"No one in jazz history—including Armstrong, Ellington, Gillespie, Parker, you name him or her—was more universally admired by his brethren." - Gary Giddins (on Benny Carter)
source: The Village Voice (August 20, 2003)
Showing posts with label Benny Carter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benny Carter. Show all posts
Ben Webster Quotes
"I had the chance to play with Benny 'The King' Carter here in Copenhagen for three days in the Montmartre, and two days in Paris. 'What a Thrill.' He knows so much music, and he is the only person that I get the shakes trying to play my horn behind or with him (smile). However, it was a ball." - Ben Webster
source: A letter to Mary Lou Williams (postmarked: Copenhagen, September 16, 1971)
source: A letter to Mary Lou Williams (postmarked: Copenhagen, September 16, 1971)
Wynton Marsalis Quotes
"He [Benny Carter] is all that every jazz musician the world over wants to be. He's performed 20,000 nights. How many shoes have been shined? How much mascara put on? Rouge? How many of those impossible bowties have been tied? How many love songs have been sung? How many dances have been danced? How many have passed to the sound of his music? It's been said that a man should not be forced to live up to his art. Benny Carter is one of the rare instances when we wonder whether the great art that a man has created can live up to him." - Wynton Marsalis
source: Excerpt from remarks at Kennedy Center Honors program (December 3, 1996)
source: Excerpt from remarks at Kennedy Center Honors program (December 3, 1996)
Bill Clinton Quotes
"From the small clubs of the Harlem Renaissance where he began playing saxophone to world tours for the biggest of the big bands, Benny Carter redefined American jazz. From the start, his fellow musicians said the way he played the sax was amazing. They say that about me, too. (Laughter.) But I don't think they mean it in quite the same way." - Bill Clinton
source: Excerpt from remarks at Kennedy Center Honors reception (December 8, 1996)
source: Excerpt from remarks at Kennedy Center Honors reception (December 8, 1996)
Dizzy Gillespie Quotes
"When I grow up I want to be just like Benny Carter!" - Dizzy Gillespie
source: Concert, Princeton University (November 11, 1979)
source: Concert, Princeton University (November 11, 1979)
Quincy Jones Quotes
"Benny [Carter] opened the eyes of a lot of producers and studios, so that they could understand that you could go to blacks for other things outside of blues and barbecue. He's a total musician. He was the pioneer, he was the foundation. He made it possible for that doubt to be taken away." - Quincy Jones
source: 'Benny Carter: Symphony in Riffs', a film by Harrison Engle, 1991
source: 'Benny Carter: Symphony in Riffs', a film by Harrison Engle, 1991
Ella Fitzgerald Quotes
"He's everything a musician would want to be." - Ella Fitzgerald (on Benny Carter)
source: 'Benny Carter: Symphony in Riffs', a film by Harrison Engle, 1991
source: 'Benny Carter: Symphony in Riffs', a film by Harrison Engle, 1991
Miles Davis Quotes
"Everybody ought to listen to Benny [Carter]. He's a whole musical education." - Miles Davis
source: Interview with Leonard Feather, Down Beat (May 25, 1961)
source: Interview with Leonard Feather, Down Beat (May 25, 1961)
Louis Armstrong Quotes
"You got Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and my man, the Earl of Hines, right? Well, Benny's right up there with all them cats. Everybody that knows who he is calls him 'King.' He is a king! -- Louis Armstrong (on Benny Carter)
source: 'A Call to Assembly' by Willie Ruff, Viking, 1991.
source: 'A Call to Assembly' by Willie Ruff, Viking, 1991.
Duke Ellington Quotes
"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." - Duke Ellington
source: Metronome (November, 1943)
source: Metronome (November, 1943)
