Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes

RON CARTER is among the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz history, with more than 2,200 albums to his credit, an accomplishment honored in the 2015 Guinness Book of World Records. He has recorded with greats including: Tommy Flanagan, Gil Evans, Lena Horne, Bill Evans, B.B. King, the Kronos Quartet, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, and Bobby Timmons, Jaki Byard, Eric Dolphy and Cannonball Adderley. From 1963 to 1968, Ron was a member of the classic and acclaimed Miles Davis Quintet. He was named Outstanding Bassist of the Decade by the Detroit News, Jazz Bassist of the Year by Downbeat magazine, and MVP by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He earned two Grammy awards, one in 1993 for Best Jazz Instrumental Group, and another in 1998 for "Call Sheet Blues" from the film "Round Midnight".

RON CARTER is among the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz. He has recorded over 2200albums, and has a Guinness world record to prove it!In Jazz: From 1963 to 1968, he was a member of the acclaimed Miles Davis Quintet. He can be heard onmany iconic jazz records of the 60's and 70's such as Speak No Evil, Maiden Voyage, Speak Like a Child, RedClay, Nefertiti and Miles Smiles, to name a few.In other music genres: After leaving the quintet he embarked on a prolific 50-year free lance career thatspanned vastly different music genres and continues to this day. He recorded with Roberta Flack and ArethaFranklin, appeared on the seminal hip-hop album Low End Theory with a Tribe Called Quest, wrote andrecorded pieces for string quartets and Bach chorales for 2-8 basses and accompanied Danny Simmons on aspoken word album.As a leader: Carter spends at least half the year on worldwide tours with his various groups. The Ron CarterTrio, The Ron Carter quartet, the Ron Carter Nonet and Ron Carter's Great Big Band. He has recorded multiplealbums with his groups.As an author: Carter shares his expertise in the series of books he authored, where he explains his creativeprocess and teaches bassists of all levels to improve their skills and develop their own unique sound. He alsopenned his autobiography "Finding the Right Notes" which is available in print and also as an audiobookread by the Maestro himself.His books share a unique feature he pioneered, that of including QR codes in every book that lead toadditional material, instructional videos, all enriching the text and making each book more valuable.In 2021 he pioneered a new type of music transcription with Chartography, which follows the development ofthe bass line for Autumn leaves over 5 performances with the Miles Davis Quintet, showing not only the bassline but also how the band responded and how the entire tune transformed over time.As a teacher: Carter has lectured, conducted, and performed at clinics and master classes, instructing jazzensembles and teaching the business of music at numerous universities. He was Artistic Director of theThelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Studies while it was located in Boston and, after 18 years on the faculty ofthe Music Department of The City College of New York, he is now Distinguished Professor Emeritus, hecurrently teaches at Manhattan School of Music.In film scoring: In addition to scoring and arranging music for many films, including some projects forPublic Broadcasting System, Carter composed music for A Gathering of Old Men, starring Lou Gosset Jr., ThePassion of Beatrice directed by Bertrand Tavernier, and Blind Faith starring Courtney B. Vance.Film appearances: Most jazz documentaries feature the Maestro because of his indelible contribution to thegenre. Ken Burns "Jazz", "Birth of the Cool" about Miles Davis, "It Must be Schwing", the story of the BlueNote and many more. He also appeared as himself in HBO's hit series "Treme" and was the bassist onsoundtracks of Twin Peaks, Bird, and way too many others to mention.Education: Carter earned a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School in Rochester and amaster's degree in double bass from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He has also received six honorary doctorates, from the New England Conservatory of Music (1999), Manhattan School of Music (1998), University of Rochester (2010), University of Michigan, (2016) ,Juilliard(2018), Berklee (2005.