BENNY CARTER: THE JAZZ HERITAGE SOCIETY RECORDINGS

Benny Carter Songbook, Vol. I

Benny Carter Songbook, Vol. I

Great vocalists pay tribute to Benny Carter's songwriting genius! Diana Krall, Shirley Horn, Kenny Rankin, Joe Williams, Jon Hendricks, Marlena Shaw, Peggy Lee and even more great jazz and pop vocalists guest star on this collection.

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Benny Carter's legacy as a song­writer has been eclipsed by his vast accomplishments as soloist and arranger. Yet he has been writing songs as long as he has been arranging and almost as long as he has been playing. The first recording of a Carter song dates back to January 1928 when a vocalist named Johnny Thompson recorded "Nobody Knows How Much I Love You" for Columbia. "Johnny Thompson" turned out to be a pseudonym for the distinguished lyricist Andy Razaf. The 20-year-old Carter had a collaborator on that piece: none other than Fats Waller (Bud Allen wrote the lyric). Since that modest beginning, Carter has turned out hundreds of songs in every conceivable idiom: from ballads to blues bossa novas to waltzes, love songs to novelties. This facet of his talent has not received the attention it deserves, with a few notable exceptions. Even when his songs did occasionally catch the public's ear they were not always associated with Carter. For example, for contractual reasons, Carter's name did not originally appear on the huge wartime hit "Cow-Cow Boogie." During the bossa nova craze in the mid-1960s, Carter's name was mis­takenly left off the label copy of the ori­inal Getz-Gilberto album on which his "Only Trust Your Heart" appears. And even Carter's most frequently recorded composition, "When Lights Are Low," was occasionally misattributed, not to mention frequently performed without the composer's original bridge.
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Due to his being such a talented altoist, arranger and occasional trumpeter for seven decades, it is often forgotten that Benny Carter wrote some worthy songs along the way ... The ambitious program includes five Carter songs that were receiving their world premiere; in addition Carter also wrote or co-wrote the lyrics to nine of the pieces. The singers all show respect for the melody and words ... The vocalists consistently seem quite inspired by the unique project. There are many short Carter and Warren Vache solos and, even with the emphasis on ballads, there is more variety than one might expect. The well-conceived tribute is easily recommended.
All Music Guide
11/29/2024

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