|
Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZCARTER, John(b 24 September 1929, Ft Worth TX; d 31 March 1991) Reeds, especially clarinet, and flute. He gigged around the Southwest in the 1940s and '50s in jazz and blues groups, but he had college degrees from '49, taught in public schools in Fort Worth and in Los Angeles, formed a quartet with Bobby Bradford '65 and continued with educational, lecture and concert work. Their New Art Jazz Ensemble made Seeking '69 on Revelation, later on hat Hut, and Flight For Four and Self-Determination Music on Flying Dutchman, and Secrets on Revelation '71-2. Carter was a major clarinet virtuoso who managed to keep his means of expression separate from the round of nightclubs and one-night stands. He played with Ornette Coleman, conducted an orchestra in his music in L.A. '65, played in Europe '73. Echoes From Rudolph's '77 was a quartet with vocalist Melba Joyce on one track. Variations On Selected Themes For Jazz Quintet '79 included Bradford and Phillip Wilson, with A Suite Of Early American Folk Pieces for Solo Clarinet '79 made in Düsseldorf on Moers. Tandem I and Tandem II on Emanem were clarinet and cornet solo and duo concerts from '79 and '82 with Bradford. Dauwhe '82 on Black Saint was by an octet with Bradford, Red Callender, flautist James Newton; Carter plays on Newton's quintet The Mystery School '80 with similar personnel on India Navigation; also on that label: two vols of Clarinet Summit '84, recorded live in NYC with Jimmy Hamilton, David Murray and Alvin Batiste (b 1932; d 6 May 2007, New Orleans). Castles Of Ghana '85 with Bradford and Andrew Cyrille and Dance Of The Love Ghosts '86 with Cyrille, Fred Hopkins and others were parts of his 'Roots And Folklore' series, which also included the above-mentioned Dauwhe and Shadow On A Wall, all on Gramavision. Quintet Night Fire '80 on Black Saint was partly a programmatic work about a visitation by the Ku Klux Klan on a black family. Other albums included Whatever Happened To Love? on Verve. John Carter & Bobby Bradford on Mosaic Select (2010) gathered together the Revelation tracks and added gorgeous duo tracks recorded in 1979 to make a three-CD set of beautiful West Coast free jazz. It's a limited edition, so go buy it now, here. |