Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes

(bass tuning up) (zipping) (upbeat jazz music) - [Director] Ron, you're welcome to take off your mask.

- [Ron] Good.

(upbeat jazz music) - That's the part.

- Yeah, that's it.

Hey.

- [Ron] Good to see you.

- [Jon] Great to see you, great to be seen.

My personal experience with Ron was when I first moved to New York.

I was going to hear the great pianist Mulgrew Miller, with the band that he had with Ron.

I had just moved to town, 17 years old.

- [Ron] Where should we sit?

I sit.

- [Crew] You're on the left chair there.

- [Jon] And after the show, Mulgrew introduced me to Ron.

He says, hey, have you heard of Ron?

I was like, of course I've heard of Ron.

And I was like, hello, how you doing?

And he was like, hello, Mr. Carter.

And then I was like, is he talking to me?

And I realized, he's telling me how he wants to be addressed.

He's like, hello, Mr. Carter.

And I was like, hello, Mr. Carter.

I start repeating him like a parrot.

Then he says, where are you from?

And I say, New Orleans.

He's like, New Orleans where?

New Orleans, Louisiana?

And I'm like New Orleans, Louisiana.

And he's like, are you a musician?

I said, yes, I play piano.

He says, yes Mr. Carter, I'm a pianist.

(jazz chords) He completely embarrasses me in front of the dressing room, all these musicians who I grew up listening to.

And he's like, you know, you gotta learn how to talk out here.

You gotta be able to talk to people.

This is important.

- [Ron] Jon.

Okay.

- [Jon] He probably does that once a week to a young musician coming to a show.

- [Ron] I just came off a tour.

Sometimes I'm not there.

- [Director] Thank you both.

I'm turning it over to you.

- [Ron] Are we rolling?

- [Director] Speed, Henry, camera speed, yeah.

(energetic jazz music) - Ron Carter's the Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker of the bass.

- Icon, hero, provocative, profound.

- Ron is a creator.

He was always working toward perfection.

- That's why I'm so expensive.

(laughing) - That's my man, Ron Carter.

- He's a brother who demands respect, and you will respect him.

- I have to do this to you.

- Thank you guys.

- He's a true innovator.

He changed the course of jazz.

- My favorite thing is trying to find the right notes to get to a different level.

That's my favorite thing.

- There's only one Ron Carter.

(energetic music) (classical bass music) - You know, the first thing we have as a bass player is a sound.

Sound is everything we have.

You has to find out what sound that you wanna be represented by.

I happen to have that.

That when people hear this note or these notes, the first thing that comes to them is my sound, my notes, my bass, I'm on that record.

(exciting jazz music) - If you go back in jazz history, eventually somewhere, you're gonna get to Ron Carter.

How can you have an interest in jazz and not pay attention to Ron Carter?

He's in the Guinness Book of World Records for being on the most recordings.

I mean, there's just no way.

- Every bass player today, whether they know it, like it, or whatever, when you play jazz bass, there's a bit of Ron Carter in everyone.

- These are ones where I'm the leader on most of these up here, specifically.

Me and Bill Frisell and Eric Gale, me and Bach.

Some of them, since 1960.

- Thousands and thousands and thousands of people calling Ron to play on a record.

That didn't happen by accident.

McCoy Tyner.

Herbie Hancock.

Aretha Franklin.

So long baby Paul Simon.

Roberta Flack.

Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly Gil Scott-Heron.

The revolution will not be televised Will not be televised Will not be televised Will not be televised.

The revolution A Tribe Called Quest.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah And this one goes out to my man Thanks a lot, Ron Carter on the bass Yes, my man Ron Carter is on the bass They're alphabetical, by the way.

C's, D's, B's, A's.

Let me get back to work.

Next May will be my 80th birthday.

And there are several suggestions of how to celebrate that 80th year.

I'm thinking, what are you gonna do with this day?

Day, meaning rest of your life.

And, I don't know just yet.

Right now, as of this day, that's okay.

And then I'll see how I feel.

- You've worked with so many different types of musicians.

I mean, you've worked with James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Jefferson Airplane.

I listened to you on A Tribe Called Quest records.

And also you've played with the great jazz musicians of our time and of the golden age of this music.

What's the approach that you take in every situation?

- Yeah, I want whoever the band leader is, who's responsible for hiring me, to do two things when I'm gone.

One is to wish I would come back, and two is to watch him walk off the stage with tire marks on his back from my time.

(both laughing) I want him to leave with the big tracks all over.

My time and my note choices are right there.

- Yeah.

- If I can get him to do that, I'm okay.

- Growing up in Detroit, and being a musician and going in classical, you played the cello?

- Yeah.

- And when did you find jazz on the bass?

- Well, I went away to school at Eastman School of Music in Rochester for four years.

And my last year, my senior year of 1958, they put together what they call the cream of the crop of the Eastman students, called the Eastman Philharmonia.

And there were four bass players.

- [Jon] Okay.

Okay.

- [Ron] And I was the first chair.

Man, there's some feeling that the vibe was not conducive 'cause I was African American in the normally white environment.

Let's fast forward for years.

(intriguing jazz music) - Because of its quietness, because of his personality, you might get a sense that he's laid back, low keyed.

But when he puts that bass up, you get the idea.

Something powerful happens, and you welcome it because it's a surprise.

- [Announcer] We're gonna begin tonight with something extraordinary.

It all begins with our artist in residence, you know about Ron Carter.

A native Detroiter, a hometown hero who will present to you tonight, The Ron Carter Nonet.

He told me backstage it's really the no net, because we play without a net.

We never know what might happen.

- He doesn't have to have a spotlight on him.

He brings the spotlight to him because of the notes that he plays.

He brings the tlight to him Watching him decipher, and watching him solve problems.

He's so deliberate and he's in the moment, but he doesn't have to hesitate to find the solution to the problem that he's created for himself.

- He's like an architect.

He's thinking ahead.

And he's building a direction when he plays, but at the same time he's listening to what drums are doing and what the piano is doing.

Every part of it, all of that happening at the same time.

But that's what creativity is about in jazz.

(audience applauding) - So if you talk about Ron Carter, it would have to start with dude, Miles Davis, The second great quintet.

(bass solo) Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams.

- It was the beginning of the famous quintet, that, to this day is like one of the most revolutionary bands in jazz.

- I got the feeling that Miles was just looking for some youthful spirit.

And we were like the new young guns, so to speak, on the New York jazz scene.

- Miles was interested in one thing, music.

That's all he cared about.

Miles liked Ron because of his music.

He had that thing which Miles needed, wanted to hear.

- Playing with Ron, that was like one of the dreams I had.

Everybody knew he would be like the next guy in line to be the top jazz bass player.

- One of the questions I'm always asked is, talk about playing with Miles.

Well man, what kind of question is that?

I can't just talk about that, I need to have a point of reference.

What was like to play with him?

Interesting, to say the least.

My view of a not too complicated explanation is that we go to this laboratory every night.

In this laboratory, there's a head chemist wearing this white smock, and he's laid out all these different chemicals to find out what's the proper ingredients to make this concoction something very worthwhile, and still maintain the integrity of the song.

It's still "Autumn Leaves."

And we struck gold several times.

(audience applauding) - I think the first time I discovered Mr. Carter was on the live Miles records.

What I gravitated towards was this forward motion in his playing, in his walking lines, this intensity almost like he was pushing the drummer, like pushing everybody, just completely in control.

Almost bossing everybody around.

This is where I wanna go, very dominant.

- There's a live recording of them at the studio.

And they go through working through this song.

You can hear Miles giving instructions.

You can hear Ron saying what's wrong or right.

And it's just an interesting way to hear them in the studio.

(jazz bass lines) - Inspiration was just kind of flowing.

- The unity was so strong.

The freedom of being able to explore new territories, rhythmically, what was happening in so many different ways.

- And it was just building and growing and growing, that's what you live for is to have that kind of experience.

(upbeat jazz music) (audience applauding) - All those stories about his behavior toward people, and the bandstand behavior.

I never saw that behavior when I was with the band.

- When you think about the drug culture, from marijuana with the jazz musicians, to heroin with the jazz musicians, the cocaine with the jazz musicians, and maybe Miles was involved with all that, but when it came to that second great quintet, they were above the fray.

They were the Miles Davis Quintet.

- Whatever behavior he had, it didn't affect us being able to play at our best level.

So all these rumors about his behavior, I don't respond to those kinds of questions, 'cause it's just a fifth hand information.

I don't know about that stuff, man.

- To hear Ron Carter say that he didn't see any of that.

I believe that.

They had things to accomplish musically, things to do.

And Miles was leading the way.

- Ron was kind of like the responsible one, you know?

He doesn't drink.

He's never done drugs.

He will puff on his pipe.

He was married, he had a couple kids, but he was responsible to the music and responsible to the band, and I think Miles really appreciated it.

Years later, when Miles went through a down period, he lived not far from where Ron lived, and Ron would go there with sandwiches, and bring along one or two of his kids, and they would knock on the door and they would come in and give Miles something to eat.

It was that kind of commitment he had to Miles that was really special.

- When I was about seven or eight, we had gone to Miles Davis's house for something.

My dad was over there and he says, ah, Ron Jr., your dad tells me you're playing trumpet.

Well, I got something for you, and he gave me a trumpet.

It was smashed up.

He said, yeah, I'm giving you this one.

So now your dad has to fix this mother-effer.

How cool was that?

- All I know, he was kind to me.

He understood that I was trying to play a certain fashion.

I had something in my head and I was trying to work it out, and he trusted my judgment implicitly.

That's good enough for me.

- The second great Miles Davis Quintet was influential in so many ways.

And if you look at the way they were built, who was the first person in that second great quintet?

It was Ron.

- Ron is a very solid person.

Everybody's not solid.

It would be like the cornerstone that would hold a building up.

His personality's like that.

And he's a bass player.

It's perfect for a bass player to be solid, like Ron is.

- To me, jazz represents America in so many ways.

It has excluded people.

It has included people.

Jazz is complicated, but it's also simple.

Jazz is arrogant, it's down to Earth.

Jazz is all of the things that America is in many, many ways to me.

- The beautiful thing about jazz and maybe about all music is that it lends to individuality.

I was born in New York City in Harlem, and that's where the music was concentrated.

So many great Black artists.

Duke Ellington lived right next door.

Coleman Hawkins, my idol, a few blocks away.

Eventually clubs began opening downtown where Black artists could play.

Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum, Billy Holiday.

They all played on 52nd street, including myself.

And of course my friend, Ron Carter.

I remember we did a tour in the 1970s.

All the great players have an individual sound.

You can identify Ron, if you hear some music for a few moments, listen, oh yeah, that's Ron Carter.

(exciting jazz music) - Are you surprised they took that?

(laughing) - It always surprise me.

- Man that started a whole, whole new era of hip hop.

(small talk) - Ron to me personally has always been, somewhat of an enigma, not because he makes himself that way, but just, that's just how it feels, you know what I mean?

Like there's every other great bass player that I've admired and looked up to, and then there's Ron Carter, right?

This will be the largest crowd I've ever had for one of my shows since the debut episode, which was nine years ago.

They're all banging on the front door waiting to get in.

- All two of them.

Okay.

They're here, though.

- Oh yeah, they're here.

(audience applauding and cheering) - Thank you very, very, very much.

Welcome to "The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian."

I'm your host Christian McBride, and we are here at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.

Will you please welcome to The Lowdown, the one and only Mr. Ron Carter, Ron Carter!

(audience applauding and cheering) You were made official in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most recorded jazz bassist.

- [Ron] Yes.

- [Christian] How does that happen?

- I've been busy for a very long time.

The number is 2,221.

And this is about 50 short.

- If you don't mind, let's let's go back to the beginning.

- So at some point when I was 11 or so, a teacher came to our school.

And on this table were these instruments, and she announced that she's gonna have these colored kids have an orchestra.

And I say, yeah, right.

And so now pick an instrument and we'll make this work for you for the orchestra.

And the cello seemed to be something that was easiest to produce a very simple sound.

So I picked the cello.

Ultimately I got pretty good at it, and every year I had a teacher who was more able to help an advancing cello player.

And I noticed that the orchestra, they kept hiring these white kids to play cello.

I said, wait a minute, I play as good as they do.

What's wrong with this picture?

So I went and looked around and the only bass player in orchestra was graduating.

So my solution is really uncomplicated.

If I am the only bass player.

- There you go.

- And here I am.

- [Christian] One of the first songs I ever learned of yours was called Third Plane.

I was wondering if we could do that.

- [Ron] Sure.

- [Christian] Ron Carter ladies and gentlemen.

You said the bass player is the quarterback in any band.

- Yes.

- Would you mind elucidating.

- What does that mean?

(audience laughing) - One of the more knotty questions that we get asked, is what is jazz and what makes jazz what it is?

What kind of bothers me though, more than anything else is that no one asks a classical lover of music, how to define classical music.

No one asks them, what makes Beethoven so great.

All I want the same kind of love from them.

(audience applauding and cheering) I'm not sure Mozart was worried about whether they had he right notes or not.

I'm worried about, is this the right note?

Is this the right time for this note?

- I want to ask, just on the record, you kind of learned the process of how to practice from classical music.

Studied the music, studied the form, understand what the function of the bass is.

- Yes.

- In an orchestra and then also in a jazz band.

And you have your own sound with that.

- The first thing is I understand what note choices I have.

- [Jon] Mm.

- You know, so when I see a chord that says F, I'm not seeing just FAC, if you got four beats in this measure, do it like this for me.

That's FAC.

Now what I'm seeing is FAC, FAC, FAC, FAC, wherever I am on the bass, so I got now eight choices.

- [Jon] Right.

- [Ron] Just for those three notes.

Just for the first measure.

- Yes.

- Now multiply that times a thirty-two bar tune, times six weeks.

- Ooh.

- How many notes do you find?

Tons.

Some of 'em aren't always great, but those great ones, killin' it.

(both laughing) - Russ Davis here at the Detroit Jazz Festival, the world's largest free jazz festival.

And who should I be sitting with, but Detroit's own, and the artist in residence for this year, the great Ron Carter.

Ron, thanks for taking some time with us.

- It's kind good to see you this morning.

- Four days of this festival playing with the nonet, quartet, trio, and the great big band.

- Well, they're getting their money's worth, I can assure you that.

- We're on the 70th floor of a massive building in downtown Detroit, and from here, we could almost see Ferndale your hometown, just to the south of Detroit.

- For me, it's an important view to play a festival in Detroit.

It's great for me.

- [Speaker] To open a festival with the Ron Carter Nonet with four cellos in his quintet is brave, bold, forward-looking.

- [Ron] Thank you.

- [Speaker] And to that end, I wanna raise our glass, folks to a Detroiter, the most recorded bass player in history, Mr. Ron Carter.

- Hey man, this is the man right here.

In the 60s, the late 60s, I did a recording session with Ron Carter, a record called "Giblet Gravy."

One thing I knew, and I always use this term when I speak of him.

Ron Carter, he put the tuxedo on all my recordings.

He dressed me up, and I started hearing that from people.

I like the sophistication of your music.

I said, my music?

I have to give Ron Carter the credit.

- Someone said, I shouldn't be afraid to hear the tributes.

However, I think my thought is, well, what is the next stage of this?

I can't imagine this view 70 years ago.

I can't imagine being this high in the building at 10 years old, when you have a two story house and a yard, and this is so far from my growing up man.

It's amazing.

We're looking for a Garden Lane, that's the street we're looking for.

I haven't really been back here since 1950.

I was 13 when we moved to Detroit.

Here it is.

Let's just, can you stop here for a minute?

Yeah, that's the one.

My father built this house, man.

(dog barking) Boy, how this has changed.

Now all these lots that are now empty, all of 'em had homes.

They were all my neighbors.

They were all our neighbors.

It was like a huge family that covered a 12 block radius.

All Black, all friends.

I remember I've shoveled more snow and cut more grass from that house, as I did with our house.

I'd knock on the door, but it's kind of early.

(laughing) That's where I started cello.

You gotta practice every day, and to practice every day, you gotta bring the cello home.

And we had to go what we used to call a circumlocutious route, because colored kids were not allowed to walk through the white neighborhoods to get to school.

So roughly I guess our one mile walk, ended up by being twice as long, because we had to go around these no walk zones that they would call 'em today, probably.

As you get older, you have more questions as to how things were the way they were.

But we had a view, our parents gave us a view, and that view did not accept we were not equal, to those people who wouldn't allow us to go through their neighborhoods.

Well, this is really a different neighborhood, man.

So the most important thing to understand, Jon, I don't mean power, but the importance of the bass.

The more I got a chance to play, and understand the importance of my note choices, I understood the "power of the bass" is stunning.

- And how do you know that?

How do you know when you have found the right note?

- [Ron] You can't know until you see everybody else's response to it.

You hope it's right, 'cause inside you feel okay.

- [Jon] Yes.

- [Ron] But you can't tell if you're ringing that bell until the piano player does like this, 'cause of my note.

- [Jon] It's like, oh.

- [Ron] Uh huh, mine.

Mine, that.

Let show you.

(gentle jazz duet) [Ron] That.

- [Jon] I love it.

(both laughing) [Jon] Yes, indeed.

Yes, I see how the mind works, that's amazing.

- Two five of each key.

G chord.

(both laughing) That.

- [Jon] Yes, indeed.

- [Ron] Yes sir.

- [Jon] Yeah, right on.

- [Ron] That's all it is, man.

- [Jon] That's in there.

- [Ron] Let's go back over here.

I went to school with a lot of focus to be a classical player, but I think there were just two worlds for me at that time, the classical world and the jazz world.

During this period of time in my senior year, a couple of friends of mine put together a little band to play in the club in the Black part of Rochester, and playing in a house band opposite these groups.

Dizzy's band, Carman McCrae's band, JJ Johnson's band.

They assured me that if I came to New York, that New York always looked for a good bass player.

I said, okay.

I hadn't given up on the classical world until someone told me that maybe I should give up on them.

Let me go back.

The school would hire all the great conductors every season.

The spring of my graduation year I'm playing in the Philharmonic of Rochester and this person named Leopold Stokowski is the conductor.

He's the guy who made "Fantasia" with Disney, you know?

He said, you know, I'd like to take you to my orchestra down in Texas, but the Board of Directors are not ready to hire a colored boy, and I was stunned.

That's all I am to these people.

So in a sense, I'm in the jazz community, because I was not allowed to work in the classical community.

Now someone will say, well man, only one band turned you down.

Well I think that's kind of enough, being rejected cause of my race.

I'm not sure I'm over that.

Let me just play you the track if I can, of how that feels.

During those days, I'd come to New York with my friend to see some music.

The state trooper had stopped my car and went through the hubcaps and the trunk, which is nothing but a suitcase and a saxophone.

And he didn't give us a ticket, but he let us know that we were in serious trouble because we had a Michigan license plate driving through New York and we're African American.

I said, well, I got that, man.

- Ron has shared with me in general, some of his experiences traveling, you know, during that period, the 60's, entering the place through the back door, the kitchen, confrontations with folks who didn't want them there or didn't show them respect.

What are you doing here in this place?

You don't belong here.

The typical stuff.

You know, it had to be just like a kick in the face, you know, to put in all that work, and to be able to do the work, and to be qualified.

But simply because you had the wrong paint job, you can't get in.

- I mean, if you think about the Miles Davis Quintet, that was taking place when civil rights laws were finally being passed in the legislature, and when Martin Luther King was assassinated.

- I never thought about what it was like when Miles had to face Jim Crow, mostly because his band exuded to me at the time, everything that was right and prideful to be a Black man in America, I'm doing my thing.

I'm doing it at a a level that I want to do it and I'm getting away with it.

- It really makes me appreciate someone like Ron Carter, who came through all of that and is not bitter.

He's not wanting to curse everyone before him for what he went through.

Doesn't mean we're gonna lose the past.

Mr. Carter is a part of the evolution.

- At the time I wrote this piece, I was involved in the history of the underground railroad.

And of course my imagination said, is it really underground in terms of literally underground, and having toy trains, the Lionel trains all had numbers on the locomotive head.

There all had numbers like this stamped across it, you know, and my view of this train, that's carrying these people who were fleeing for their lives to a better way to enjoy life on this Underground Railroad train.

The last train was number 117.

If you get that train, you can get up north, where they looked for a better life.

There may have been a train number called 117.

In my head there was.

(chuckling) - It all plays into who Ron Carter is.

How he grew up, the fact that he was growing up in heavily racial times had to make him tough, had to make him play good music to be accepted.

He couldn't just play average stuff.

For Blacks at that time to make it through, you had to be better than the best, you had to work harder.

- You know, for as offensive as being called a colored boy is, there have been times when I've been glad to be called that.

I played Carnegie Hall, and I got to Carnegie Hall being a colored boy.

I can live with that.

Hey Payton, someone sent me a cartoon yesterday, a patient in the doctor's office.

The patient is saying to the doctor, I feel kind of blue.

And doctor says, you got the Miles Davis.

What a great record that is, man.

(gentle piano music) (bell ringing) - I read something today that said, you can meet many soulmates, but once in a while you meet a twin.

And I would probably say, Ron is my twin.

What I think we brought to each other is that sense of style.

- [Ron] Great look.

- [Quintell] I have been able to sew since eight years old and I'm a former Ford Model.

So fashion was my jam, as they say.

I've made shirts and ties for his quartet and trio.

I've done any coordinating pants that he can't possibly find the colors to.

- [Ron] Great, lovely smell.

- GQ magazine did an article on jazz legends.

And so we decided to bring some things that I've made for him.

They chose a linen suits that I had made.

Tan and brown herringbone.

And I was given credit, which I was very happy to take.

- [Ron] Hello.

- [Man] Hi Maestro.

- [Ron] How are you?

- [Man] How are you?

- [Ron] Good, thank you.

- [Ron] Nice to meet you.

- [Ron] Thank you.

- [Man] I'm a big fan.

- [Quintell] When we first met, he was explaining to me that he travels for his music and I understand what that meant, because I traveled a lot for modeling.

- Now, you know, I am photographer and my wife is a painter.

- Oh wow.

- And we have an art gallery.

- [Quintell] I just wanted to know he got there safely.

So he would either text or call, and let me know he was there safe.

And I would just say a prayer for him that he got home safe.

[Ron] May I?

[Man] Do you know this music?

- [Ron] Good band.

Yeah, that's the Quartet, I think, at Stockholm.

The concert, maybe two years ago we recorded that.

The bass sounds great, man.

- [Man] I wanted to show something.

- [Ron] Oh my.

- [Man] Two minutes.

- [Ron] Yes.

- [Man] It's a work about jazz musician.

- [Ron] Thelonius Monk.

- [Man] Yeah.

- [Ron] Yes.

Is that Sonny Rollins?

- [Man] It's Sonny Rollins.

- [Ron] Yeah.

- [Man] I know you know him.

- [Ron] Yeah, I saw him a couple of times.

- [Man] John Coltrane.

- [Ron] Yeah.

[Ron] What a great idea you have.

- [Man] And the last one.

- [Ron] Chet.

I made records with all these people except John Coltrane.

I good fun with Chet Baker playing music.

- So you are here for just tonight and you come back?

- I play tonight and leave tomorrow.

- Okay, you leave tomorrow.

- [Ron] Yes.

- [Man] Okay.

For a tour in Europe.

- Tour of Vienna, Milano, Sweden.

Eight concerts in 11 days.

When I was teaching history, jazz history at college, I would bring up to the fact that one of the reasons that the African American musicians left the States for Europe was that they couldn't get the kind of attention, understanding and appreciation of the art that they found in Europe, and Paris was part of those stops where they found a home.

Kenny Clark, Sydney Bechet, Johnny Griffin, Kirk Lightsey, we could go on and on.

There were some wonderful jazz players who found a lot of opportunities to play, in a comfortable environment, an audience who didn't mind patronizing their work, and why not go where you can work, man?

(upbeat jazz music) (audience applauding) - I think that people around the world recognize Ron Carter.

He is a known quantity.

- [Fan] God bless you, sir.

- [Ron] Thank you.

- Not only someone who played with Miles, but also his solo career has really soared.

- Sergio, where's our car, man?

- I've been traveling with Maestro Carter for nearly almost 10 years.

I am the guy that sets up his bass.

- I've been here for a half hour.

- [Man] You've been waiting for a half hour?

- [Ron] Yeah.

- [Ron] There's no van, no car here.

- One of the things that I saw in Europe, China, Japan, and in South America, his audience knew that they were witnessing one of the greatest in the history of music, period.

- We traveled once in London and the mailman goes past and he's pushing his mail cart.

And Ron has a baseball cap with his head tilted down and the gentleman stops and goes, aren't you Ron Carter?

And Ron goes, yes.

- Can't just play the bass, man.

You gotta do this kind of stuff, too.

- Ron Carter has such an amazing stamina for traveling.

You know, we get back to the room after the concert's over, it might be midnight, or even later.

You're up at sometimes 3:30, 4 o'clock in the morning to get to the airport to catch that 6:00 a.m. flight.

And this may go on for, you know, a week or so.

It's tiring.

But then when you get on the bandstand, you're not thinking about any of that.

The music gives you the energy, and the audience gives you the energy.

- Holler at that kid.

- I'm not gonna comment at all.

- [Man] No, let it go.

- [Ron] That's NCN, no comment necessary.

- [Man] Have a good one.

- [Ron] Okay.

- Over the years, I've had a sense of this high, most respect for him, not because he was Ron Carter, because of the person he was as a human being.

And I started to understand the real Ron Carter through the eyes of his sons.

- My dad was a regular dad, just had a different work schedule than most, you know?

Yeah, he may not have been home as often as he would've liked, but we did a lot, you know, all the cool kids stuff.

He taught us how to fly kites, how to go fishing.

- I got him, ladies and gentlemen.

I got him, I got him.

- I can remember him going to Manhattan School of Music in the daytime, doing a club at night, and then stopping at Sherman's on 154th street to bring us, you know, chicken and spaghetti at three o'clock in the morning, and then be up at seven o'clock to make sure myself and my brother got off to school.

- I started spending every weekend at Ron's house.

You know, my dad was a single dad, so he wanted me to be in a family structure and stuff.

And Ron had two sons, right?

Ron Jr. and Myles.

- When we were kids, my mom was still in graduate school getting a Master's.

There weren't babysitters.

So when my dad recorded at Van Gelder's, we'd go there on the weekends and don't cough or sneeze while the recording's going, just wait, and don't make any noise.

My mom was something special.

She really was.

Now she's been gone 21 years and we still miss her to this day.

- Being in his home and being around his family and Mrs. Carter as a young African American man, the feeling of Black excellence, it was unparalleled.

It was cool to be around.

- Since we were kids, my brother Myles was an artist and totally believed in what he believed in.

- On the road, Myles always wanted to know how his father's doing, 'cause he lived in France for so many years.

He said, I don't want my father to know that I'm concerned about him, that I worry about him, but please just tell me how is he doing?

So I'd always like take pictures and send 'em to him without the maestro knowing, because he didn't want his father to know.

Maestro Carter, a strong family man, a caring family man, but music, business, family, are three different things for him.

- And he's fortunate to have been able to make a career out of doing what he loves to do, so it's not a job.

Although, you know, some of those tour stops, and doing 10 cities in 16 days can be a job, especially when you're in your 70's.

And he will continue to do what he does and what he enjoys doing until he feels it's time to dial it back.

- [Ron] Before we do anything else, let's just kind get my file straight here.

If anything, I would need just the standards just for me personally.

- [Assistant] Okay.

Just give me "Bohemia After Dark."

"The Man I Love," "Stardust."

- [Assistant] Do you want these all in separate emails or one?

- [Ron] One.

- [Assistant] One is cool?

- [Ron] Yeah.

So there they are right there.

- [Assistant] Okay.

- I have no real concrete plan of what 80 is leading me to.

I know what it means.

Being where some of my friends aren't, and that's alive and breathing at 80.

Being glad that I'm seeing it standing up.

Making my own coffee and smelling my own flowers.

But I'm not sure, I'm not sure how to use that momentum.

I think what I try to do is have each person be special when they have the order of the songs, like I wanna hear Benny Golson play the melody to "Stardust" because he really plays it well.

So on this song, he's gonna play the melody.

I'm not so much focused on my birthday as it is to make those guys sound good.

That's really my job.

Can I make them sound better?

Okay, back to work.

(driving jazz music) - I flew out here from Boulder, Colorado, because frankly I can't imagine not attending Ron Carter's 80th birthday.

(driving jazz music) (audience applauding and cheering) (saxophonist playing "Happy Birthday") (cheering) - Elvis Costello.

- How are you?

- [Elvis] We met once before.

- [Ron] Yeah, it was a long time ago.

- [Elvis] Long time ago.

- [Ron] Bill Frisell.

- [Elvis] Oh yeah, Bill and I... - [Ron] He knew you before I did, how are you?

- [Elvis] I'm better for that.

That was just beautiful.

- [Ron] Really?

- [Elvis] Happy birthday.

- [Ron] Thank you, thank you.

- [Elvis] I can't, there's there's words I could say, but I would just would embarrass myself.

(laughing) I'll see you again.

- [Ron] Okay, thank you.

- [Elvis] Bill, I'll see you soon.

- [Ron] Whether I'll call the 80th year, I had enough and I put the bass in a corner and only play at my house.

Or whether I used 80 as a jump start to another direction in a career.

I mean it isn't not wanting to play that would come into a decision like that, as my friends have talked about when they were in the same zone.

It's getting to that place, it's getting to the gig.

It's seeing the music still fight for survival.

And I'm still part of that.

How long do I want to continue to be fighting for the survival of music?

Or part of the struggle of people who are trying to make the music remain vital to someone else's life, which is how music lives.

These guys feel that they wanna make the music part of their life.

When do I get tired of wanting to be that guy that helps 'em see that this is okay for them?

Enough, please.

Yeah.

I'm not sure what I want to do, other than keep looking for the right notes.

I know I found some, but there's some more available to me.

Another combination of notes that I haven't discovered that I know waiting for someone to discover them.

- How do you view music beyond the historical and cultural context of it?

Do you see it as somewhat of a spiritual practice, or is there some spiritual component tied to your approach to music?

- Jon I think that I'm more amazed that I can do this.

- [Jon] Right.

- I was one of those guys, Jon, who never wanted to know the mystery of the music, you know what I mean?

- [Jon] Yes.

- I don't know what makes me have the nerve to do that, right then.

I appreciate that that help... - [Jon] Yes.

- ...is somewhere beyond my physical presence.

If you call him the coach.

If you call him the head bandleader.

There's another spirit that's involved in my choices, and I'm comfortable not to feel any more than that.

There's the body that's makes this possible, and I'm the vehicle for those choices.

And I'm okay with that.

- Most fields jobs you have, you know, like 65-70, and you go, okay, that's it.

And you go sit on a boat, hang out.

Or if you don't have a boat, sit on the steps.

But music, especially guys that are good at it, you know, or have the love for it, they just don't stop.

I think Ron will do it, probably to the end.

I know I will.

[Stanley] Yeah, man, this is a dream come true, man.

- [Ron] We're gonna have it man.

- [Stanley] Yes - You know words like legend, icon, genius.

Sometimes those words get tossed around very loosely, but in the case of Ron Carter, I think it's appropriate.

- [Ron] What solo song are you going to play?

- [Stanley] Solo tune?

- [Ron] Yeah, just you and Russell.

- [Stanley] I might just play whatever comes up.

Okay, well then, but you gotta tell Russell, cause he's gonna come to you.

- [Russel] No, he's gonna play alone.

- [Stanley] I might just play alone.

- [Ron] Solo.

- [Stanley] Play alone.

[Ron] Right here, we'll say Stanley.

- [Stanley] I'll probably do the blues - [Ron] Doesn't matter.

I don't care what it is, surprise me.

- [Stanley] Yeah, okay.

- [Ron] Then I'll do a short one.

- [Stanley] Okay.

- [Ron] And we need one more song to close the set.

- [Stanley] What about "Eighty-One?"

- [Russell] "Eighty-One?"

I like that, I like that idea.

[Stanley] "Eighty-One" is cool, that would be, you know, a little funky.

- [Ron] Okay, so that's two sets.

- [Stanley] Yeah.

- [Ron] Take a look at it.

- [Stanley] The opening is at your discretion.

You don't have to play in time or anything just, oh, this whole piece is about expression.

- [Ron] Stanley, you told him don't play in time?

I've been trying to make him play in time for eight (expletive) years, man.

Why would you tell him that all of a sudden?

- [Stanley] Listen, here's your chance, finally.

- [Ron] You can (expletive) it up good and be happy.

- [Stanley] You can play free and (expletive).

It's your chance, man.

- [Russell] How did you meet Ron?

You were telling a story earlier about how you met Mr. Carter.

- Well, actually the Brazilian singer Flora Purim introduced me to Ron and she says, Ron, this is Stanley Clark.

He's the new one from Philadelphia.

Ron said, so?

(both laughing) I was like, oh God.

- [Ron] Three, four.

- Ron is prepared.

And he likes being prepared.

He desires to be prepared.

I mean, I've played in bands where the set was developed after the first tune.

I know you have too, right?

- A few of them, yeah.

- No, Ron has two sets developed already.

- [Ron] 28.

- [Stanley] Okay.

- [Ron] 28.

- [Stanley] Good.

- [Ron] Oh sorry, 25, bar 25, Stanley.

- [Stanley] 45.

Okay.

- [Ron] 2-5 - [Stanley] 25, okay.

Man, we actually, we look professional, right?

It's just great to be with him.

You know, even when he's being real serious.

There's some, there's comedy in that because he's there's no one like him.

- You guys gotta listen, you gotta trust the sound.

- [Stanley] Let's just start on that second chorus now.

- [Ron] The reason I said that is we got a lot of unison parts.

- [Stanley] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ron] And if we don't nail down the pitch, it's gonna sound really (expletive).

Fix it in the mix?

We are the mix.

This is it.

Okay, three, four.

- You know you can't BS the old man.

He's 80 years old, but he hears everything.

If you screwing up, he's gonna say something.

Medicine is not supposed to taste good, but it's good for what's ailing you.

And I've gotten a lot of medicine.

- The function of the bass is to bring rhythm and harmony together in a band.

It's a very provocative, very important, powerful position in a band.

- [Ron] That's the idea.

- Ron, he's our hero.

He's the reason why a lot of us got into this music in the first place.

- He's really truly like the grandmaster.

(funky jazz music) - They don't make guys like that anymore, you know?

- They don't make them make you no more either.

(audience applauding) - Grandmaster Ron Carter on the bass.

Bass, grandmaster.

Yes.

It's been a great week, thank you, Ron.

Incredible man.

I wrote it all down, brother.

I got it all down, Russell Malone, please.

- Stanley Clark.

(audience applauding and cheering) - Yes.

- The way the music comes together among people is, it's a magical thing.

It's a magical thing.

Like Ron and some of the bands he was in with Miles, with all these great musicians, they can get together and they can play this, all good.

But there's certain moments when bang!

Something begins happening that's that next level, that next level, you know, it's magic.

- Many times after the gig is over, everyone wants to hang out and celebrate, the project being done.

I'm never there in my head to do that, 'cause for me the project isn't really done.

Can we go home now ladies and gentlemen?

- Given this constant flow of expectation levels that I'm involved with being a pretty good player, I need to have a space where the music has stopped, like a museum by and large.

And for me, home is the best place to resolve some of these musical issues.

My home is filled with African American art, male and female artists, sculptors, painters, who have fought their ways through other things to present this.

And it's nice to come home and to be encased in an environment of like artists who make their expressions heard through a medium, other than spoken word.

- Well, I think one thing people don't understand about musicians in general, to us, we are still the same as we were 50 years ago, 40, 30.

In our minds, we're the same person.

Time is the only enemy, it keeps going by no matter what.

In our minds, we still have the same desires.

That's to keep pumping out that good music.

- [Woman] We've grown over 1500.

- [Ron] Okay.

- [Woman] Since we started doing the page.

For the Facebook Lives, look at it as a mini lesson, like a real life mini-lesson.

- Okay, what, am I talking to people then?

I'm not sure how that works.

- No, it's written, so it's like a very, it's a very short.

- Okay.

- [Aleksandra] One page thing along with a music example.

- [Ron] Okay, okay.

And when are we aiming to do that?

- [Aleksandra] I have to check with Steven and Penny, when they wanna start.

- Okay, let me know, right now, we probably can't do it the next one.

- [Aleksandra] No, no, no.

- [Ron] I'm trying to get through this next week with a lot of nerve.

My son passed away.

- [Aleksandra] Oh, I'm so sorry.

- [Ron] So Saturday we're having a funeral and- - [Aleksandra] When did this happen?

- [Ron] July, July 21.

- [Aleksandra] Oh, I'm so sorry, wow.

- [Ron] That's between me and you.

They don't need to know this until we get this done.

So if I seem short with you, it's not that, I'm just trying to get through this part of today without crashing, you know?

So I'm trying to get this.

- [Alexsandra] No, I completely understand.

I'm amazed that you're even doing this.

- [Ron] Got to do it.

Myles would not let me not do this.

I'm going to the back and talk to these guys.

Okay?

Come to the back when you're ready.

- My brother.

My dad compartmentalizes very, very well, because he has so many things that have to still get done.

In this instance, he was torn up.

That's your son, you know, he had to work.

My brother Myles passed that Saturday and my dad came from overseas to to help me, start getting stuff together.

Then he had to leave two days later to go back overseas.

- [Aleksandra] So we have 10 more minutes.

- [Ron] Okay, okay.

- He had to figure out how to grieve, when he could, on his own time, same way he was when my mom passed.

My mom passed that Friday and that Monday he was in a recording studio.

- [Woman] Okay, one minute to go.

- As parents, we're not supposed to outlive our kids.

My guess is that being able to play music and connect with other people was a way to help get through that period.

And I hope I will never have to go through the same thing, but if you know, for whatever reason, if I had to, I think I would keep playing also.

Music is that powerful.

- [cameraperson] Four, three, two, one.

- Okay.

So, ladies and germs, we have some questions to be asked and some answers to be found.

- Hi Ron, I was wondering if there is anything that can't be learned from transcribing solos slash walking.

- This question has come up.

- Maestro has a way of protecting himself.

You know, when Myles passed away, we were on tour.

None of the band members knew Myles had passed away.

He didn't share that with anyone.

- Ladies and germs, see you this time a month from now.

Thanks for your cards and letters and phone calls and stuff, and keep buying the records.

Thanks.

Have a good day.

- [Aleksandra] Okay, yeah, that was very smooth.

- [Ron] Thank you.

(all laughing) - The passings of any number of people in his life have been just as devastating, like my mom and Myles and you know, some of the friends that he's had, musicians and others whose names I won't mention have, torn him up, he's human.

Yeah, everybody sees this, but understand that there's this under all that.

- My goodness.

For the record of "Uptown Conversation," ultimately the design was to have a picture of my children.

When you opened it up, it was to be my sons Myles and Ron Jr., here in this picture, smiling at me.

Chuck Stewart, who was a great photographer, who passed away a few years ago, he was one of the early phenomenal Black photographers.

He knew how to photograph Black subjects.

There was not makeup, there wasn't a lot of special lighting.

He just knew how to catch the moment.

The boys are wearing cowboy boots and dashikis, and Afros.

It's one of the more adventuresome covers back in the day for a Black artist.

- We were in Austria, and we were about to play the club, and we did sound check.

And somebody came with that album, that specific album, "Uptown Conversation," with his two sons on the cover and they wanted him to sign it.

He just took it and looked at it for a while.

I guess he was reminiscing, you know, that moment, you know, but he really loved, he loves his sons very much.

Yeah.

- [Ron] Yeah.

- I can't go there right now.

His birthday was two days ago.

His birthday, his birth date, yeah.

Anyway, at some point I'll show you his works.

You see why he was, how good he was.

(reflective jazz music) - This is gonna be serious.

Yeah, I know that.

I know that.

I wish my mom was here.

She's in Brazil.

My mom introduced me to his playing.

You know, many years ago I was a kid.

And Ron, I remember reading his name on so many records.

And I said, man, this guy is really good, because he can play everything.

- All the notes you see in there, you can change anything if you want.

- [Ron] I trust your judgment.

- [Nanny] Yeah, exactly.

Like do anything.

- The way he plays is really the way I love to hear Brazilian music.

And I gotta tell you, so many other artists that he plays on the album, it always sounds just perfect, you know?

- You know, we have the same notes.

I'm just trying to find an order that makes his music.

What I think he's looking for outta this piece without me trying nine other choices means I struck the, I got a home run for the first hit.

My goal is to see how quickly I can find out what he wants, and not waste a lot of notes in the process.

Let's go to work.

- [Nanny] Maestro are we ready?

Here we go.

(singing in Portuguese) - Sorry.

- [Nanny] Is that right?

- [Chico] Yeah, I think... - [Nanny] I messed up.

- [Engineer] Pick it up on the rubato.

- [Nanny] One, two.

- [Ron] Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Stop.

- It's absolutely marvelous.

Marvelous.

Just the ending.

There's something there that happened.

Let's just figure out what happened.

Maybe it was at the ending.

- I think like many of his pains, he has kept it within himself.

There are times where you do hear hints of the struggles, You know and, and and he's always aware of his impact when he's playing anywhere.

- The music demands a certain attitude, and a certain input from me with my varied experiences, whatever they are that I can bring to this music.

On top of all of that, it's what they expect me to do.

Because I'm walking in that door with the reputation of being able to do that.

Well, I'm exhausted man.

(sighing) I'm blank.

I'm a blackboard that just got erased.

[Ron] Ahh.

- [Nanny] Maestro, I have idea for you.

- [Ron] I need it.

- [Nanny] Don't play now on the intro.

Start to play on the bossa nova feel.

(singing in Portuguese) Beautiful, that's it.

- [Ron] Done.

- [Nanny] Yes.

- [Engineer] Great - [Nanny] Beautiful.

- [Engineer] We definitely got it.

- Part of life is death.

And it's often, very sudden.

You want them to have, the best circumstances possible if they're going, but it's not always like that.

Sometimes it's sudden.

And, I'm a Buddhist I've been practicing, actually this in December will be my 50th year.

One thing we believe in is that life is eternal.

This life is a chapter in a, in an eternal book, if you wanna look at at it that way.

And so the idea of missing someone, yes, but as long as my heart is beating, as long as I'm alive, I'm gonna use that life for something.

I feel like Ron would give the same answer, because he's lived a life of giving.

And I don't think that's gonna change.

(classical and jazz bass music) - I expect me to do things really quickly.

I think I'm experienced enough, old enough, all those things.

But somehow when I hear a record played back, I say, man, I missed that.

I'm looking for fewer of those moments.

And the other thing I may be interested in getting better at is being a little more patient with myself, and let it go.

I'm just learning how to do that.

That's really hard for me.

That's tough, man.

(class applauding) My sons went to school here a long time ago at the old building.

Ron Carter, Jr. and Myles.

They had a good time here.

I spent maybe five visits to the principal's office 'cause one of 'em got outta the line again.

Yeah.

It's nice to see you here, and it's nice to see you studying some music.

One last question.

Thank you.

Yes.

- [Ron] No.

No, absolutely not.

No.

If I accept that view, I wouldn't be here.

Let me give a good example.

My first gig in New York as a jazz player, was with Chico Hamilton.

And my first trip was with this package show that drove down toward Washington DC, south.

The first stop was at the Howard Johnson's motel.

And we are waiting on the bus to eat, and we're still waiting and we're waiting and we're waiting.

The guy says, well, you know, we can't go in the front door, we're gonna go on the back.

I said, yeah, I know this song but I hate these (expletive) lyrics, you know?

But no one's gonna tell me what I cannot do.

They may tell me I can't work there.

They may tell me I can't go in that front door.

But they're not telling me what I can't do.

No.

Now you might think that this brief biographical background has nothing to do with playing jazz.

It has nothing with music, it has to do with life.

And I like to think that my performance of the instrument, and my playing with other people, part of that contribution to their music is my experiences.

And I'd like to think that part of what I've learned, is that everybody's equal, until they play the wrong changes, and then they're not so equal.

My job is to make that wrong stuff sound great.

And I'm not too shabby at that.

Everybody say, amen.

(laughing) - [All] Amen.

- [Crew] We might need to re-angle the mic (indistinct).

- So if you just do like this for me, in that accent, one, two, three, four, one, two, three.

- [Jon] Yeah.

- [Ron] Three, four.

Keep playing.

Keep playing.

- [Jon] Yeah, right.

- [Ron] You're doing this now.

- [Jon] Yes.

[Ron] I'm hearing this.

- [Jon] Yep.

- [Ron] Or I'm hearing this.

To make that work, I have to play with the downbeat so clear that if I don't do it, your ear does like this, and that's what's hard to do.

- [Jon] Very hard to do.

So the choices you make in your bass notes are emotional choices, just as much as they're intellectual choices.

- [Ron] Yes, That's correct.

But I'm starting to keep track of, of how many chances I have to do that.

(Jon sighs) And chances mean record dates and gigs, those kind of chances.

- [Jon] Yes.

- [Ron] And ultimately, I'm comfortable with my choice 'cause I'm guessing I'm gonna be right.

- [Jon] Right.

- [Ron] Do you know the word fearless?

I am.

(laughing) - [Jon] Yeah.

Yes.

- [Ron] I'm gonna make it work, man.

(tentative piano music) - [News Reporter] A Washington state resident fell ill after returning from Wuhan, China.

- [News Reporter] Health officials here in New York have been testing for suspected cases of coronavirus.

The governor confirming that coronavirus has arrived here in Manhattan.

- [News Reporter] The highest fatality rate is for those aged 80 and over.

- [News Reporter] Here in New York City, a state of emergency declared as well.

Broadway dark, concert halls and museums set to close.

- [Ron] Tell me where it is again, Peter.

- [Director] You wanna bring the camera?

On this side, one pointing to here, there.

- [Director] Yep, turn the camera.

- [Ron] Here?

- [Director] That's it, push that red button.

And then if you look at the screen.

- [Ron] It says record.

- [Director] That's it.

- [Ron] Now what?

Be right back.

Okay, I'm back.

Well, I've tried to get over the fact that I have two Thursdays every week.

You know, either that or two Wednesdays.

I get up in the morning, I have a plan.

I try to have a plan for the day.

I looked around, it was already 6:30 p.m.

I talked to one of my friends the other day and our communal joke is how much we practice a day now.

And I'm up to 10 minutes a day.

The reason why we practice, as long as you're not working or playing anywhere, for me, it doesn't exist.

And one way to make this practice time is by getting involved in the social media.

Hi, this is Ron Carter.

I'm in New York like you, stuck in my house.

And this little memo here is my verbal musical memo for a day coming up, February 14th.

I'm wearing my February 14th shirt.

If you really only be a good jazz player, don't make the bass player mad at you.

Otherwise you will be chum for this guy.

This is my pet.

I have a small leash.

- Why wouldn't he embrace the social media platform to stay connected to the audience that he may not otherwise have access to?

- Thank you, Herbie, how are you?

- Doing great, Ron.

How are you?

- So, I just thought it was very cool.

It was like, damn Dad, you better than me on that.

You know which he is, you know, I'm still trying to, you see, I got a new phone.

I can't figure out how to work it yet.

- How you doing, man?

You look good, Ron.

- You know, I had my second shot today man and I feel great.

- That's good, 'cause sometimes people get affected by the second shot.

- What?

- They get affected by the second shot.

- What?

(laughing) - Okay, my questions are not complicated, and I think these are the kind of questions you get from the bass player.

This big intermission we have as I call it, the pandemic stuff, I did a little podcast and I asked guys several questions about coming back to the scene, you know?

- Yes, yes.

- And I asked them, what are you gonna do when you go back to the bandstand after two years off?

- [Jon] Right.

Okay, the first question is, what is the first thing you'll do, what's the first thing you're gonna do on this first gig?

What are you going do on that first night?

- Oh, at the first gig after this?

- Yeah.

- I will have hoped to have been practicing enough so that when I do go back to work, I can represent who I am.

- What's the first sound that I hear?

And how can I contribute over the next two hours?

- If we just play a blues and I'll just sit there and cry.

(laughing) - And then I'm gonna say, thank you.

- Yep.

- You know, 'cause we're back.

- Yeah.

And my answer to me was I'll play the cello just to have people know that I'm back.

- Mm, I like that.

- I think it's important as a chapter heading at one of my books of me.

Thank you.

- Yeah, hey thank you.

And we don't have to fly any place to see each other.

- Well, I'm flying to the bathroom shortly, but it's okay.

(both laughing) (bass note rings out) - What inspires you to strive to get better, and be the best that you can be?

- Probably watching my father raise the eight kids during some difficult racial times in Detroit, in the early 30's and 40's.

He was born in 1910.

And at 18, when he was ready to go to college, the colleges were not ready to accept African American males doing anything but sweeping the floor occasionally.

But I watched him raise a family of six girls and two boys and a wife.

I watched him build a house.

I watched him make sure that the kids had something to eat every meal, every day.

I watched him provide clothes.

I watched him provide style.

I watched him provide humanity.

That started me wanting to be the best I can be and not accepting anything less from me.

(sentimental string music) You know, when I pick up a record, I'm surprised how many of those musicians are no longer with us, because I don't often do that.

I don't often look through my recordings and when I do, I'm sorry I did, 'cause I see that those guys who I've enjoyed playing with, I can't play with 'em again.

All the Miles and all the Art Farmers and all the Chet Bakers.

I mean I've had great times playing with those guys, man, and listening to them play.

But they, as I say, they left the concert.

- There's so many of my favorites who have just, even in these recent years, and the COVID, we've lost so many.

- [Ron] Yeah, man.

- [Jon] It's been a lot.

How have you been dealing with that?

- My friends who can't hear this in real life, real time, to be on the verge of saying, I should have said more to him or I should have hugged him longer, or I should have, I wish I could have had another chance to, I don't have that chance.

My students who have now time on their hands, so to speak.

- [Jon] Yeah.

- [Ron] Have recommended that I go on YouTube and listen to this track or that track, or that track 'cause YouTube has a history of- - [Jon] Oh yeah, at the touch of a button.

- [Ron] Yeah, and I realize that these records, I'm the only survivor left.

- [Jon] Yeah.

- [Ron] And it kind of stops me in my tracks.

I played the other day, Miles' "Kind of Blue."

- [Jon] Yes.

- [Ron] You know, and Jimmy Cobb left the concert.

He was the last member of that group.

I just can't believe that my chances of playing with him in this life are not available to me.

So I gotta find somewhere else to put that energy to someone else.

Today, it's your a chance to get it.

- Yes.

(upbeat classical music) - [News Reporter] We have some big breaking news for COVID 19.

- [News Reporter] We may be turning a corner.

New York City, the country's epicenter of the outbreak, announced the first steps for reopening.

- Now that we're opening up, I'm putting together a program.

I just wanna have people when they walk in and sit down to this ensemble to expect some serious music.

All I gotta do is find the corresponding music that matches my plan of the program.

To have just about two years off, it's forced us to do a different kind of retrospective in our heads.

And I've kind of been kind of amazed at my history.

- How do you deconstruct, 'cause I've heard your recordings of the Brandenburg Concertos where you were playing and making choices.

- [Ron] Yes.

- [Jon] Underneath the composition.

- [Ron] Yes.

- [Jon] That is an incredible manifestation of what we're talking about.

- So one of the things I had at Eastman was transcribing Bach chorales.

- Oh yeah.

- The more I understood harmony and the importance of the Bach chorale basslines.

I think, I didn't understand that part of the instrument until I got much older.

I had done a lot more different gigs for a long period of time.

I had done a lot more different gigs I wasn't using the piece to thumb my nose at the classical community and say, see what you're missing.

If Bach were alive, he would appreciate it.

He would say, how do you do that?

(laughing) Take a lesson, yeah.

And I know the classical people say, Well man, how can you dare say that?

Well until those guys tell me they talked to Bach and that's what he wouldn't say, I'm good with that point of view.

- I came to see the most important bassist in the history of jazz, Mr. Ron Carter himself, yeah.

And the fact that he's playing here tonight is just a sign that jazz is alive and breathing.

Yeah, he's a hero to me.

- My first gig in New York, since boy, March, 2020, I can't believe that we haven't done that yet.

Feels like I'm a year late.

(laughing) Thank you.

(audience applauding) I told my friends when we get to bandstand, we're all going to embrace.

And the last one to cry gets paid cash.

(laughing) I have a program here.

First gig in 18 months as a group.

Got a sign to remind the band who's working tonight.

Now that the intermission, I call it, is over, it's just a matter of me trying to maintain a certain level of my attitude and my skill level so it doesn't take that long to get back some chops.

So, I went to grocery store and bought some extra chops.

They had 'em on sale and hopefully I won't need 'em for a while.

I won't need 'em for a while.

- After 16 Months, I didn't know how I was gonna react when I came here tonight.

And when I came up and I looked at the entrance, I felt like a tourist.

I was like, wow.

The Blue Note.

Ron Carter!

It's been an incredible hard time for all of us, but for these musicians not being able to make a living.

Forgive me for this.

(audience applauding and cheering) Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Jazz Journalists Association, I would like to present Mr. Carter with a lifetime achievement award.

(audience applauding) - It's nice to know that we have your support to come out on this kind of night in the difficult times.

I would like to be sitting where you are, so I could watch these guys enjoy themselves, as I know that we are.

Thank you for being here.

(audience applauding) This next song was one of my favorite songs.

I think I haven't play the song this slow since March of 2020.

(sentimental jazz music) - What are the keys to success as a musician?

- Well, I think success involves more than me.

I'm sure that I could have been successful a lot sooner and maybe a lot longer.

I think success is a pretty difficult word to really define, 'cause it means different things to different people.

Does it mean that you work all the time, is that successful?

Does it mean that you walk onto a street and everybody knows who you are without your instrument?

Does it mean you get paid on time?

Being able to fill a house with my name being the band leader?

Call three or four guys and say, hey now, I got this gig, can you make it?

They all say yes, 'cause I called?

Is success going into the bank and they know you're not gonna rob them?

I mean, what is success?

I don't know.

I'm not sure how I would determine success 'cause I'm still trying.

I haven't gotten to the place where I necessarily see me as being successful, given all those possible definitions.

Having said that, Jon, I like where I'm going.

My last efforts have been honest.

I have meant every note I played.

I apologize occasionally for not the best choice, but I tell them, I got one more chorus, brother man, it's coming.

And I think every chance I get to play the bass, I find a new order of notes I didn't find last week.

For me, that's successful.

To my success.

Thank you.

- Love you, Ron.

- Love you.

Thanks guys.

The car's still going and there's still gas in the tank, so I don't want you to feel that this journey is starting to see the checkered flag.

We're not nearing the finish line by a long shot.

(audience applauding and cheering) (cello music) (upbeat jazz music)