Speaking–er, writing–of Benny Carter, as we did in this Rifftides posting and others that followed, there’s a lot of Carter in the air this year of his centennial. The polymath saxophonist, arranger composer, bandleader, author and broacaster (whew) Bill Kirchner joins the celebration. Here’s his announcement:
Recently, I taped my next one-hour show for the “Jazz From the Archives” series. Presented by the Institute of Jazz Studies, the series runs every Sunday on WBGO-FM (88.3).
Benny Carter (1907-2003) would have turned 100 this August 8. So the entire month of August on “Jazz From the Archives” is devoted to the music of this giant. My own contribution is an hour of recordings by notable artists performing Carter’s compositions.
The musicians will be a diverse lot, to say the least. They’ll include Miles Davis, violinist Joe Kennedy Jr., Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, Art Pepper, and the Loren Schoenberg and U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors big bands. Also featured will be a newly-released CD, The Benny Carter Centennial Project, with a distinguished cast of players.
The show will air this Sunday, August 19, from 11 p.m. to midnight, Eastern Daylight Time.
NOTE: If you live outside the New York City metropolitan area, WBGO also broadcasts on the Internet at www.wbgo.org.
Thanks for posting this–Bill Kirchner’s monthly turns on “Jazz From the Archives” are always worth checking out. Benny Carter’s career is so immense in its breadth (nearly as long as Duke Ellington’s entire lifespan) that it’s difficult to do him justice in a single hour. Beyond his many compositions and performances, there’s a considerable bulk of arrangement work for vocalists that merits investigation too. Sounds as if Bill is going to cover it all as well as anybody can. “Night Lights” devoted last weekend’s show to his 1945-1960 mid-career recordings, including some of the big-band, Verve, and film sides, and it’s archived for online listening: http://nightlights.blogs.wfiu.org/2007/08/06/the-king-at-midpoint-benny-carter/
David J.
Thanks to David for those nice words; he’s no slouch as a broadcaster himself. And of course to Doug for his. I should add that Ed Berger and Dan Morgenstern have already done fascinating Carter hours this month on JFTA, and Vincent Pelote will follow mine on August 26 with 1936-38 Carter recordings made in Europe.