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Finding the Right Notes
The official biography of bass legend Ron Carter by Dan Ouellette
479 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 21, 2021
Miles said of his band with Ron, Tony and Herbie that, “Every night they would come back and play something different. And every night I would have to react. Even we didn’t know where it was all going. But we did know it was going somewhere else and that it was going to be to be hip, and that was enough to keep everyone excited while it lasted.” Miles made two great live albums in one night on February 12th, 1964: My Funny Valentine and Four and More. Herbie at first felt his mind was closed because he was intentionally playing what Miles was used to and finally one night after a few months he cut loose and played exactly the way he felt. Miles leaned over after the set and said, “Why didn’t you play like that before?” That taught Herbie that a copy is never as good as an original, and that his band mates wanted to hear him, not copies. Herbie then freed up rhythmically by responding to Tony and Ron. The stage was set now for Wayne to join. Wayne and Ron would pour over classical scores together. Miles didn’t want them exploring off stage; he wanted warts and all, he wanted it real. Ron likes to find ways to link different chords together with common tones. Ron would influence the band through astute use of pedal tones. Sting once said, the group’s chord isn’t defined until his bass note goes down (and Ron was no different). With Miles for five years Ron said, “we probably knew a million tunes, but we focused on a select 15 to 20. Learn “what are the ways to make a tune sound different but still maintain its essence. The more you play a song, the more you understand it. You could make a mistake one night and fix it the next.” Ron on Miles: “He could play silence better than most guys could play notes”. Ron left Miles when Miles wanted him to play electric bass.
Ron before Miles: Detroit’s black population doubled to 200,000 from 1933 to 1943. Ron started on cello averaging a whopping eight hours a day practicing in addition to classes. He continued this grueling work schedule in order to “get ahead.” Later, he moved to classical bass. Ron only became a jazz bassist once he was told “his own orchestra would never hire him because he was African-American.” Ron would get pulled over for driving while black, and got crap treatment even in Paris because he was black. In his first tour of the South, Ron and the other black musicians were forced to eat by coming in the back door only. Ron also would get upset when lesser talented flavor of the month artists would hog the news pages, he said “every time Wynton Marsalis farts at Lincoln Center, The Times covers it”.
Ron would dress up for shows in appreciation of the audience coming out for the evening: “Dressing like this doesn’t make you play better, but it makes you look like you’re playing better.” After Wayne Shorter cancelled for a date, tenor sax player Bill Evans did the record with Ron and Art Farmer and it was “all done in first takes”. Paul Chamber’s bass was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder by placing a mic in the bridge that was wrapped up in a towel. The jazz label Impulse started in 1960, by Creed Taylor. Creed leaves Impulse in 1961 to create Verve. In 1967, Creed hooks up with A&M and then creates CTI in 1970. Ron Carter becomes the “anchor” of CTI; it was pretty much created around him, according to Creed. CTI crash lands in 1976. In his career, Ron has done bass on around 3,000 tracks, including one of my favorite neglected records, Stan Getz’s Sweet Rain with Chick Corea and Grady Tate. Ron concentrated on “making better choices and finding the right notes to play.” Ron took a class in writing for strings with Don Sebesky. Richard Tee started the group Stuff as a vehicle , “sort of like putting our own signatures on our music for a change.” Ron did the amazing Wave record for Jobim blind with no prep and Jobim loved it and hired him for two more of my favorite records, Tide, and Stone Flower. Ron said, in Brazilian music he listened to the triangle to find where the beat was.
Ron spent a huge amount of time studying Bach’s 375 chorales in order to learn how to make a bassline work and how basslines can alter chord changes. Ron taught Larry Grenadier and even Victor Bailey (Victor still enjoyed the thought of seriously playing upright). Larry was holding his bass straight up and Ron had him tilt it back 25 degrees. Kenny Burrell was a part-owner of a NY club called The Guitar. Attila Zoller once brought there a 15 year-old Pat Metheny. A piccolo bass is tuned A D G C, a fourth higher than a standard bass. Ron uses LaBella 7700 black tape wound strings (steel core wrapped in silk then tape): great for pizzicato but crappy for arco (bow). Ron only plays standing and has two pickups in his ¾ sized Juzek. He has a Kurmann system built into the soundpost which he uses for recording, and a David Gage Realist pickup for clubs.
Technique from Ron: The key word is horizontal when playing the fingerboard, and not vertical. Of course, you can add the vertical in. Don’t press down the strings too hard. The harder you press the more tired you get. Keep the spacing between your fingers so you can get from F to F# easily. Don’t look at your left hand; instead trust your feelings and that you will find the right spot. Put your left thumb at 9 o’clock not at 12 o’clock or you won’t be able to get from Bb to B. Use full length mirrors to critique your own playing and positioning. Have your own sound, “you can always fix a note, but you can’t fix the sound.” With Miles, Ron liked to play stuff that the soloist wasn’t expecting to hear. Ron is fine with not soloing. Instead play a counter melody in quarter notes, go from swing to Bossa Nova, to Latin, just don’t be “dormant”. Ron doesn’t own an electric bass. Ron prefers drummers who tune their own drums, because doing so affects the bass. “I’ve come to the belief that you won’t get a better take than the first two takes of any song with anybody.” “Maintain focus to get the best you can out of the first two takes.” Ron averages three hours of sleep a night on tour and six hours a night at home. Crazy. His personal trainer comes to him at 5:45am. Wow, I can’t imagine doing that. Good book, glad to have read it.
A final cool Ron quote: “I’d like to see people tune into the bassist who plays with a different mind-set, skill set, musical daring that affects everyone in the band, but all too often there’s the bass in the back churning around in the background of the sound, hidden away behind the horns in the front. I’d like to see that view put aside.”
Ron before Miles: Detroit’s black population doubled to 200,000 from 1933 to 1943. Ron started on cello averaging a whopping eight hours a day practicing in addition to classes. He continued this grueling work schedule in order to “get ahead.” Later, he moved to classical bass. Ron only became a jazz bassist once he was told “his own orchestra would never hire him because he was African-American.” Ron would get pulled over for driving while black, and got crap treatment even in Paris because he was black. In his first tour of the South, Ron and the other black musicians were forced to eat by coming in the back door only. Ron also would get upset when lesser talented flavor of the month artists would hog the news pages, he said “every time Wynton Marsalis farts at Lincoln Center, The Times covers it”.
Ron would dress up for shows in appreciation of the audience coming out for the evening: “Dressing like this doesn’t make you play better, but it makes you look like you’re playing better.” After Wayne Shorter cancelled for a date, tenor sax player Bill Evans did the record with Ron and Art Farmer and it was “all done in first takes”. Paul Chamber’s bass was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder by placing a mic in the bridge that was wrapped up in a towel. The jazz label Impulse started in 1960, by Creed Taylor. Creed leaves Impulse in 1961 to create Verve. In 1967, Creed hooks up with A&M and then creates CTI in 1970. Ron Carter becomes the “anchor” of CTI; it was pretty much created around him, according to Creed. CTI crash lands in 1976. In his career, Ron has done bass on around 3,000 tracks, including one of my favorite neglected records, Stan Getz’s Sweet Rain with Chick Corea and Grady Tate. Ron concentrated on “making better choices and finding the right notes to play.” Ron took a class in writing for strings with Don Sebesky. Richard Tee started the group Stuff as a vehicle , “sort of like putting our own signatures on our music for a change.” Ron did the amazing Wave record for Jobim blind with no prep and Jobim loved it and hired him for two more of my favorite records, Tide, and Stone Flower. Ron said, in Brazilian music he listened to the triangle to find where the beat was.
Ron spent a huge amount of time studying Bach’s 375 chorales in order to learn how to make a bassline work and how basslines can alter chord changes. Ron taught Larry Grenadier and even Victor Bailey (Victor still enjoyed the thought of seriously playing upright). Larry was holding his bass straight up and Ron had him tilt it back 25 degrees. Kenny Burrell was a part-owner of a NY club called The Guitar. Attila Zoller once brought there a 15 year-old Pat Metheny. A piccolo bass is tuned A D G C, a fourth higher than a standard bass. Ron uses LaBella 7700 black tape wound strings (steel core wrapped in silk then tape): great for pizzicato but crappy for arco (bow). Ron only plays standing and has two pickups in his ¾ sized Juzek. He has a Kurmann system built into the soundpost which he uses for recording, and a David Gage Realist pickup for clubs.
Technique from Ron: The key word is horizontal when playing the fingerboard, and not vertical. Of course, you can add the vertical in. Don’t press down the strings too hard. The harder you press the more tired you get. Keep the spacing between your fingers so you can get from F to F# easily. Don’t look at your left hand; instead trust your feelings and that you will find the right spot. Put your left thumb at 9 o’clock not at 12 o’clock or you won’t be able to get from Bb to B. Use full length mirrors to critique your own playing and positioning. Have your own sound, “you can always fix a note, but you can’t fix the sound.” With Miles, Ron liked to play stuff that the soloist wasn’t expecting to hear. Ron is fine with not soloing. Instead play a counter melody in quarter notes, go from swing to Bossa Nova, to Latin, just don’t be “dormant”. Ron doesn’t own an electric bass. Ron prefers drummers who tune their own drums, because doing so affects the bass. “I’ve come to the belief that you won’t get a better take than the first two takes of any song with anybody.” “Maintain focus to get the best you can out of the first two takes.” Ron averages three hours of sleep a night on tour and six hours a night at home. Crazy. His personal trainer comes to him at 5:45am. Wow, I can’t imagine doing that. Good book, glad to have read it.
A final cool Ron quote: “I’d like to see people tune into the bassist who plays with a different mind-set, skill set, musical daring that affects everyone in the band, but all too often there’s the bass in the back churning around in the background of the sound, hidden away behind the horns in the front. I’d like to see that view put aside.”
September 24, 2020
I'm more of an autobiography man but you this was at times a very interesting read given the insight into the 60's Quintet and a man who maintained integrity and sobriety when it seemed few others in the scene could.
Ron Carter is one of a kind, I felt the book was overloaded with detail which for the curious reader would prove unreadable but for the Jazz connoisseur very much necessary.
Ron Carter is one of a kind, I felt the book was overloaded with detail which for the curious reader would prove unreadable but for the Jazz connoisseur very much necessary.
June 5, 2023
Ron Carter's musical career spans nearly six decades and he was at the centre of at least three musical movements in modern Jazz.
Exposed to America's racism at an early age, culminating in never achieving his dream of joining an orchestra, he turned like so many of his Afro-American contemporaries to Jazz.
And here is why I struggled with giving this book 4 stars when 3 would have been more honest. The book is written by Dan Ouellette in a style of journalism that captures at times the bi-polar nature of the genre. It is littered with a bewildering number of artists names and quotes as if anchoring a fascinating life is some kind of thesis. It also requires ruthless editing as its strewn with adverbs peppered in jazz-speak.
And Carter's life is worth a biography. He's a true fighter, eschewing the habits that killed a great number of artists. He's an educator, a composer and a huge influence on a generation of musicians.
He has recorded Jazz, Classical, Hip Hop and cut his teeth on jingles (which were in their heyday in the 1970's) & film scores. And these should have been explored further, rather than later chapters.
After chapter 15, I found myself skimming and wishing this book had been written by someone like Stuart Cosgrove who's excellent trilogy 'Detroit 67', 'Memphis 68' & 'Harlem 69' would have cut out all the neurotic Oullette-isms and given Carter that status he deserves - right at the forefront of an era that resonates today.
Exposed to America's racism at an early age, culminating in never achieving his dream of joining an orchestra, he turned like so many of his Afro-American contemporaries to Jazz.
And here is why I struggled with giving this book 4 stars when 3 would have been more honest. The book is written by Dan Ouellette in a style of journalism that captures at times the bi-polar nature of the genre. It is littered with a bewildering number of artists names and quotes as if anchoring a fascinating life is some kind of thesis. It also requires ruthless editing as its strewn with adverbs peppered in jazz-speak.
And Carter's life is worth a biography. He's a true fighter, eschewing the habits that killed a great number of artists. He's an educator, a composer and a huge influence on a generation of musicians.
He has recorded Jazz, Classical, Hip Hop and cut his teeth on jingles (which were in their heyday in the 1970's) & film scores. And these should have been explored further, rather than later chapters.
After chapter 15, I found myself skimming and wishing this book had been written by someone like Stuart Cosgrove who's excellent trilogy 'Detroit 67', 'Memphis 68' & 'Harlem 69' would have cut out all the neurotic Oullette-isms and given Carter that status he deserves - right at the forefront of an era that resonates today.
December 25, 2022
Informative book about one of the world’s top bassists, but in parts it reads a bit too much like a concert review or like album liner notes…
March 26, 2014
Good biography but not great--misses on the humanity of the artist
Good biography but not great--misses on the humanity of the artist
Ron Carter is my hero and my favorite bassist across all genres. It was great reading stories on Ron's career and getting some background on major recordings in his catalogue. I also thought the colloquies and the sidebars added color to what could have been a linear read of a career and biography. This is an excellent biographical device.
Unfortunately, the book read more like a discography or a series of album liner notes. It lacked humanity and at times seemed to promotional for a prodigious musical genius who needs no promotion. I wanted to understand what makes Ron Carter tick, to discover some of his failings as a human being, to explore his spirituality, his loves, his traumas, his women, his relationship to family, and his practice routine. I wanted to see how these universal attributes translate to the music he performs. How they inform his creativity and compositions. It seemed that the subject's sometimes (benevolent) dictatorial stance as a leader spilled over to his biography. The retelling of his story seems controlled, stilted, edited or strongly influenced by Ron Carter himself.
This story should be read by anyone interested in jazz, and classical music for that matter. It is an excellent historical documentation of the jazz idiom after the bebop era to contemporary experience.
Good biography but not great--misses on the humanity of the artist
Ron Carter is my hero and my favorite bassist across all genres. It was great reading stories on Ron's career and getting some background on major recordings in his catalogue. I also thought the colloquies and the sidebars added color to what could have been a linear read of a career and biography. This is an excellent biographical device.
Unfortunately, the book read more like a discography or a series of album liner notes. It lacked humanity and at times seemed to promotional for a prodigious musical genius who needs no promotion. I wanted to understand what makes Ron Carter tick, to discover some of his failings as a human being, to explore his spirituality, his loves, his traumas, his women, his relationship to family, and his practice routine. I wanted to see how these universal attributes translate to the music he performs. How they inform his creativity and compositions. It seemed that the subject's sometimes (benevolent) dictatorial stance as a leader spilled over to his biography. The retelling of his story seems controlled, stilted, edited or strongly influenced by Ron Carter himself.
This story should be read by anyone interested in jazz, and classical music for that matter. It is an excellent historical documentation of the jazz idiom after the bebop era to contemporary experience.
February 27, 2014
If I could give this six stars I would. I have learned more about music from this book than almost any other I have read. If you like jazz, this would be the second book I would recommend you read, (after Hear me talkin to ya by Nat Hentoff.) It was Ron Carter's music where I first heard the bass as an equal instrument in the band, not someone hidden behind the horns. There is more information here than his life story, there are detailed analysis (sic) of the various groups he's led, and albums he's performed on...(not all of them, he's on over 2000 different albums.) What comes through on a personal level, is he sets very high expectations for himself, and others. And he lives up to them. After reading RC:FTRN I have somewhere around 20-40 more albums on my wish list.
March 13, 2011
This reads like a "authorized" biography with a mandate to be worshipful. Carter's work, his affect, his clothing, his intelligence, his contributions, his playing, his influence, his demeanor, his style, his bearing...all are just CEASELESSLY praised ad nauseam.
I have great respect for Ron Carter and the place he has in the history of jazz. But we all know that any honest biography will have to focus on problem areas - even the greatest have flaws they have to manage and/or overcome. This one is simply an act of worship. For that reason, it provides very little new insight.
I have great respect for Ron Carter and the place he has in the history of jazz. But we all know that any honest biography will have to focus on problem areas - even the greatest have flaws they have to manage and/or overcome. This one is simply an act of worship. For that reason, it provides very little new insight.
June 7, 2015
Ron Carter is an amazing musician with inspiring work ethic and musical expertise. I loved how this book was written. While I know nothing about playing the bass, this book kept my attention from start to finish because Ron Carter has done so much and played with so many musicians. Reading this was like learning a history of jazz. You can read my full review on my blog here: http://melissaconnolly.blogspot.com/2....
August 5, 2012
Revealing insights into Ron Carter as a person and as a musician. Musicians as listeners and players will appreciate learning the philosophy that drives Carter's approach to making music and his uncompromising professionalism. Brutally honest and a fun read.
August 5, 2009
Love Ron Carter's music, but this book about him just didn't grab me. Couldn't get through it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews