Biography of Benny Carter

Billed in the 40s as "The Amazing Man of Music," alto saxophonist Benny Carter is that even more so today -- vitally active as a player, writer, and leader in his eighth decade of musical activity. Born and raised in New York City, Carter led his own first big band in 1928. After working with Charlie Johnson and other leaders, he then joined Fletcher Henderson. He had his own band again in 1933-1935, then spent three years in Europe, where he wrote for the BBC in London, led an integrated band in Holland, and made history in the Paris recording studios. Back home, Benny introduced a new band at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom; he continued to lead big bands until the late 40s, but from 1943 on he also became active in the Hollywood studios, scoring for many feature films as well as appearing on screen; later he also wrote for TV. While he continued to play in the 50s and 60s, including tours abroad with Jazz at the Philharmonic and the direction of many fine albums, he became fully active as a leader and player again from the mid 70s on. Carter was one of the pace setters of jazz at the dawn of the swing era, both as an alto sax stylist (rivaled only by Johnny Hodges) and as an arranger (his scoring for saxophones, especially, was -- and is -- state of the art). And he is still at the top today -- truly an amazing man. ~ Dan Morgenstern