James Carter
JAMES CARTER - GIFTED! CONTINUES MUSICAL LEGACY

JAMES CARTER - GIFTED! CONTINUES MUSICAL LEGACY

By: Dee Dee McNeil

Upon returning to my hometown of Detroit after 29 years of West Coast living, I was eager to check out Detroit’s Jazz Scene. Sitting in Bomac's smoke-filled jazz club on a Thursday night, I first heard James Carter. He looked so young, but there was intensity about him far beyond his age. I watched him take his horn from the case, holding it as tenderly as a woman's face in his hands. This writer wondered, who is this young brother dressed in something that resembled a zoot suit from the 40’s? I had heard about James Carter on the West Coast and even had his “ JurassicClassics” and “ The Real Quiet Storm“ CDs. But I had never seen him up close and personal. He was sharp as a chef’s knife and just as cutting edge. I could see the excitement radiating around him like an aura or a halo. In that magic moment, I knew for sure he was one of our Jazz angels. A budding talent, gifted and blessed to slice through the mediocrity and carry on the musical legacy of his saxophone forefathers.

He’s a combination of the past, present and future

When this young man puts any one of several reeds to his lips, you will hear a plethora of legendary styles dance out. Let me tell you, he is fluid and fast as Charlie Parker, while bluesy, gritty and gospel as Johnny Griffin, Eddie Harris and Gene Ammons rolled up in one. James Carter can play as tender as Prez, or outrageous as Coltrane; Avant Garde as Ornette Coleman and sexy as Dexter Gordon. At the same time, James can be R&B-funk-based like George Clinton. Yes, I know that George Clinton isn’t a saxophone player, but his music has certainly influenced James Carter. One moment he’s straight-ahead and old-school. The next he’s as contemporary and funky as Stanley Turrentine or Grover Washington. In other words, James Carter is just a bad mammy jamma! He’s a combination of the past, present and future. Yes! Detroit has done it again! In fact, this young man may be the next Eric Dolphy or John Coltrane of our times!

An Amazing Young Talent Growing Right Before Your Eyes

I haven’t seen anyone as versatile or 'driven' like this talented brother in a long time. I remember years ago I saw the same intensity and originality in the budding talent of Yusef Lateef blowing his Sister Sadie blues at Detroit’s popular Minor Key. Sitting in Baker’s Keyboard Lounge when I was barely twenty-one, we were stunned by the art and intensity of drummer Art Blakey and mesmerized by percussionist Alvin Jones. James Carter has that kind of effect on an audience. He’s just an amazing talent who is growing right before your eyes.

Roots and Rights of Passage Belong to Detroit

Where did it begin for James? He was eleven years old when he started practicing on the saxophone. At that young age he had already developed a love affair with music. His Scotten Street home, on the West side of Detroit, was always full of sounds. All five of the children of Robert and Thelma Carter are musically inclined. In an interview, James admitted he didn’t just listen to jazz. At first his ears embraced the popular sounds of the day. Like most young people he was tuned in to what was on the radio or what his older brothers and sisters were listening to. He had an early fascination with Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Parliament Funkadelic, and even Barry Manilow. He continues to have a weakness for cartoons. James says he still likes the old Warner Brother cartoons with orchestra music and even the Flintstone score inspired him. In the same breath, many an evening he soaked up the sounds of music that his parents enjoyed like Billy Eckstine, Count Basie, Billie Holiday and Ellington. It didn’t take the sub-teen long to recognize he had a definite infatuation with a more mature music.

Musician/Teacher Donald Washington Unlocks A Monster Talent

It was thanks to the early tutelage of Donald Washington, who became his mentor, that James rooted himself in Jazz. Mr. Washington involved the inquisitive young man in a group of musicians called Bird-Trane-Sco-Now. The youngest member was seven and they ranged in age upward to seventeen. James had always been drawn to the openness and freedom of Jazz music. When he met Donald Washington, he found someone who understood his interests and encouraged his natural development on the Alto Saxophone. His first instrument was a King Silver with a gold bell. But James didn’t stop there. He wanted to play everything. Today, the young man plays alto, tenor, baritone and soprano saxophones as well as clarinets and flutes. Surprisingly, he plays them all with astonishing excellence.

Live Recording at Bakers Keyboard Lounge

The extended weekend of June 14th, 15th and 16th, Atlantic Records brought a sound crew and expert engineers to the corner of Eight-Mile and Livernois. Something legendary was going to happen. James Carter was recording a “Live” session at one of the oldest Jazz Clubs in the world; Bakers Keyboard Lounge. A prideful young man who is quick to give praise to his hometown roots, I was not surprised that James Carter wanted to focus the attention of the world back to Detroit. In every article he is always praising the people and the city that tutored his talent. Recording with his own group and inviting a few of his hometown friends to join him, Bakers was full of great musicians, Musicians who saw the talent in James at an early age. Many who helped develop it. Folks like Marcus Belgrave, who had James performing in the Blue Lake Monster Ensemble before he had even graduated from high school in 1986. It was this musical experience at the Blue Lake Arts Camp that won James Carter a scholarship to attend the Interlochen classical music camp. Larry Smith was there, watching his young protegee smoke the room with his fiery sax solos. James featured Larry on his “Conversin’ With the Elders” CD. Young Mr. Carter will tell you that musicians like the late, great Beans Bowles and reed impresario, Larry Smith, inspired and encouraged him. How many young musicians can say that before graduating from High School they had already played with Wynton Marsalis? Not to mention recording with Lester Bowie in New York before he was old enough to buy a beer. Later James worked with the Charles Mingus Big Band, played with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Kathleen Battle, Betty Carter, and legendary Harry “Sweets” Edison to list only a few of his early accomplishments. Dynamic drummer, Pistol Allen was at Bakers to share a lick or two on his legendary Motown drums. Leonard King, an innovative percussionist, arranger, singer and teacher took a seat behind the trap drums to spark James. Ken Cox (another Detroit-born jazz master on the piano) tinkled the keys Friday night, with Jerome Gibbs on organ. Then Aretha dropped by to add the vocal icing on an already rich layered sweet cake stuffed with the finest musicians Detroit has to offer. This will be a CD desert fit for kings and queens. I can’t wait to take a bite!

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James Carters Discography as a Leader includes:

In Carterian Fashion

Conversin’ With The Elders

J.C. On the Set

JurassicClassics

The Real Quietstorm

Chasin’ The Gypsy ( a tribute to the late Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt and featuring another Detroit great, jazz violinist Regina Carter)

Layin’ In the Cut

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Note: An edited version of this Article, written by Dee Dee McNeil, appeared in the Michigan Chronicle Newspaper June 27 - July 3, 2001 - Detroit, Michigan.

 
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