CARRUTHERS, EARL “JOCK” (1910–1971)
A baritone saxophone player, Carruthers played with Bennie Moten’s band in 1928 in Kansas City before moving to St. Louis to play with Dewey Jackson and Fate Marable, followed by a long membership in the band of Jimmie Lunceford. After Lunceford’s passing in 1947, Carruthers continued to play in the band before moving back to Kansas City, where he performed with local groups throughout the 1960s.
CARSTENSEN, STIAN (1971–)
Carstensen is an accordion and banjo player born in Eidsvoll, Norway. He began playing accordion at the age of nine. While still a teenager, Carstensen performed at festivals and for radio and television, and he toured the United States. He studied jazz at the Trondheim Musikkonseratorium, with guitar as his main focus. During his two years of study, he formed the group Farmers Market—a group he would work with for many years. Following a trip to Bulgaria, Carstensen became fascinated with the local folk music and began to incorporate music of Bulgaria and Romania into his repertoire. He learned to play banjo and began playing with various bebop and avant-garde jazz groups. His work as a multi-genre instrumentalist continues to receive great attention.
CARTER, BENNY (1907–2003)
Known primarily for his alto saxophone playing and also for the ease with which he switched between alto and many other instruments, Benny Carter originally started on the trumpet and took a few lessons on C-melody saxophone before settling on the alto saxophone. After brief stints in the bands of Duke Ellington and Billy Fowler, he worked with Fletcher Henderson from 1930 to 1931. Following that, he was briefly musical director of McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, during which time he also wrote arrangements for the bands of Chick Webb and Benny Goodman, among others. In 1932 he started his own band, which was dissolved in 1934. He moved to Europe and worked in several countries before settling in London as the staff arranger for the BBC Dance Orchestra from 1936 to 1938.
Carter returned to the United States in 1938 to lead his own band at the Savoy Ballroom until 1940. He then toured with the band before permanently settling in Los Angeles in 1942. He began to write music for films, including portions of Panic in the Streets (1950) and An American in Paris (1951), and later for television productions. During the 1950s and 1960s he continued to compose, arrange, and perform, and by the 1970s he was appearing at festivals and nightclubs and making annual tours of Europe and Japan. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Princeton University in 1974 and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, and his composition “Harlem Renaissance Suite” won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Composition in 1992. Widely regarded during the swing era as second only to Johnny Hodges, Carter was influential in the creation of the alto saxophone style before the emergence of Charlie Parker. Among his many notable compositions is the jazz standard “When Lights Are Low.”
CARTER, BETTY (1929–1998)
Born Lillie Mae Jones, Carter was an American jazz singer who grew up in Detroit and got her start singing with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie during their tours through the city. She eventually landed a spot in Lionel Hampton’s band in 1948 and earned the nickname “Bebop.” In 1951 she moved to New York, where she worked with artists including Muddy Waters and later headlined tours with Ray Charles. In 1971 she founded Bet-Car Productions, her own record label. She continued to perform with her own trio through the 1980s and 1990s, and in 1988 she signed with Verve, winning a Grammy the following year.
CARTER, JAMES (1950–)
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Carter has been a prominent jazz performer and recording artist since the late 1980s, playing saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He relocated to New York City in 1990. His performances include collaborations with Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, Cyrus Chestnut, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the Mingus Big Band, among others. In 1996, Carter was featured in the Robert Altman film Kansas City, portraying the role of tenor saxophonist Ben Webster. He is adept at playing all saxophones—soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass. Carter has won DownBeat magazine’s Critics and Readers Choice award in the category of baritone saxophone numerous times.
CARTER, RON (1937–)
Initially studying cello at age 10 and working toward a career in classical music, Ron Carter would switch to the bass in 1954 and eventually became one of the most recorded jazz bassists of all time, with more than 2,200 albums to his credit. After graduating from the Eastman School of Music in 1959 with a B.M., he joined the Chico Hamilton Quintet with Eric Dolphy and received an M.M. degree from the Manhattan School of Music. From there he played with many famous musicians including Cannonball Adderley, Randy Weston, Thelonious Monk, Don Ellis, and many others before replacing Paul Chambers in Miles Davis’s group in 1963. He remained in Davis’s group until 1968, during which time he, along with Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams, formed one of the most noted rhythm sections in jazz history. In addition to his work with Davis, he played with artists including Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Cedar Walton, and many others. He also worked with vocalists including Lena Horne, Aretha Franklin, and Helen Merrill, as well as the rap group A Tribe Called Quest. He was awarded the medallion and title of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, France’s premier cultural award, by the French minister of culture in 2014. In 2017, Carter expanded his reach, utilizing his considerable following on Facebook, where he regularly posts helpful information and backstories for bass players and fans. Carter has composed music for film and is a best-selling author of jazz texts. He has been awarded five honorary doctorate degrees.
CASTRO-NEVES, (CARLOS) OSCAR (DE) (1940–2017)
A Brazilian guitarist who helped to popularize the bossa nova style, Castro-Neves was praised for his sophisticated harmonies and complex rhythmic approach. He performed in the first concert of bossa nova music presented at Carnegie Hall in 1962 and then went on to play with artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and Lalo Schifrin. He moved to Los Angeles in 1967 and wrote, arranged, and toured with the Paul Winter Consort until 1970. From 1971 through 1981, he was guitarist and musical director for the popular musician Sérgio Mendes and also played with Quincy Jones, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. He has also participated as an arranger or producer in projects for artists including Toots Thielemans, Joe Henderson, and Terence Blanchard. He died from cancer at the age of 73.
CATALYST
A record label and company established in 1975 that recorded until 1977. Artists include Sonny Stitt, Frank Foster, and Ahmad Jamal. The label reissued albums from other countries by artists including Paul Gonsalves, Carmen McRae, and Helen Merrill.
CATLETT,