Instrument: Saxophone
Genre: Jazz
Origin: USA
One of jazz’s most acclaimed, distinctive improvisers, virtuoso
saxophonist James Carter returns to a favored format and simpatico
colleagues with At the Crossroads, his 15th CD as a leader and the third
showcasing his long-standing Organ Trio.
Enjoying consistently inspired interplay with fellow Motor City stars
organist Gerard Gibbs and drummer Leonard King Jr., Carter gets down in
his inimitable way on a 12-track program that boasts rollicking
swingers, moving ballads, a gospel standard, and, of course, plenty of
blues-drenched items.
A powerhouse companion disc to Live at Baker’s, the 2001 recording that
marked the trio’s formation, and 2005’s Out of Nowhere, their formal CD
debut, the album places Carter right where he wants to be — grooving in
the pocket with Gibbs and King.
“There’s a reason the trio is my longest running and most cohesive
band,” says Carter, 42, who notes that all members contribute tunes and
arrangements to the trio’s book. “Gerard and Leonard are consummate
musicians who have shaped the music at every level. We all have our own
projects, so we go out into the world and deal with whatever musical
merriment we have, and when we come back as this particular group, we
bring our musical experiences back with us.”
The Detroit-centric cast of special guests includes the actress and
vocalist Miche (pronounced Mickey) Braden, guitarists Brandon Ross and
Bruce Edwards, trumpeter Keyon Harrold, trombonist Vincent Chandler, and
percussionist Eli Fountain.
Carter packs At the Crossroads with a wide variety of gems. The opener
“Oh Gee,” a romping blues-with-a-bridge, displays Carter’s
tradition-rich tenor saxophone wares and reveals what potent partners
Gibbs and King are. On the slower side are Ellington’s timeless “Come
Sunday,” with a stirring vocal by King, and the ballad “My Whole Life
Through,” written by organ pioneer Sarah McLawler in the early 1950s.
Carter’s tender tenor shines here, as does Gibbs’s locked-hands organ
solo. “I was just struck by Sarah’s music,” Carter states. “She’s a
continued source of inspiration.”
Other memorable selections include “Misterio,” which investigates a
comely Latin-ish beat, with Carter’s warm soprano saxophone out front;
and a searing version of Julius Hemphill’s “The Hard Blues.”
The trio’s longevity is certainly a chief factor in the unmistakable
success of At the Crossroads. Carter first met organist Gibbs in the
late 1980s at Detroit jam sessions and was immediately impressed. “He
continues to surprise and startle as far as the potential of what the
organ can really do,” Carter says.
King and Carter go back to his teenage years, when he was a member of
King’s combo Strata Nova, an important proving ground for young Detroit
players. “He’s been able to hip me to various artists, providing stacks
of albums and cassettes over the years,” Carter recalls.
Described by critics as “outrageously accomplished” and “simultaneously
sensual and powerful,” with “soulfulness and technique in perfect
balance,” James Carter has been a jazz marquee artist for more than two
decades. He started playing high-level gigs with people like Lester
Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Julius Hemphill in the late 1980s and
established himself as a restlessly curious artist who finds “tremendous
beauty in cross-pollinations of music and influences.” Earlier this
year, his collaboration with classical composer Roberto Sierra,
Caribbean Rhapsody (Emarcy), was released to strong reviews. The CD
contains Carter’s tour de force performance of Sierra’s Concerto for
Saxophones and Orchestra, which he premiered with the Detroit Symphony
in 2002.
Carter “often blends the far-out and the far-in within the same solo,”
Will Friedwald wrote in the New York Sun when the saxophonist’s Present
Tense (Emarcy) was released in 2008, “and lately he seems to be doing it
at the same time, to have a traditional rhythm section playing against a
screaming free jazz solo. He uses honks and screams not just the way
the free jazzers do, but the way R&B-styled tenorists do, and thus
somehow reconciles what is generally considered the least commercial
variety of the music with the most accessible.”
James Carter and Company Live at Baker’s (2004)
Warner Brothers 48449-2
Recorded June 2001
Gardenias for Lady Day (2003)
Columbia/Sony 2-89032
Layin’ in the Cut (2000)
Atlantic Records/WBR
Atlantic 83305-2
Chasin’ the Gypsy (2000)
Atlantic Records/WBR
Atlantic 83304-2
In Carterian Fashion (1998)
Atlantic Records/WBR
Atlantic 83082-2
Conversin’ with the Elders (1996)
Atlantic Records
WBR-Atlantic 82908-2
The Real Quietstorm (1995)
Atlantic Records/WBR
Atlantic Jazz 82742-2
Jurassic Classics (1995)
DIW/ Columbia/ Sony
JC on the Set (1993)
Japan only/U.S. release in 1994
"Make no mistake: Carter…who has emerged as one of the brightest stars in jazzdom, was the man. His performance was nothing short of a virtuoso clinic, a toe-tapping, heart-stopping, smile making romp."
Lawrence B. Johnson, DETROIT NEWS
"This is James Carter in the present tense, at the full height of his jaw-dropping powers, swooping through a new concerto he premiered in October with the Detroit Symphony."
DETROIT NEWS
| Date | Artist | Venue | City | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03 Dec 2017 | James Carter | Porgy & Bess | Wien | Austria |
| 06 Dec 2017 | James Carter | Jazzclub Hannover | Hannover | Germany |
altmannsdorferstr. 74/13/5
1120 vienna, austria
: + 43 1 804 88 333 13
: booking/at/bellaconcerts.com
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