Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians
Carter, Daniel (Daniel Reeves Carter)
Carter, Daniel (Daniel Reeves Carter); alto and tenor saxophones, flute, trumpet, clarinet, also drums and piano; b. December 28, 1945; Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania.
His parents were musical. Although he wanted a saxophone, only a C-melody saxophone was avilable so he began on clarinet. He attended Wesleyan University as a physics major, but after two years he joined the army and was stationed in Italy, where he married. At the end of his service he and his family moved to New York.
Carter began playing and recording in New York in 1970 or 1971 with Jemeel Moondoc, William Parker, Gunter Hampel, Bob Moses, and others. As an avant-garde musician, he had difficulty finding steady gigs and began performing solo as a street musician around 1978. In 1981, he became part of Other Dimensions in Music, a quartet with Roy Campbell on trumpet, William Parker on bass, and Rashid Bakr on drums. During the 1980s, Carter also played with punk rock groups.
In the 1990s he continued to play with Other Dimensions In Music and began performing with another quartet called Test, featuring saxophonist Sabir Mateen, bassist Matthew Heyner, and drummer Tom Bruno. Test still frequently performs on subway platforms as part of the city's Music Under New York program. Carter also recorded with experimental rock songwriter David Grubbs and electronic musicians Spring Heel Jack and DJ Logic.
Daniel Carter has also performed on occasion with Sun Ra, Billy Bang, Matthew Shipp, Medeski, Martin, & Wood, Sam Rivers, Sunny Murray, Hamiet Bluiett, Cecil Taylor, the Merce Cunningham dancers, Butch Morris, and others. He is also currently engaged in three ongoing works-in-progress:
- an orchestral work
- visual art: mostly ball-point pen drawings
- a novel
Recordings:
As leader: 2002 Language
2002 Real Time Messengers
2002 Principle Hope
2003 Luminescence
As Sideperson or Coleader:>
Antipop Consortium/Matthew (2003)
Guillermo E. Brown Soul at the Hands of the Machine (2002) Marlon Cherry Elsewhere (2001)
DJ Logic Project Logic (1999)
DJ Spooky Optometry (2002)
DJ Wally Nothing Stays the Same (2003)
Steve Dalachinsky Incomplete Directions (1999)
El-P/Blue Series Continuum High Water (2004)
Zusaan Kali Fasteau Sensual Hearing (1997)
David Grubbs Spectrum Between (2000)
Gunter Hampel & His... Angel (1972)
Spring Heel Jack: Masses (2001)
Federico Ughi/Daniel Carter Astonishment
2002 Matthew Shipp's Nu Bop
2002 The Transcendentalists - Vision
2001 The Music Ensemble
2001 William Parker Trio - Painter's Spring
2000 Other Dimensions In Music - Time Is Of The Essence Is Beyond Time
1999 Yo La Tengo - Now 2000/Excalibur 2001
1999 TEST - Test
1999 LIVE/TEST
1999 Test
1999 Test Ahead!
1998 Matthew Shipp Horn Quartet
1998 One World Ensemble - Breathing Together
1998 Other Dimensions In Music - Now!
Tenor Rising Drums Expanding (1998; a picture LP)
1990 Other Dimensions In Music
Bibliography:
Excerpts of Carter's novel in progress have appeared in the periodicals Wandering Archive One, The Tinker (arts and literature magazine), 50 Miles Of Elbow Room #1, and in a book called Dyed-in-the-Wool, edited by E.McGuffey.
Phil Freeman, 'New York Is Now!' (2001, book); one chapter online at http://www.furious.com/perfect/danielcarter.html
David Such, Avant-Garde Jazz Musicians (book, 1993)
Marc Chaloin: Daniel Carter, in: ImproJazz, #54 (Apr.1999); part 2, in: ImproJazz, #56 (Jun.1999)<>Ed Hazell: Underground Testing, in: Jazziz, 16/7 (Jul.1999)
Scott Hreha: TEST - Mass Transit Appeal, in: Signal to Noise, #13 (Sep/Oct.1999)
Websites:
allaboutjazz.com/articles/a0999_02.htm
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/iviews/dcarter.htm
intertextnet by Daniel Carter: http://www.inch.com/~abz/
http://www.aumfidelity.com/carter.html
Contact information:
Daniel Carter
218 Centre Street, 4th Fl.
New York, New York 10013
Tel: 212-431-9528
email: abz@inch.com
