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Returning home in 1938, Carter found the big band sounds, which he
had helped shape, sweeping the country. He quickly formed another
superb orchestra, which spent much of 1939 and 1940 at Harlem's famed
Savoy Ballroom. His arrangements were much in demand and were
featured on recordings by Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington,
Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, and Tommy Dorsey. In 1941, Carter pared
down to a sextet, which included bebop pioneers Dizzy Gillespie and
Kenny Clarke. In 1942, he brought a reorganized big band to
California, where he has lived ever since. In the mid-1940s, the
band included important modernists, such as Miles Davis, J.J.
Johnson, Max Roach, and Art Pepper, all of whom have acknowledged
their debt to Carter as a teacher. As Miles Davis once said:
"Everyone should listen to Benny Carter. He's a whole musical
education."
On the West Coast the versatile Carter moved increasingly into studio
work. Beginning with "Stormy Weather" in 1943, he arranged for
dozens of feature films and television productions. His credits
encompass all musical idioms, from feature films such as "A Man
Called Adam" and "Buck and the Preacher" to television shows,
including "M Squad" and "Chrysler Theater." He has provided
arrangements for almost every major popular singer including Billie Holiday,
Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Lou Rawls, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee,
Louis Armstrong, Pearl Bailey, Billy Eckstine and Mel Torme.
Although Carter gave up full-time leadership of a big band in 1946,
he has continued to tour as a soloist and with such all-star groups
as Jazz at the Philharmonic. To to the delight of his many fans
worldwide, Carter has resumed a more active playing schedule during
the last few years. In 1975, he traveled throughout the Middle East
on a tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department. He visits Europe
often and has become a virtual commuter to Japan, where jazz fans
eagerly anticipate his frequent tours of specially assembled all-star
orchestras.
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Copyright © 1996-2003 Edward Berger
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