Event:
Dec. 9th-10th, 2008
(7:00 pm, 9:30 pm)
Dakota Jazz Club
Minneapolis, MN

Having received high marks for his most recent recording, Baritone Saxophonist of the Year James Carter is back on tour. Outdoing himself wherever he goes – from the Detroit Jazz Festival to Manhattan’s Jazz Standard to the Playboy Jazz Cruise – he is one of the main performers to see.

A popular act in the Twin Cities, Carter returns to the Dakota Jazz Club with his touring quintet and a set list drawn from the new release Present Tense. And he’ll likely need a valet to help carry in his musical arsenal, one of the widest arrays of woodwinds in the repertoire of a single touring artist.

About The Artist:

Carter’s career as solo artist and bandleader was launched in 1994 with his first release for Atlantic, The Real Quiet Storm, and Sony’s American issue of JC on the Set (which had been released a year earlier in Japan); a series of acclaimed recordings followed. Reflecting his growing and diverse tastes, Carter went totally electric with Layin’ in the Cut (2000), followed by a sharp left turn back to acoustics with an album celebrating the music of Django Reinhardt, Chasin’ the Gypsy (featuring cousin Regina Carter).

Although not released until 2004 on Warner Brothers, Carter returned to Detroit in 2001 to make record Live at Bakers’ Keyboard Lounge; and back with Sony, Carter released a tribute to Billie Holiday, Gardenias for Lady Day, in 2003. Carter’s most recent projects involve his organ trio (Out of Nowhere, Half Note, 2004) and Gold Sounds (Brown Brothers, 2005), setting the rock music of Pavement into jazz forms and featuring pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Present Tense (EmMarcy, 2008) is his first release in three years.

Carter’s current touring quintet of mostly fellow Detroit musicians includes trumpeter Corey Wilkes, keyboardist Gerard Gibb, bassist Ralphe Armstrong and drummer Leonard King.

About The Album:

The new release, Present Tense, finds Carter on most of his horns—soprano, tenor and bari sax, bass clarinet and flute. He’s surrounded by fine company, including trumpeter/flugelhornist Dwight Adams, pianist D.D. Jackson, bassist James Genus, and drummer Victor Lewis; along with guitarist Rodney Jones and percussionist Eli Fountain on several tracks.

In an arsenal as broad as Carter’s, the tenor sax might seem a bit mundane, but he never coasts. Carter says that the music of “Sussa Nita” was given to him by Billie Holiday in a dream. With Rodney Jones on guitar and Eli Fountain on percussion, there’s an added layer giving the track a taste of tango. Jones in particular is an underappreciated titan whose phrasing and articulation play off perfectly against the always dexterous Carter.

Victor Young’s “Song of Delilah” finds Carter skillfully weaving together two tracks of tenor for a self-propelled, hip-hoppish duet. (One James Carter is scary enough, thank you.) The original “Bossa JC” again finds the additional guitar and percussion washing the track in sunshine and swing.

Present Tense is all about connections between past and future, horn and horn, James Carter and his current team of collaborators. In some respects it reflects Carter as less the flamboyant virtuoso and more the thoughtful master of music’s fate, letting each tune evolve fully but refraining from self indulgence. As such, it may be his most successful outing yet.

Location:
Dakota Jazz Club
1010 Nicollet Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55401
(612) 332-1010
www.dakotacooks.com

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