Regina Carter grew up in  Detroit, long a fertile breeding ground for jazz giants, from Kenny Burrell and Tommy Flanagan to Regina’s cousin James Carter. "There's just so much music that came out of Detroit," Carter has acknowledged, "and it all inspired me." Initially she studied piano (from age 4), tap, ballet, and Suzuki violin. But classical music already seemed limiting to 14-year-old Regina when she saw Stephane Grapelli play at Detroit’s Renaissance Center, and for the first time she was inspired by “that feeling” of jazz and particularly the freedom of improvisation.

Ultimately Regina studied both classical and African American Music (at the New England Conservatory and Oakland University), and absorbed a wide range of influences from R & B to East Indian to Latin. "I followed a more non-traditional route. I initially learned by ear, then later learned to read, then learned theory. I think that kind of experience has freed my playing up a lot more, so I'm not stuck on the page,” she said.  Performing with an equally diverse range of musicians from Aretha Franklin to Danilo Perez to the Minnesota Orchestra, she gained national attention for her solos on Wynton Marsalis's Blood on the Fields tour in 1997 and Cassandra Wilson's Travelin' Miles concert at New York's Lincoln Center in 1998. In 2001 she collaborated with pianist Kenny Barron on the acclaimed duet, Free Fall (Verve).  

Also in 2001, Regina’s career hit a new high in 2001 when she became the first jazz musician invited to Genoa to play the legendary Paganini violin, known as the Cannon. After this first encounter –in which she was to play only classical repertoire and not (heavens no!) “real” jazz, she returned to Italy in late 2002 with her quintet to record Paganini: After the Dream on Verve, a set of classically rooted music with not-so-subtle jazz elements. Once more in November 2002 she played the Cannon, this time at Alice Tully Hall in New York. “By the third time it was more comfortable,” she noted, despite the police escort and security that probably rivaled that assigned to Air Force One. After the stunning success of Paganini, Regina came back with I’ll be Seeing You, a tribute to her late mother, the music of the 20s, 30s and 40s. Named to a MacArthur Fellowship (“Genius Award”) in September 2006, she received the International Society for the Performing Arts Distinguished Artist Award for 2007. 

Of Reverse Thread, Regina notes that, “Each time I make a recording I try to satisfy one of my musical cravings. There is so much interesting and beautiful music that doesn’t get played on mainstream radio that’s been introduced to me….Reverse Thread is composed of a small fraction of infectious folk melodies from the African Diaspora, both old and new. There is a Puerto Rican folk song, music of the Jews from Uganda, a piece from Madagascar and a couple of originals with the instrumentation being an accordion, electric bass, acoustic bass, drums, guitar and kora.” The music to be performed at Northrop also ncludes a piece by Ayub Ogada from the film The Constant Gardener and some earlier repertoire. 

Regina Carter’s Reverse Thread performs at 7:30 pm on March 15th in the Ted Mann Concert Hall, University of Minnesota West Bank. Tickets $40 at http://northrop.umn.edu/event/regina-carter-s-reverse-thread; 612-624-2345. Supported in part by the University of Minnesota, Jazz Is Now!, and grants from Chamber Music America. Pre-performance interview with Regina Carter and Yocouba Sissoko at 6:45 pm with Northrop Director Ben Johnson and jazz journalist Pamela Espeland.