A Bit of Ron Carter

I think we are all aware of Ron’s importance to all playing the bass. In particular, his days with one of the greatest of all jazz groups, Miles Davis’ 2nd quintet, with one of the most important rhythm sections, cemented his position in history. Across the recordings he doesn’t play many solos, but he is a key element in the groups, and studying that work is key for all bassists.

This is an interesting concert video of the group playing some of  its more standard fare. Note Carter’s solo on Autumn Leaves, in particular the fact that it’s out of tempo. This is something I remember a lot of bassists doing when I was coming up, as Garrison did in Impressions from my  previous post.

I’ll close with a couple of examples of Ron’s section playing. His recorded sound is really something.

Herbie Hancock Speak Like a Child. Check out the slides and fills:

and Riot from the same record, wow!

Windows, from Sweet Rain by Stan Getz, with Chick Corea and Grady Tate.

And the original version of Wave. Note the bass line, good to know, different than the Real Book. This is the full album many great tunes, including Triste and Look to the Sky.