For six decades – and counting – three-time Grammy winner and Detroiter Ron Carter has been called the most original, prolific and influential bass player ever.
Many jazz aficionados consider him the undisputed G.O.A.T (greatest of all time) on the upright acoustic bass. According to Guinness World Records, Carter is the “World’s Most Recorded Bass Player,” having appeared on more than 2,200 studio recordings in his career.
PBS recently aired an exhilarating documentary on the jazz icon titled “Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes.” The 120-minute documentary, which took six years to complete, chronicles the life, music and legacy of Carter, often referred to as “the gentleman behind the bass.”
Pianist and composer Jon Batiste interviewed Carter on a wide range of topics including his philosophy for maintaining the relentless drive to reach the pinnacle of recording and performing.
One of the documentary’s highlights was Carter, now 85, reflecting on playing with Miles Davis in what jazz enthusiasts called Davis’s “Second Great Quintet.” The group, played from 1964 to 1968, and featured Davis (trumpet), Carter (acoustic bass), Herbie Hancock (piano), Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone) and Tony Williams (drums). Numerous video clips of the group’s past performances intertwined with Carter methodically recalling the magic moments of yesteryear.
Carter went on to record and perform with most of the greatest names in jazz, including Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, Lee Morgan, Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Grover Washington Jr., Donald Byrd, Alice Coltrane, Gary Bartz, and more.
Beyond jazz, Carter’s indelible bass fingerprints can be found on studio recordings in R&B, pop, blues, and classical. Such non-jazz artists who Carter has recorded with include Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, James Brown, Gil Scott-Heron, B.B. King, Paul Simon, Jefferson Airplane, A Tribe Called Quest, Grace Slick and Billy Joel.
In addition, Carter’s style of playing has influenced thousands of bass players over six decades.
“I have the greatest respect for the many great bass players,” said four-time Grammy winner, bass player, and Philadelphia native Stanley Clarke. “However, the bass player that influenced me the most on acoustic bass was Detroiter Ron Carter. I studied him to become more educated on the bass. To me, pound-for-pound, he’s the best.”
Born in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale, Carter began playing cello with aspirations of becoming a classical cellist. At 13, Carter and his family moved to Detroit. He ultimately attended Cass Tech High School where he began playing the upright acoustic bass. After graduating from Cass in the mid-1950s, Carter earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the Eastman School of Music (1959) and a master’s degree in music from the Manhattan School of Music (1961). In 1961, Carter also released his debut album titled “Where?”
The documentary’s title rings true for the jazz legend, as he does what he has always done in music: boldly and adventurously searching and finding the right notes to play for recordings and live performances.
“My favorite thing is trying to find the right notes to get to a different level,” Carter said in the documentary. “Notes are very important to what we do. Notes make what we do happen. The order of the notes does a lot of things coming in the form of a song, coming in the form of chord progressions and coming in the form of developing skills. These notes we look for are the essence. Now, I found some notes, but I’m looking for more every night.”
The documentary further explores Carter going through the tough times of racial discrimination and the personal loss of one of his sons. Yet, through all of life’s challenges, the common denominator for Carter has been the music and finding the right notes for recordings and the many live performances across America and abroad, including Brazil, France, Japan, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria and Norway.
“He’s creating his legacy every day,” Stanley Clarke said in the documentary. “And every bass player today, whether they know it, like it, or whatever, when you play jazz bass, there’s a bit of Ron Carter in everyone.”
To learn more about where to see the PBS documentary “Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes,” log on to www.pbs.org/show/ron-carter-finding-right-notes or www.roncarterjazz.com.
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