“I think that the bassist is the quarterback in any group, and he must find a sound that he is willing to be responsible for…” Ron Carter

Ronald Levin Carter is the most recorded jazz bassist ever with over 2,500 albums to his credit. His rich tone, soulful rhythmic phrasing, and harmonic flexibility, which draws from classical, jazz, and rhythm & blues, along with his extensive body of work as a leader, collaborator, and sideman on CTI, Milestone, Blue Note, Impulse, and Prestige, among many other imprints, is, in a word – unmatched!

Carter’s enormous contributions to recordings by Miles Davis, George Benson, Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Joe Henderson, Gil Scott-Heron, Herbert Laws, A Tribe Called Quest, Tony Williams, Wes Montgomery, Donald Byrd, Jim Hall, Roberta Flack, Bill Frisell, and Kenny Burrell, to cite a very, very few, are all worthy of exploration.

Ron Carter’s tenure with Miles Davis is likely his most recognizable work. Ron propelled Miles second greatest quintet which spanned the hard bop of E.S.P. (1965) to the fusion filled Filles de Kilimanjaro (1968). As told to this writer along with David C. Gross “Miles may have been the bandleader…but I led the band!”

An educator, and revered and prolific composer, if you had to bestow the title of the world’s greatest living bassist …look no further than Ron Carter.

Ron Carter Sound & Vision:

Miles Davis:

“Eighty One” https://youtu.be/WN-hXbeI6vQ

“Four” https://youtu.be/Ce2S2LkTjKI

“E.S.P.” https://youtu.be/lRhqn21-xeg

“Filles De Kilimanjaro” https://youtu.be/7hBJ4664bNQ

Roberta Flack: “Compared to What” https://youtu.be/wDUk9Lsy_yQ

Herbie Hancock / Tony Williams / Ron Carter: “Third Plane” https://youtu.be/9hKFkCtiFZs

Tribe Called Quest “Verses from the Abstract” https://youtu.be/FGB6pWGI_kE