Ron Carter Esperanza Spalding - Downbeat

First Take | By bobby reed
Phil Bray/DownBeat Archives
Five for Five
Tony Williams (left) in the studio with Ron Carter
Ron Carter. The name is synonymous with the bass. In this issue,
we salute and congratulate Mr. Carter on his induction into the
DownBeat Hall of Fame. His election creates a poetic reunion.
He now joins his legendary bandmates by becoming the final member
of trumpeter Miles Davis’ “second great quintet” to enter the DownBeat
Hall of Fame. Davis was inducted in 1962, followed by drummer Tony
Williams (1997), saxophonist Wayne Shorter (2003) and keyboardist
Herbie Hancock (2005).
Carter’s induction is doubly poetic because the Miles Davis Quintet
topped the poll’s Historical Album of the Year category with Live In
Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 (Columbia/Legacy). This set,
which includes three CDs and one DVD, is a fascinating document of the
band at the peak of its power. As a member of that telepathic quintet, Carter
helped transform small-ensemble acoustic jazz by loosening up song structures
and not following pre-existing formulas. Each song on the quintet’s
set list provided a broad framework for unpredictable improvisation.
Onstage, the band would start a new song without definitively finishing
the previous one. Everything flowed. Live In Europe 1967 features multiple
versions of Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight,” Davis’ “Agitation”
and Shorter’s “Footprints,” illustrating how the band could attack the same
composition in diverse ways.
“It helped that our library was so constant,” Carter says in the album’s
liner notes. “It made it easier for us to develop ideas night by night. It wasn’t
like we were fighting to remember the changes to a new tune. And it wasn’t
so much a matter of reinventing a tune as having the memory to develop
something from Tuesday—a strange phrase or something—so that by the
weekend, the music could have a whole new format to it. That was part of
the process of panning for our music.”
All five members of that quintet remain integral to discussions about
today’s jazz scene. Davis, who died in 1991, is revered as one of the greatest
artists of the 20th century in any art form, and his enormous impact
on jazz will be felt for centuries. Williams (1945–’97) revolutionized
jazz drumming and remains a touchstone for players around the world.
Hancock, who won the Keyboard category in the Readers Poll, is revered
for his musical curiosity, his ability to take jazz to wider audiences and
his role as a spokesman for jazz. Shorter is a double-winner in this year’s
poll, topping the Soprano Saxophone and Composer categories. (On
Sept. 2, at this year’s Detroit Jazz Festival, the Wayne Shorter Quartet
delivered one of the most memorable concerts I have ever witnessed.)
The DownBeat Hall of Fame has 132 members, and Carter belongs in
this ultra-elite club. (Visit downbeat.com to see a list of all the inductees.)
But it’s important that fans and critics not define Carter solely by his
contributions to Davis’ quintet. After all, Carter is a thriving, classically
trained craftsman who has played on more than 2,000 albums and has put
out dozens of discs as a leader, including the 2011 release Ron Carter’s
Great Big Band (Sunnyside). Carter’s recorded oeuvre is a textbook on
modern jazz. We’re eager to hear what he’ll do next. DB
8 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2012