As featured in June/July 1997
Lion at Heart
The Wonderfully Urgent Sounds of James Carter
Photos and text by Jim Allen
James Carter at the 1996 Syracuse (N.Y.) Jazz Fest
Jazz, America's most vibrant musical genre, is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. As a new millennium approaches, record sales have increased, jazz festivals all over the world have cropped up, and the international public has shown its appreciation for this fine art form as never before.
In 1990, Time magazine graced one of its covers with a picture of trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis and hailed him as the "Guru of the New Jazz Age." Subsequently, inspired young, gifted and talented musicians began to appear in droves on the New York jazz scene. Critics and jazz fans alike referred to this new order of twenty-somethings as the "Young Lions."
One of the young lions who roared onto the scene was saxophonist James Carter. With the possible exception of saxophonist Joshua Redman, the 28-year-old Carter is one of the most highly touted musical talents on the international jazz scene today. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Carter graduated from Cass Tech, the same school that produced such jazz luminaries as drummer Elvin Jones and trumpeter Donald Byrd.
"Detroit will always be important to me," he said. "It's the place where certain rites of passage took place. In a lot of ways, it is responsible for my being here, not just in a physical sense, but in other ways as well. It was where I learned my first scales and learned what to do with them, how to apply them."
In Detroit, there were lesser-known figures, who were nonetheless important to Carter's musical development. They included Larry Smith, Big Bob Fennel, Spencer Barefield, Lamonte Hamilton, William Harner, Dr. Beans Bowles, Pistol Allen, Faruq Z. Bey, and Albert and Darryl Duncan.
Carter was still attending Northwestern High School in Detroit when he first came into the national limelight while touring the U.S. with a musical aggregation led by trumpet master Marsalis.
During the early stages of his musical apprenticeship, Carter studied under the watchful eye of Detroit-based bop veteran Donald Washington. Carter credits his mentor with helping him hone his technical skills as well as providing him with spiritual direction. He further enhanced his musical knowledge during summers at the prestigious Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and even won a scholarship to attend the Interlochen classical music camp.
Greatly influenced by tenor titans Ben Webster, Don Byas, John Coltrane, and others, Carter developed impeccable technique, vigorous tone, and creativity that belied his youth. The ferocious intensity of his playing and fiery, explorative approach evoke memories of the legendary John Coltrane.
Carter plays several woodwind instruments such as the tenor and baritone sax, flute, and other exotic offshoots with equal aplomb and passion. His extraordinary performance at a concert at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York, this past March gives testimony to this fact.
"I'm listening to other instruments, playing other instruments, paying attention to other things, especially the human voice. I can play notes within certain ranges on my horns, but within those notes, there are so many things to do - things with shading and coloring, the notes in between the notes. There's a lot of vocabulary to deal with and process."
Carter is a superb improvisator who encompasses and integrates every stylistic approach imaginable, to not only bridge the gap between the traditional and the avant-garde, but also forge a musical signature that is undeniably his. Self-confidence and commitment to his music are an integral part of Carter's public persona, and there are those who consider him arrogant. Whatever the case, he is enormously talented and has won various honors, including the Down Beat Critic and Reader Poll awards and the Jazz-Times Readers Poll as best new artist.
Further, the versatile Carter, who played the role of Ben Webster in the movie "Kansas City," has compiled an impressive musical resume and appears to be well on his way to stardom. Over the past three years, he has led his own group, which includes bassist Jaribu Shahid, drummer Tani Tabbal, and pianist Craig Taborn.
James Carter is a young musician who abhors being categorized or being seen as a representative of any one particular school of thought. His core intent seems to be the expression of himself through his music. If the music is right, it will express what he is feeling. If it doesn't, he seeks to correct it. Beyond that, it matters very little what critics say - sometimes he even enjoys it. What really matters is what he hears deep within himself and what he gives to his listening audience - wonderfully urgent sounds!
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