Betty Carter
The Audience With Betty Carter (Bet-Car), 1980
Even in 1980, it took an incredible amount of chutzpah for a vocalist to stretch out a song for an entire side of an LP. But Betty Carter was no ordinary vocalist. For 25 minutes, she holds listeners spellbound with her dazzling improvisatory craft, as she leads pianist John Hicks, bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Kenny Washington through the paces of her mood-shifting composition “Sounds (Movin’ On).” And the audience at the intimate Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, where this double album was recorded over several nights in December of 1979, is with them every step, exploding with applause at song’s end. The other three sides of this classic recording provide similar thrills.
One of the jazz world’s most exploratory musicians, Carter treats time as her plaything, stretching syllables like Silly Putty for optimal musical and emotional effect. She and the group revisit her signature tunes “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” and “Tight,” and swing “My Favorite Things” into a frenzied fandango. Carter, who passed away in 1998, has few equals past or present, but her approach lives on through disciples such as Cassandra Wilson and Kurt Elling.
— Bob Weinberg
