Benny Carter & American Jazz Orchestra: Central City Sketches

Central City Sketches, Benny Carter liner notes

Jazz musicians are not given to hyperbole. They've seen and heard too much and their standards are usually intractable. Yet during the seven days that Benny Carter rehearsed the American Jazz Orchestra, leading to an SRO concert on February 26, 1987, a rare and lovely innocence seemed to bloom in the band's ranks, culminating in an outpouring of affection. In the minutes before the big event, several habitually laconic artists volunteered their feelings on the value of a week's lessons from the master. "This is the kind of night you dream about when you start playing and wonder if it will ever come your way." -- That from a studio player with 20 years experience. "This is one of the great nights of my life." -- That from a virtuoso usually affiliated with the postmodernists. "There's a lot of excitement here tonight, something you don't see very often." -- That from a senior member, who has worked with practically everyone for more than four decades. "The incredible thing is that when you study these arrangements, you find something going on -- a nuance, a voicing, a way of phrasing, something -- in every measure." -- That from the band's archivist and personnel manager. During the preceding week, at least half a dozen AJO members made another observation, almost always in the same words: "This music plays itself!"