Showtimes are at 7:30p & 9:30p for this performance. Doors open at 5pm for dinner. Seating begins at 6pm for “Dinner & a Show”. The second show starts seating at 9pm.
Program to include the music of Django Reinhardt, lots of your favorite standards, and lots of your favorite Christmas tunes. An effusive, dynamically gifted jazz saxophonist, James Carter caused a critical uproar when he appeared on the New York jazz scene, having moved from his native Detroit in the early ’90s. Carter’s debut recording, JC on the Set, issued in Japan when he was only 23 and in the States a year later in 1993, was universally acclaimed as the finest debut by a saxophonist in decades. He has continued to build upon these early accolades, exploring the music of Django Reinhardt on 2000’s Chasin’ the Gypsy, displaying his classical skills on 2011’s Caribbean Rhapsody, and working with his soulful organ trio on 2019’s Live from Newport Jazz.
Born in 1969 in Detroit, Carter began playing at age 11 and studied early on with trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. A prodigy, he progressed quickly and by 1986 at age 17 joined Wynton Marsalis on tour. Two years later, he became a member of Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy upon relocating to New York. Carter issued no less than six recordings under his own name between 1993 and 2000, all of them with different focuses, from a set of standards, Conversin’ with the Elders in 1995, to an electric funk record, Layin’ in the Cut, to a simultaneously released set in tribute to Django Reinhardt, Chasin the Gypsy. Three years later, he honored the legendary Billie Holiday with Gardenias for Lady Day.
Moving from Columbia to Warner Bros., Carter’s Live at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge followed in spring 2004. Another live session, Out of Nowhere, was released in 2005 on the independent label Half Note. There were also sessions and live dates with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Cyrus Chestnut, Rodney Whitaker, Frank Lowe, the late Julius Hemphill, pop-jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Tough Young Tenors, and the Charles Mingus Big Band. In 2008, he released Present Tense on Universal Jazz. Carter followed that up a year later with the live album Heaven on Earth, featuring a jazz supergroup including, among others, organist John Medeski and bassist Christian McBride.
In 2011, Carter delivered Caribbean Rhapsody, his collaboration with classical composer Roberto Sierra featuring the piece “Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra.” Honing his craft to a jaw-dropping technical level, Carter is the master of a family of saxophones, flute and clarinet. His is a powerhouse virtuosity likened by composer Roberto Sierra to the great Paganini. It was in fact this astounding instrumental flexibility, coupled with an eclectic body of recordings that inspired the Spanish maestro to write the celebrated Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra for the 31-year-old. Written expressly for Carter and mixing Jazz, Latin and classical elements, the work showcases the multi-instrumentalist’s outstanding technical virtuosity whilst allowing him “the freedom to improvise.”
The four-movement piece sees Carter take center stage throughout, executing swift instrument transitions between Tenor and Soprano and employing a full gamut of musical expression, from furiously-fast Coltrane like tempo to a quiet ballad.
A concert album, Live from Newport Jazz, recorded with his organ trio at the long-running festival, arrived in 2019, reaching the top 10 of Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. More eclectic projects followed, including 2022’s D(IVO), the debut album from Carter’s adventurous saxophone quartet with Tim Berne, Tony Malaby, and Ivo Perelman. He also joined Perelman for 2022’s Reed Rapture in Brooklyn. The following year, he showcased his outsized baritone saxophone skills on the solo recording Un (Unaccompanied Baritone Saxophone).
Early 2023 brought Carter to the NYC Blue Note as special guest with DJ Logic and with Galactic. His capacious ability to cross boundaries, mesh genres, and deliver it all with mindboggling energy, clarity and that “special something” that brings audiences to their feet clamoring for more.
2023 also saw James Carter bring his Quintet to Birdland in the debut presentation of Lookin’ at Lock: The Music of Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, featuring Satish Robertson on trumpet, Gerard Gibbs on piano, Hilliard Greene on bass, and Kahlil Kwame Bell on drums. Carter brings his Quintet to the Syracuse Jazz Festival on 29 June 2024 and returns to Birdland 13-17 August 2024.