Benny Carter

[Late]

Why has there never been a Benny Carter Mosaic? And what's your favorite period of Benny's music in general?

[jazzbo]

Probably a licensing challenge for a Benny Carter set, and possibly sizing issues. I really haven't been into Benny Carter a lot during my jazz journey. I would probably say the Verve years would be my "favorite period."

Edited March 6 by jazzbo

[Big Beat Steve]

If you look beyond the Norman Granz Jam Sessions that Benny Carter participated in, IMO his Verve years, while certainly fine, tend to be rather middle-of-the-roadish, i.e. mainstreamish on safe ground, and probably not all that distinctive above and beyond what else there was in major-label mainstream recordings of the 50s. 
And quite a few noteworthy recordings that he put his special touches to were under the leadership of others. 

Personally I find his early 30s and late 30s and 40s big band recordings as well as his European recordings from the "in-between" 30s period more stimulating to explore as a whole. But of course YMMV. 

[felser]

My favorite I'm aware of is the 'Further Definitions' album on Impulse!, but that may well be a function of the sidemen and my taste, rather than it being artistically superior to his other work.

[sonnymax]

Benny Carter, trumpet, alto sax; Frank Rosolino, trombone; Ben Webster, tenor sax; Andre Previn or Jimmie Rowles, piano; Barney Kessel, guitar; Leroy Vinnegar, bass; Shelly Manne, drums. Los Angeles, June 11 & 22, 1957. Contemporary C3555; Stereo S7028.

Edited March 6 by sonnymax

[jlhoots]

2 hours ago, felser said:

My favorite I'm aware of is the 'Further Definitions' album on Impulse!, but that may well be a function of the sidemen and my taste, rather than it being artistically superior to his other work.

+1

[Late]

The Complete 1930-1940 Recordings

Recommended! There's a single disc out on JSP (1933-1934) that's also good.

[Peter Friedman]

I especially enjoy his recordings for the 70's,  80's & 90's .

Along with Further Definitions already mentioned a few times, here are some others I like.

Still some more:

[Ken Dryden]

I got to hear Benny Carter in the late 1980s and he put on a great set. He is well represented in my collection.

[clifford_thornton]

7 hours ago, sonnymax said:

Benny Carter, trumpet, alto sax; Frank Rosolino, trombone; Ben Webster, tenor sax; Andre Previn or Jimmie Rowles, piano; Barney Kessel, guitar; Leroy Vinnegar, bass; Shelly Manne, drums. Los Angeles, June 11 & 22, 1957. Contemporary C3555; Stereo S7028.

that's the one I am most familiar with.

[colinmce]

lots I like but I’m most fond of the Verve music collected on the Urbane Sessions, Cosmopolite, and 3 4 5 Small Group CDs. also have long enjoyed the Bluebird CD All Of Me with some earlier music 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

Yeah, I went through a Benny Carter thing a while back and I remember wishing there was a Mosaic of the early stuff.  I have some euro-compilations of Benny Carter albums, one with eight and one with 4 albums.  Also some Chronologicals for the early period. There is also a 1946 Benny Carter Quintet recording on disc 9 of the Keynote Collection.  It's hard to find a bad album. Carter is really a man of many parts, a multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger too.  I'm fond of the Basie album, The Legend - From the Pen of Benny Carter.

Edited March 7 by Stompin at the Savoy

[Big Beat Steve]

I must admit that when i wrote my post above I had not thought of his later Pablo recordings. I do not have many of these, but what I have picked up along the way is rather amazing. Will have to look into more of this, I guess.

2 hours ago, Stompin at the Savoy said:

It's hard to find a bad album. Carter is really a man of many parts, a multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger too.  I'm fond of the Basie album, The Legend - From the Pen of Benny Carter.

Agreed about the man of many parts and "The Legend" - and "Kansas City Suite" too. This sort of combination of Carter and Basie is something special. 

[Late]

The first Carter disc I owned was this one:

Lots of listening pleasure in this one. It was much later when I heard Carter's work from the 30's. I think I like him as an arranger just as much as a player, maybe even more so. His writing for a saxophone section in particular is deceptively simple. While I've never studied the intricacies of his voicings, it sometimes makes me think of Red Garland block chords. The movement of each line feels organic, like there's no other choice but the one Carter made.

[Late]

 

Musically, 1933 was a great year for Carter.

[Big Beat Steve]

On 3/7/2026 at 6:53 PM, Late said:

The first Carter disc I owned was this one:

Lots of listening pleasure in this one. It was much later when I heard Carter's work from the 30's. I think I like him as an arranger just as much as a player, maybe even more so. His writing for a saxophone section in particular is deceptively simple. While I've never studied the intricacies of his voicings, it sometimes makes me think of Red Garland block chords. The movement of each line feels organic, like there's no other choice but the one Carter made.

Ha, a prime example of how tastes and perceptions differ ...  I got this not long ago and will keep it of course once it's here (I might warm up to all of it eventually), but the tracks with strings definitely mar my listening pleasure. In most cases strings just kill the jazz content IMO the way they were applied in the 50s.
For its jazz content, I like the "Cosmopolite" 10" LP on French Blue Star (GLP 6977) (that I've owned for some 27 years now) much better as it couples the 4 tracks with Oscar Peterson with selected tracks from the August 1952 session that in their original packaging were included in the "Alone Together" album and dispense with the strings. 

[medjuck]

Sometime late in the last century I accompanied Benny Carter to a concert given by the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band under the direction of Jon Faddis.  Before the concert began word of Benny's presence reached the musicians and they began jumping off the stage to come over to pay homage to him.  It was like going to a film festival with Orson Welles. 

For some reason the band had a conductor.  After a couple of numbers Benny turned to me and whispered, " They don't need no fuckin' conductor."