James Carter

JAMES CARTER - THE REAL QUIETSTORM (1995)

1. 'Round Midnight
2. You Never told Me That You Care
3. The Intimacy Of My Woman's Beautiful Eyes
4. 1944 Stomp
5. The Stevedore's Serenade
6. Born To Be Blue
7. Deep Throat Blues
8. A Ballad For A Doll
9. Eventide

THE REAL QUIETSTORM finds Carter in the company of pianist Craig Taborn, his regular rhythm section and rhythm innovators Dave Holland and Leon Parker. While not a ballad set strictly speaking, THE REAL QUIETSTORM is beautifully paced and programmed, and builds intensity in an understated, lyrical manner.
This set shows Carter to be a mature stylist beyond his years--a master of all the reed instruments. He opens "Round Midnight" on baritone over Craig Taborn's luxuriant chords, lithe and agile, reveling in the big horn's immense tonal possibilities. "You Never Told Me That You Care" is a tenor feature, and his tone takes on an expressive quavering intensity in the upper register and a dark ardor in the lower reaches. And when Holland and Parker step the song up to a light stroll, Carter's lines develop with relentless, storytelling intensity while his timbre becomes torchy in the manner of Jimmy Forrest and the macho tenor men of yesteryear.
Picking up the soprano, he and his regular quartet move brightly between swing and bop rhythms in a Dizzy Gillespie-like vein with "1944 Stomp," and his joyous solo is pure Sidney Bechet. Ellington's "The Stevedore's Serenade," with its stop time teases and shifts in tempo, is a virtuoso harmonic banquet a la Don Byas and Paul Gonsalves. An expressive "Born To Be Blue" is a soprano feature, but his feel for the horn is so reedy on this selection that it sounds like a sopranino. "Deep Throat Blues" showcases the speech-like cadences of his bass clarinet, the tender "Ballad For A Doll" features dreamy bass flute and "Eventide" concludes with a bass-baritone duet.

Personnel: James Carter (soprano, alto, tenor & baritone saxophones, bass flute, bass clarinet); Craig Taborn (piano); Dave Holland, Jaribu Shahid (bass); Leon Parker (drums, cymbal); Tani Tabbal (drums).