James Carter © Andrea Canter

Dubbed by the New York Times as “the ultimate peacock jazz musician … with self conscious gusto and intelligence,” James Carter has built a reputation as a multi-instrumentalist, playing all saxes, clarinet, bass clarinet, and flute. His projects have been as diverse as his instruments, and at the Jazz Bakery from Septmber 6th through 10th, Los Angeles audiences will have a chance to hear his latest ensemble, the organ trio.

A native of Detroit, Carter’s family exposed him to a wide range of music, from Hendrix to P-Funk to Miles. “Detroit will always be important to me,” he says. “It’s the place where certain rites of passage took place... It was where I learned my first scales and learned what to do with them, how to apply them. It’s also where I met a lot of people who have been important to me and my development…” One of those people was saxophonist Donald Washington, who Carter cited as his primary influence in discussing “musical heroes” with Down Beat. Frustrated by the rigidity of band instruction in high school, Carter sought private lessons from Washington. “He said that you could have ideas up the wazoo, but if you don’t have a sound to convey these ideas and permeate the human soul, it’s like a tree falling in the forest with nobody to hear it.” Washington also introduced young Carter to the baritone sax.

James Carter trio © Andrea Canter

Following private study with Washington and at Interlochen, Carter was “discovered” by Wynton Marsalis and Lester Bowie, and at 17 was playing with the Marsalis quintet. In 1988, the late Lester Bowie tapped Carter to join his New Organ Ensemble in New York. From that point, Carter quickly rose to the forefront of young sax lions, playing with Bowie, Julius Hemphill, Betty Carter, and with the Marsalis Big Band at Lincoln Center. In 1991, he made a prodigious contribution to the recording Tough Young Tenors, bringing wider attention to his skills.

Carter’s career as a solo artist and bandleader was launched in 1994 with his first release for Atlantic, The Real Quietstorm, and Sony’s American issue of JC on the Set (which had been released a year earlier in Japan); Sony issued additional material from the JC session the following year, Jurassic Classics. For Atlantic, Carter continued a series of strong recordings, with Conversing the Elders (1996) and In Carterian Fashion (1998) where he joined forces with pianist Cyrus Chestnut (including one track on Hammond B-3). Reflecting his growing and diverse tastes, Carter went totally electric with Layin’ in the Cut (2000), followed by a sharp left turn back to acoustics with an album celebrating the music of Django Reinhardt, Chasin’ the Gypsy (featuring cousin Regina Carter). “It was interesting to me, in light of the millennium thing, to have one foot in the past, in a musical sense, and another moving forward in time,” said Carter. “I wanted to shake things up and putting these two albums out at the same time was one way to do it.”

Leonard King © Andrea Canter

Although not released until 2004 on Warner Brothers, Carter returned to Detroit in 2001 to make a recording Live at Bakers’ Keyboard Lounge; and back with Sony, Carter released a tribute to Billie Holiday, Gardenias for Lady Day in 2003.

Not limited to wowing audiences with his sheer musical power, Carter played the role of Ben Webster in Robert Altman’s film, Kansas City, and has maintained a connection to classical music through tours with the Kathleen Battle and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In 2002, Carter debuted a saxophone concerto composed by Roberto Sierra, commissioned and premiered by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and which he has performed several times since with the DSO. Carter has also performed with many of today’s top artists-- Cyrus
Chestnut, Herbie Hancock, Rodney Whitaker, Regina Carter, Madeleine Peyroux, Karrin Allyson, and Flip Phillips, and toured Japan with John Hicks’ ensemble. Among many accolades and honors, James Carter recently was the recipient of the Dr. Alaine Locke Award from the Detroit Institute of Arts and Friends of African and African American Art for individuals who have provided exemplary service and leadership in the promotion of African American culture. In May 2004 Carter received his 4th Baritone Saxophone Player of the Year Award from DownBeat’s 52nd Annual Critic’s Poll.

Gerard Gibbs © Andrea Canter

Carter’s latest projects involve the Hammond B-3. In June 2005, he released Out of Nowhere on Halfnote, featuring Hamiet Bluiett, James Blood Ulmer, and fellow Detroit musicians Gerard Gibbs on organ and Leonard King on drums Gibbs and King, who appear with Carter on Live at Bakers, form his tourin trio. No doubt the sets will be punctuated by his trademark snarls and growls, GQ-ready suits and ties, and above all, a high standard of musical performance.

“Long past the flashy-phenom stage, James Carter still has a tendency to showboat, to pile on styles and extreme effects--lipping, tonguing, screeching, shrieking---and to play six different reed instruments when one or two would do. But it's hard to argue for moderation. When he pulls out the stops, as he does often on Live at Baker's Keyboard Lounge, he's the most electrifying young jazz musician going.”-- Lloyd Sachs, Amazon.com

James Carter and his organ trio will perform at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles September 6-10. Information at www.jazzbakery.org