Open the Door

by Bauer, William R.

• ISBN13: 9780472067916
• ISBN10: 0472067915
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Michigan Pr

Summary

In 1948, Betty Carter left her home in Detroit to sing in Lionel Hampton's big band. In the fifty years following, while the music business witnessed upheavals, transformations, and revivals, Carter held to the standards set by her bebop mentors. Even during difficult times, Carter continued to sing, nurturing a cult following that has steadily grown.This book presents Betty Carter's contribution to the music world as a jazz singer, composer, arranger, and teacher. It also looks behind the scenes to show Carter's growth as a businesswoman who took charge of her career. In 1970 when major labels were hardly recording jazz, Carter formed her own record company. By the mid-1970s Carter's persistence began to pay off. After she won a Grammy in 1988 for "Look What I Got, Carter emerged as a major force in jazz, as an exponent of the revitalized bebop scene, and as a mentor to the next generation of musicians. Her innovative approach to singing has inspired a whole generation of aspiring singers. In the process she helped spark the bebop revival.Drawing upon revealing interviews with Carter, the author shows how ever-changing shifts in the music industry affected her life and influenced her music. He shows through his analysis of her musical examples how Carter absorbed various musical influences, from Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday to Miles Davis, and made them her own. From her apprenticeship with Gladys Hampton, Carter grew to become a shrewd dealer who learned to do her own contracting, A&R, and marketing and distribution. By chronicling one of jazz's great singers and composers, the book sheds light on how early jazz musicians got their work to the public and how this processhas changed during the past fifty years.William R. Bauer is Assistant Professor of Music, Rutgers University.

Author Biography

William R. Bauer is Assistant Professor of Music at Rutgers University - Newark, where he directs the Rutgers Newark Student Jazz Ensemble, MOSAIC, and teaches in the Jazz History and Research program.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Childhood	p. 7
Bebopping in Detroit	p. 23
Apprenticeship	p. 37
On Her Own	p. 53
Early Successes	p. 67
Making Progress	p. 81
Paying Dues	p. 93
A New Direction	p. 109
Breakthrough	p. 129
Reaching for More	p. 153
Celebrity	p. 173
Recognition	p. 197
Movin' On	p. 219
Reading the Phonetic Notation	p. 237
Musical Examples	p. 243
Notes	p. 345
Selected References	p. 389
Discography	p. 397
Videography	p. 401
Index	p. 403
Illustrations
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.