with Hamilton in 1960. He stayed on New York’s East Coast and played with Dolphy, Don Ellis and cut his first records there. While he was recording and playing with Jaki Byard, Carter worked with Randy Weston as well as Thelonious Monk. Carter also recorded and toured with Bobby Timmons’ group, as well as playing with Cannonball Adderley. In 1963, he briefly joined Art Farmer’s band before being invited to join Miles Davis’ group. Carter was with Davis from 1963 to 1968. He appeared on every mid-’60s recording, and he teamed up with Tony Williams and Herbie Hancock to create a more free-flowing rhythm section sound. Carter has been regarded as the greatest jazz bassist ever recorded. Carter has been heard on a staggering number of recordings. Some sources say he’s recorded 500 records, while others claim it could be up to 1,000. It is impossible to list all the people with whom he has played. Carter was a member the New York Jazz Quartet and New York Jazz Sextet, V.S.O.P. He was a member of New York Jazz Sextet, Milestone Jazzstars and was one of the groups featured on the 1986 film Round Midnight. Since 1972, he has led his own bands. He uses a second bassist to maintain time and harmony so that he can perform solos. Carter invented the piccolo bass, his own instrument. Carter has also contributed numerous arrangements and compositions to his bands. He has recorded duo albums with Jim Hall or Cedar Walton. Carter has recorded for Embryo/Atlantic and CTI. He also recorded for Milestone, EmArcy and Elektra. In the end, he landed at Blue Note to record LPs, including 1997’s The Bass and I and 1998’s So what. Stardust, Carter’s tribute to Oscar Pettiford, was released in 2001 with When Skies Are Grey. Dear Miles Davis was a tribute album that was released on Blue Note in 2006. Allmusic
