Wave introduces the great bassist Ron Carter (b. 1937) to the CTI universe. Not only is Carter among the most recorded bassists in jazz history, he is heard on more CTI albums than any other musician, making him one of the true architects of the CTI sound. “I loved Ron,” said Creed. “I looked forward to any date he was on. When I started CTI, he was the anchor.”1
To be fair, though, Carter has always resisted the “anchor” designation, as an anchor is a heavy object meant to keep a thing in place. He tends to see himself as more of a “quarterback,” moving the team where it needs to go. “For many of the dates, I was maybe the most stable of the guys,” Ron said. “That’s not to say that the other guys were unstable. But if I saw something taking place in the studio that wasn’t right, I would say something. I wouldn’t keep it going. Creed trusted my maturity and sense of command of the English language so that he knew there wasn’t going to be any outrageous behavior.” 2 For Carter, that meant musicians who didn’t trust the producer or the engineer – and producers who didn’t recognize the “one” take it took to capture a song
Without doubt, Carter’s warm and fluid sound on bass carries a signature that is always immediately recognizable. Although classically trained, Carter’s astute feel for collaboration and his imaginative sense of jazz and the blues transcend mere time-keeping. On these sides he hardly ever solos, but he stands out all the same. “Ron played bass with a beautiful tone and impeccable timing,” said Herbie Hancock, “and he was also really organized and responsible, so he kept us focused.”3
Creed Taylor discovered Carter very early in his career, tapping him for the 1960 Impulse records The Incredible Kai Winding Trombones and, notably, Gil Evans’ landmark Out of the Cool. Carter was heard on many Riverside recordings until joining Miles Davis’ band in 1963, where he was part of the trumpeter’s second great quintet until 1968. During this time, he recorded numerous albums at Blue Note with Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Turrentine and many others – devising with Rudy Van Gelder a specific way of capturing the right sound for the bassist.
Carter resumed working with Creed Taylor again in 1963, for The Individualism of Gil Evans, becoming a frequent contributor to Taylor’s Verve albums, through Astrud Gilberto’s Beach Samba (1967)– though Carter did other Verve sessions after Taylor left.
Carter came to the Wave sessions blind, never having worked with Brazilian musicians before. “I just played what I thought would fit,” he said, then added simply, “Mr. Jobim was quite pleased.”4 Carter is heard waxing poetic on an astonishing 17 of the A&M/CTI albums, a bit more than half of the label’s entire output.
As one of the original CTI All Stars, Carter was later heard on dozens of CTI albums. He recorded his own CTI debut, Blues Farm, his third album as a leader, in 1973, recording four more albums for the label through 1976. Even after leaving CTI, Carter would revisit the sound and feeling Creed Taylor brought to so much of his music with such later recordings as New York Slick (1980), Empire Jazz (1980), Very Well (1987) and Friends (1993) – incidentally, all with Hubert Laws.
Endnotes: