You pretty well described my feelings about Carter also. Last time i saw him was when he was on his funk thing, gotta say i enjoyed it. Have not bought a Cd of his in a while. Think my latest is Chasin the gipsy.
Your story about the Montreal jam session reminds me of another session that i was unfortunately not able to witness first hand but was told to me by reliable sources. That once Carter and Chris Potter shared the stage and both guys decided to show their stuff and started a cutting contest, while Carter was trying to pull all the stunts in his typical fashion, Potter kicked his ass just by playing lyrically.