Every time I start talking about the original cats that are still around, I tend to go right for Sonny Rollins. But I always overlook the illustrious Mr. C. I just got his "Elegy In Blue" and it smokes! This guy has been around though it all, and he is still one of the best around! Anyone have any thoughts? DEEP, ever played with Benny?

There is actually a little-known biography of Benny Carter out there. I believe it is in print. It was written by two or three authors, including a Princeton professor named "Berger". I read the tome fairly recently, but it is very expensive. One of those academic presses. No jacket. Just the hardcover.

Benny did some time as an artist in residence or a guest professorship at Princeton. I think I read where there was or is supposed to be a vol. 2 coming out. If you've lived as long as Benny, I guess you could come out with multiple volumes.

I went to the celebration of this 88th birthday a few years ago at Jazz Bakery, LA. He was accompanied by Roger Kellaway, Mel Martin and special guests like Bill Henderson, Joe Williams, and others. He played VERY well!

I would kill to see Bill Henderson. Damn, I wish he would come out East and gig. One of my favorite singers. I am jealous.

As most of you probably know Benny lives here in Los Angeles. I called him recently to get sheet music for one of his songs. Needless to say he was most warm, most helpful. He is the gentleman that legend says he is. Nice human being. We can use more of those.
(Sorry - not much of an anecdote but what the hell.)

One of the all time great saxophonists. Right up there w/ Hodges, Bean, Pres and Ben. And he's still with us today creating magnificent music, and writing some great tunes too.

Right up there with Bird, no?!? Maybe we need a thread about the surviving original cats...

Joe Henderson and Sonny Rollins are my 2 other submissions...

One of my favorite recordings is a live date recorded in Montreax with a trio featuring Ray Bryant on piano. He plays, if I am not mistaken, "Body and Soul", on both trumpet and sax. One of the last recordings of him on trumpet. Classy player, composer, arranger.

You guys are not even coming close to hitting on the importance of Benny Carter in the annals of jazz.

Benny Carter's greatness is not so much as an instrumentalist as it is as an arranger. If you would listen to his early arrangements you would be in awe of his talent. He was the most advanced arranger of the 1930s--possibly the 1940s--and that includes the great Ellington.

To compare Joe Henderson with Benny Carter is ludicrous.

The Berger, Berger, Patrick book that Heinous mentioned in the second post is part of a two-volume set published in 1982 by The Scarecrow Press. The first volume is Carter's biography; the second is a discography of Carter's works. The set is highly acclaimed and well worth the $50 price tag.

"7"

With the death of Rosy McHargue, Benny Carter (who first recorded in 1927 as both an altoist and an arranger with Fletcher Henderson) goes back further than any active jazz musician, save one.......trombonist Spiegel Willcox (whose name I always seem to misspell). Carter was considered one of the top altoists of 1927, 1937, 1947, 1957, 1967, 1977, 1987 and 1997! He's been a major arranger and a talented composer through all of those years too and could have been a fulltime trumpeter. His list of accomplishments is simply enormous. When one considers that his contemporaries were Fats Waller, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges and Red Allen and that he outlived everyone (not to mention Bird, 'Trane, Dolphy and Alyer) and is still a vital part of the scene, it is pretty amazing.

*All of Me* arranged by B. Lester Carter

Amen


DEEP

(Loie, I'm beggin' for KROESEN'S internet life)

037, I'm not comparing Henderson and Carter in the same way you are. Carter is a phenomenal arranger and composer, but they are 2 of the original cats, as players. Different but in the same elite category, no?

Funki,

Different, yes.
Same elite category, not hardly.
Sorry, but Henderson's solos don't hold my attention at all. Carter's do, especially his earlier solos. Wish I could appreciate Henderson more--he's on alot of good sessions--but when he comes on my thoughts inadvertently go elsewhere.

"7"

My favorite Benny Carter album, if I had to pick one out, would be "Further Definitions" where Benny not only shows his brilliant writing for saxes but more than holds his own with cats like Hawk, Ben, Rouse, Phil Woods, etc. The opening of "The Midnight Sun Never Sets" is as beautiful as it gets.