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	Ron Carter
	Photo by Phil Farnsworth

With more than 2,500 albums to his credit, the 68-year-old Carter has recorded with Bill Evans, Gil Evans, Paul Simon, Dexter Gordon, Billy Joel, B.B. King, the Kronos Quartet, Wes Montgomery, Aretha Franklin, and countless others. Having toured extensively with Jaki Bayard, Eric Dolphy, and Cannonball Adderley in the early 1960s, Carter joined Miles Davis's "classic" quintet, where he, Herbie Hancock, and Tony Williams anchored the band's legendary rhythm section from 1963 to 1968. Carter is nearly as accomplished in classical music as jazz, and has performed with symphony orchestras all over the world.

Carter joins an notable list of Warrick L. Carter lecturers from previous years that includes Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson; educator and sociologist Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot; violinist Regina Carter; vibraphonist Stefon Harris; Scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; and pianist/vocalist Patrice Rushen.

About Ron Carter

Carter has been named Outstanding Bassist of the Decade by the Detroit News, Jazz Bassist of the Year by Down Beat magazine, and Most Valuable Player by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In 1993 he earned a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Group with the Miles Davis Tribute Band, and another Grammy in 1998 for "Call Sheet Blues," an instrumental composition from the film 'Round Midnight. Carter also composed music for the films, A Gathering of Old Men, The Passion of Beatrice, and Blind Faith.

Carter began playing cello at 10. But when his family moved from Ferndale, MI, to Detroit, he ran into problems with racial stereotypes regarding the cello and switched to bass. In 1959, Carter earned a bachelor of music degree from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music and in 1961, a master's degree in double bass from the Manhattan School of Music. He has also received two honorary doctorates—from the New England Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music—and was the 2002 recipient of the Eastman School's prestigious Hutchinson Award. Carter has lectured, conducted, and performed at clinics and master classes, instructing jazz ensembles and teaching the business of music at numerous universities. He was artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Studies while it was located in Boston, and after 18 years on the faculty of the Music Department of the City College of New York, Carter is now a distinguished professor emeritus. As a performer, he remains as active as ever.

Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over half a century, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and non-performance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing 70-plus countries, and a music industry "who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today — and tomorrow.

For more information, please contact:

Nick Balkin
Office of Public Information
Berklee College of Music
617-747-2247
nbalkin@berklee.edu