The Night: Jazz

Tonight, a portrait of American bassist Ron Carter. He holds the prestigious record of most recorded bassist in jazz history. In total, he can be heard on more than 2,200 recordings. Unfortunately, these do not fit into a 6-hour broadcast, so tonight, we have a cross-section of this artist’s oeuvre. We begin in 1969 with the album Uptown Conversation. Carter had just left Miles Davis’ quartet and recorded this album with Herbie Hancock piano, Hubert Laws flute, Sam Brown guitar and Grady Tate and Billy Cobham drums.

A few years after the release of this record, Carter recorded the album Alone Together with Jim Hall at the Playboy Club in New York on 4 August 1972. Although most of the works are covers from other artists, the record grew into one of the most highly regarded works in Carter’s extensive oeuvre. You will hear Jim Hall on guitar and, of course, Ron Carter on bass.

In 1977, Carter recorded another album with Herbie Hancock, among others. This time as a trio together with drummer Tony Williams. Third Plane is the result of this session. The gentlemen had such a good time that on the same day, they recorded five more pieces that Hancock would later release under the moniker Herbie Hancock Trio. He plays piano, Tony Williams drums and Ron Carter, of course, bass.

After this, we move to 1982 and to Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. In September that year, Ron Carter records the album Etudes there, this time with his quintet. Again, an album with almost exclusively his work. An impressive quintet with Art Farmer trumpet, Bill Evans tenor and soprano saxophone, Tony Williams drums and Ron Carter bass.

Next, from the 1980s to 2001. We have arrived at the album Stardust. The album is a mix of Ron Carter’s compositions and an ode to the work of bassist Oscar Pettiford. He was one of the first musicians to step up to and into bebop and one of Cannonball Adderley’s discoverers. Stardust is an album again recorded as a quintet, this time featuring Benny Golson tenor, Joe Locke vibraphone, Lenny White drums, Sir Roland Hanna piano and Ron Carter bass.

We then jump forward ten years and end up in the year 2011. After a career of almost 50 years, Carter still manages to renew himself. This time with a Big Band album called Ron Carter’s Great Big Band. At the age of 73, the time was right. Carter describes the album as “more of an accident than an intention”. But it worked surprisingly well.

We close this episode with a rather special album, Piccolo from 1977. The album was recorded at Sweet Basil, a jazz club in New York City. Here, Carter plays the piccolo bass: a bass tuned, usually 1 octave, higher than usual. The smooth interplay in the quartet consisting of Kenny Barron piano, Buster Williams double bass and Ben Riley drums make it one of Ron Carter’s musical highlights of the 1970s.