Died On This Date (July 12, 2003) Benny Carter / Jazz Great
themusicsover Benny Carter
August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003
Benny Carter was a premier jazz horn player for over 60 years. He was loved for his abilities on the saxophone, clarinet, and trumpet. Throughout his career, he’s won numerous awards including Grammys and the National Medal of Arts. Carter made his first recordings in 1928 and never looked back. Over the years he’s played with the biggest names in jazz including Fletcher Henderson, Django Reinhardt and Coleman Hawkins. As an arranger, he’s worked with Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington and many more. Remarkably, Carter continued working until he retired at the ago of 90. He passed away five years later.
What You Should Own
Jelly Roll Morton is considered Jazz’s first great composer and by at least himself, the inventor of jazz. Regardless, his contribution to the form cannot be denied. Starting out in New Orleans, reportedly playing the local bordellos as a teenager, Morton soon hit the road landing in Los Angeles, Chicago and finally New York where his reputation as a braggart kept him from landing the sidemen he wanted, adversely effecting his career. He did make some outstanding recordings though, but he never was able to get the acclaim he deserved until after his death, again, likely due to his reputation. Jelly Roll Morton died as a result of ongoing asthma troubles at just 50. His place in American music was finally recognized in the coming years when New Orleans jazz went through a revival.
David Fanshawe was a revered English ethnomusicologist and sometime composer who created music for television shows and more. After high school, he began to study music in college while working as a film editor and traveling the world during holidays. While on these excursions, many times hitchhiking, Fanshawe took along a tape recorder to capture the traditional folk songs of the people he encountered along the way. This continued, but much more extensively upon his graduation. Meanwhile, Fanshawe was also composing music, much of it for English television and film scores. Many of his pieces incorporated the field music he recorded during his travels. Samples of these recordings can also be heard in such American films as Gangs Of New York and How To Make an American Quilt. In all, Fanshawe’s collection grew to over 2000 hours of music and over 6000 photographs. David Fanshawe was 67 when he died of a stroke on July 5, 2010.
Johnny Mercer was a popular songwriter whose many songs made stars out of their singers during the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. He gave us such standards as “Days Of Wine And Roses,” “P.S. I Love You,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “Day In, Day Out,” and “Hooray For Hollywood” to name just a few. Mercer moved to Hollywood in 1935 and became one if the most in-demand songwriters in film. In 1942 he along with Buddy DeSylva and Glen Wallichs started Capitol Records where I used to work. In 1975, Mercer learned he had an inoperable brain tumor which lead to his death on June 25, 1976.