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Benny Carter: From San Juan Hill to Lincoln Center
Ed Berger
Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University |
When jazz lovers step off the elevator at Jazz at Lincoln Center, they are immediately seized by a feeling of anticipation and excitement. First, they are captivated by the state-of-the-art facility. Historically, jazz has not always been treated with respect by America's cultural institutions, so the mere existence of Jazz at Lincoln Center is not to be taken lightly. Even as jazz moved from ballrooms and clubs into the concert hall, the music was often sabotaged acoustically by venues designed for symphonic music or sound crews who had no idea what a jazz performance should sound like. The three major performance areas at Jazz at Lincoln Center were all specially designed for jazz and ensure an extraordinary experience—both aurally and visually.
But the excitement one feels at Jazz at Lincoln Center transcends the physical surroundings. There is a palpable energy and camaraderie generated by crowds of jazz aficionados waiting to enter Rose Theater or The Allen Room for a concert, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola for a set, browsing in the gift shop, visiting the Nesuhi Ertegun Hall of Fame, or attending jazz history courses at Swing University.
All these trappings would be meaningless gloss, however, if the music didn't measure up. My personal connection with jazz great Benny Carter, whose Centennial is about to be celebrated by two concerts and several other events at Jazz at Lincoln Center, has given me some insight into the seriousness with which Wynton Marsalis, his staff, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra approach such a performance. As Carter's biographer, sometime road manager, and record producer for nearly two decades, I can assure you that his music could not be in better hands.
Carter, who was born on August 8, 1907 and died on July 12 2003--a month shy of his 96th birthday, occupied a unique place in American music. As Duke Ellington once wrote: "The problem of expressing the contributions that Benny Carter has made to popular music is so tremendous it completely fazes me, so extraordinary a musician is he."
As a soloist, Carter, along with Johnny Hodges, was the model for swing era alto saxophonists. He was nearly unique in his ability to double on trumpet, which he played in an equally distinctive style. In addition, he was an accomplished clarinetist, and recorded proficiently on piano and trombone. As an arranger, he helped chart the course of big band jazz, and his compositions, such as "When Lights Are Low" and "Blues in My Heart," have become jazz standards. Carter also made major musical contributions to the world of film and television. His musicianship and personality won him the respect of fellow artists and audiences on every continent.
No one did so many things so well or for so long. Benny was undoubtedly the only artist to have recorded acoustically through a horn and to have lived to surf his own website (bennycarter.com). He may well have been the only artist to record in nine decades. No matter what the era, no matter what the medium--from groundbreaking big band charts in the 1920s and 1930s; to film scores and television soundtracks in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s; to extended works in the 1980s and 1990s--through 70 years of recorded solos on half a dozen instruments--everything he wrote and played bore his own singular melodic stamp. The music that Wynton Marsalis has carefully chosen and meticulously rehearsed for the Carter tribute ranges from 1933 to 2000 and represents all facets of Carter's oeuvre.
Benny Carter enjoyed a special relationship with Jazz at Lincoln Center. Indeed, his ties to the neighborhood predated Lincoln Center itself; he grew up on West 63rd Street, then a rough-and-tumble area known as San Juan Hill. Carter featured prominently in the early "Classical Jazz at Lincoln Center" series. In August of 1989, his 82nd birthday was celebrated by an all-star lineup playing and singing his songs. A year later, in 1990, Carter became the first composer to be commissioned to write a work for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (the Good Vibes Suite, featuring Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson). And in 1996, "An Evening with Benny Carter" featured him with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in an unforgettable night of music, culminating in a newly commissioned suite, Echoes of San Juan Hill, Carter's musical depiction of his old neighborhood. Carter, who was not usually given to nostalgia, was moved to point out that, like jazz itself, he had come "full circle" – from the nearby streets of West 63rd Street to the stage at Lincoln Center. He was also duly impressed with the respect with which Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra treated his music, remarking to the audience: "I didn't know that little piece of music was going to sound that good! You see what happens to the music and to the orchestra when Wynton gets in front of it?"
During this centennial year, Benny Carter's contributions have been celebrated on stages across the country and around the world. But on October 19 and 20 his music will be coming home.
Fri-Sat, Oct 19-20, 8pm
Rose Theater
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Jazz at Lincoln Center
Benny Carter Centennial
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View All Performances at Frederick P. Rose Hall
Home of Jazz at
Lincoln Center
Broadway at 60th St.
NYC
Box Office
Broadway at 60th Street (Ground Floor)
Mon-Sat 10am-6pm (or 30 minutes past curtain)
Sun Noon-6pm (or 30 minutes past curtain)
CenterCharge
212-721-6500
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