Benny Carter Collection
name: label: Musician
content: Carter, Benny, 1907-2003
topic: label: Topic
content: African American musicians
label: Topic
content: Jazz -- 20th century -- United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Benny Carter Collection was donated by Bennett Carter in December 2000.
creator: label: Musician
content: Carter, Benny, 1907-2003
setName: label: See more items in
content: Benny Carter Collection
accruals: label: Accruals
content: Approximately 26 cubic feet of material was received in 2004 by Hilma Carter.
bioghist: label: Biography
content: Bennett Lester Carter, better known as "Benny," was born on August 8, 1907 in New York City. The Carter's were quite a musical family - - Benny's father played guitar, his mother played piano, and a cousin, Theodore ("Cuban") Bennett, played the trumpet professionally - - so it was no surprise that Benny also became a musician, beginning his musical training at the age of ten. He first played the trumpet and then C-melody saxophone before changing to alto saxophone, which became his chief instrument.

Benny Carter began his professional career around the young age of seventeen, when he joined a local group as an alto saxophonist. He subsequently played with various other groups, including Billy Paige and Louis Deppe, until attending Wilberforce College in Ohio to study seminary in 1925. Finding music more enticing than theology, Carter left college and instead toured with Horace Henderson's Wilberforce Collegians intermittently between 1925 and 1928.

Carter's musical talents began attracting widespread attention in 1930 during a year-long stint with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, to which he contributed many important arrangements. As word of his talent continued to spread, Carter played with such notables as William "Chick" Webb (1931) and served as musical director of William McKinney's Cotton Pickers (1931-1932) in Detroit. Upon returning to New York in 1932, Carter formed his own highly-respected orchestra. In its two years of existence, the Benny Carter Orchestra included several major pioneers in early swing style, such as Bill Coleman, Dicky Wells, Ben Webster, Chu Berry, Teddy Wilson, and Sid Catlett. Months after playing the inaugural show in New York City at Harlem's Apollo Theater in 1934, Carter disbanded the orchestra and, one year later, sailed to Europe to spread jazz across the globe.

After arriving in Europe, Carter first performed with Willie Lewis in Paris, France, and then, during 1936 -1938, served as staff arranger for the BBC Dance Orchestra in London, England. As he continued to tour throughout his stay in Europe (even leading his own interracial band in the Netherlands in 1937), he met with even greater success than in the United States. By this point, Carter was well-known for his arrangements and for his alto saxophone and clarinet playing. He was also recognized for his talented singing and tenor saxophone, trumpet, and piano playing.

In 1938, Carter sailed back to the United States and formed a new orchestra which regularly played at Harlem's Savoy Theater until 1940. He toured the United States during the next few years, both with small groups and with his big band, finally settling in Los Angeles in 1945. There he continued to lead his band (band members included modern jazz greats such as Miles Davis and J. J. Johnson), but turned increasingly to writing and arranging music for films and television productions. His film scores include Stormy Weather (1943), A Man Called Adam (1966), Red Sky at Morning(1970), and Buck and the Preacher (1972). "Ironside," "Bob Hope Presents," and the Alfred Hitchcock show were among the television programs for which he wrote music.

Carter had stopped performing with a regular orchestra by 1946, but he remained active up through the 1960s both by playing at Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic shows and with Duke Ellington, among others. He also continued to arrange music for various singers, including Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, and Louis Armstrong. During the 1970s he began performing again, touring in Europe, Asia and Australia; in 1976 he toured the Middle East under sponsorship of the U.S. Department of State. Carter also became involved with academia, serving as visiting professor or workshop consultant at universities such as Yale, Cornell, Princeton, and Duke. He remained active in the music business well into the 1990s and still resides in California.

Benny Carter is regarded as "one of the most versatile musicians of his time." As a musician, he made major contributions to several areas of jazz and, as an arranger, he helped to construct the big-band swing style. He has received many awards throughout his career. The more prestigious honors included a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and a 1994 Grammy Award for the album "Elegy in Blue."

Footnotes

[1 ] Biographical note derived from Benny Carter: A Life in American Music, by Monroe and Edward Berger, and James Patrick (New York: Scarecrow Press and the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, 1982).

[2] J. Bradford Robinson, "John Kirby," The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, vol 1, 1986: 653-54.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 67.5 Cubic feet (182 boxes, 3 map folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1928-2000, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0757
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Awards
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Manuscripts
label: Type
content: Music
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Posters
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Scores
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is organized into six series

Series 1: Music Manuscripts, 1928-1990s

Series 2: Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Clippings, 1928-2000

Series 3: Photographs, 1928-1998

Series 4: Awards and Proclamations, 1961-1999

Series 5: Sound Recordings, 1958-1989

Series 6: Ephemera, 1952-2000

Series 7: 2004 Photographs Addenda

Series 8: 2004 Ephemera Addenda

Series 9: 2004 Magazine and Newsclippings Addenda

Series 10: 2004 Awards and Proclamations Addenda
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Austin Arminio, intern, 2002; Will Crafton, intern, 2002; Sara Cromwell, intern, 2002; Courtney Egan, intern, 2002; Thomas Espe, intern, 2002; Alexandra Henry, intern, 2002; Lesley Hill, intern, 2002; Pam Kirby, intern, 2002; Nic Netzel, intern, 2002; Ben Pubols, volunteer, 2002;  Scott Schwartz, archivist, 2002; Evelyn Strope, intern, 2002; and Charissa Threat, intern, 2002.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Awards
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Music -- Manuscripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Posters -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Scores
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The majority of the material in the Benny Carter Collection is dated from the late 1920s through the later half of the 1990s. Donated to the Smithsonian Institution in December, 2000, the bulk of the collection is comprised of original music manuscripts (full scores and parts), band books, and published sheet music from Benny Carter's prolific career as a jazz composer and musician. The collection also contains newspaper clippings, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, awards, posters, commercial sound recordings, a few jazz related journals and some personal ephemera documenting Benny Carter's personal life and career as a composer, arranger, bandleader, trumpeter and alto saxophonist.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301

Rex Stewart Papers, circa 1875-1890s, 1924-1988, NMAH.AC.0424

Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, NMAH.AC.0491

Anne Judd Kennedy Collection, NMAH.AC.0506

Ella Fitzgerald Papers, NMAH.AC.0584

Scurlock Studio Records, NMAH.AC.0618.S04.05

William "Cat" Anderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0630

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, circa 1970-2000, NMAH.AC.0766

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, 1992-2014, NMAH.AC.0808

Milt Gabler Papers, 1927-2001, NMAH.AC.0849

Red Norvo Papers, 1932-1997, NMAH.AC.0858

Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900

Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters, 1963-2009, NMAH.AC.1207

John and Devra Hall Levy Collection, NMAH.AC.1221

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1222

Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC.1323

Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Henry P. Whitehead Collection, ACMA.06-042

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Smithsonian Press/Smithsonian Productions, Productions, Accession 04-091, SIA.FA04-091

Smithsonian Productions, Productions, Accession 04-062, SIA.FA04-062

Smithsonian Institution Division of Performing Arts Records, Accession 84-012, SIA.FA84-012

Smithsonian Institution Division of Performing Arts Records, Accession T90055, SIA.FAT90055

Record Unit 584, National Museum of American History, Department of Public Programs, Records,                                     SIA.FARU0584

Chair Records, National Museum of American History, Archives Center, Accession 12-193, SIA.FA12-193

Smithsonian Institution, Contracts Office, Records, Record Unit 470, SIA.FARU0470

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings, CFCH.RINZ

Frederic Ramsey Audio Recordings, CFCH.RAMS

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, CFCH.ASCH

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 2003 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, CFCH.SFF.2003

Rutgers University Libraries, Institute of Jazz Studies Repository

Benny Carter Papers, Artifacts, and Audio Recordings consists of personal archive, many unique performances, and interviews. In addition, the collection contains approximately 742 hours of playing time, with recordings ranging from the 1930s to the 1990s. The recordings include many unissued live performances and studio recordings, as well as soundtracks of Carter's film and television work.

https://collections.libraries.rutgers.edu/benny-carter-audio-recordings