Benny Carter

Bennett Lester Carter August 8 1907 July 12 2003 was an American jazz saxophonist clarinetist trumpeter composer arranger and bandleader With Johnny Hodges he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone From the beginning of his career in the 1920s he worked as an arranger including written charts for Fletcher Hendersons big band that shaped the swing style He had an unusually long career that lasted into the 1990s During the 1980s and 1990s he was nominated for eight Grammy Awards which included receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award Carter was born in New York City in 1907 He was given piano lessons by his mother and others in the neighborhood He played trumpet and experimented briefly with Cmelody saxophone before settling on alto saxophone In the 1920s he performed with June Clark Billy Paige and Earl Hines then toured as a member of the Wilberforce Collegians led by Horace Henderson He appeared on record for the first time in 1927 as a member of the Paradise Ten led by Charlie Johnson He returned to the Collegians and became their bandleader through 1929 including a performance at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City In his early 1920s Carter worked as arranger for Fletcher Henderson after that position was vacated by Don Redman He had no formal education in arranging learning by trial and error getting on his knees and looking at the existing charts writing the lead trumpet first and the lead saxophone firstwhich of course is the hard way It was quite some time that I did that before I knew what a score was He left Henderson to take Redmans former job as leader of McKinneys Cotton Pickers in Detroit In 1932 he formed a band in New York City that included Chu Berry Sid Catlett Cozy Cole Bill Coleman Ben Webster Dicky Wells and Teddy Wilson Carters arrangements were complex Among the most significant were Keep a Song in Your Soul written for Henderson in 1930 and Lonesome Nights and Symphony in Riffs from 1933 both of which show Carters writing for saxophones By the early 1930s Carter and Johnny Hodges were considered the leading alto saxophonists Carter also became a leading trumpet soloist having rediscovered the instrument He recorded extensively on trumpet in the 1930s Carters shortlived Orchestra played the Harlem Club in New York but only recorded a handful of records for Columbia OKeh and Vocalion The OKeh sides were issued under the name The Chocolate Dandies In 1933 Carter participated in sessions with British composermusician Spike Hughes who visited New York City to organize recordings with prominent African American musicians These 14 sides plus four by Carters big band titled at the time Spike Hughes and His Negro Orchestra were initially only issued in England The musicians were from Carters band and included Red Allen Dicky Wells Wayman Carver Coleman Hawkins J C Higginbotham and Chu Berry Source Article Benny Carter from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30