Ron Carter Will Return to Birdland Jazz Club for Annual Residency

NEA Jazz Master and bass virtuoso Ron Carter will return to Birdland Jazz Club, the Jazz Corner of the World, this October for his popular annual residency. This month-long residency will kick off on Wednesday, October 7 and run through October 31, and will comprise 29 performances over four weeks.

Renowned for his unmatched talent, Ron Carter stands as one of jazz's most inventive and prolific bassists. With a staggering discography boasting over 2,000 albums, Carter is certified as the most recorded bass player in the history of recorded music. Honored with the prestigious 1998 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship, Carter's collaborative footprint spans an astonishing spectrum of musical genres, with performances and recordings alongside an eclectic array of artists.

The first week, October 7-10, spotlights Ron Carter's Jazz Quartet. The lineup finds Carter alongside Grammy nominated pianist Donald Vega, master saxophonist Jimmy Greene, and legendary drummer Payton Crossley.

During the second week, October 14-17, Carter joins forces with acclaimed guitarist and composer Bill Frisell. This isn't their first musical meeting, as the duo previously collaborated on the acclaimed 2006 trio album Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian, and their musical connection runs deep, with Frisell having composed pieces inspired by Carter, including the aptly named 'Ron Carter' and 'Throughout, Ron Carter.' Their shared commitment to musical exploration and interplay promises an evening of sublime jazz artistry.

Week three, October 21-24, will feature the Great Big Band. The large ensemble, which The New Yorker said “swings mightily”, is always a major highlight of the Birdland residency. Like previous years, the program will likely pull from Carter's previously released big band albums including Ron Carter's Big Band (Sunnyside, 2011), Ron Carter and the WDR Big Band's My Personal Songbook (In+Out Records, 2014), and the GRAMMY nominated Remembering Bob Freedman (2021) by Ron Carter & The Jazzaar Festival Big Band.

Carter's acclaimed Foursight Quartet takes the stage during the closing week of the residency, October 28-31. Featuring an outstanding lineup of contemporary jazz luminaries including Jimmy Greene on saxophone, Renee Rosnes on piano, and Payton Crossley on drums. Based in Connecticut, Jimmy Greene stands as one of his generation's most admired saxophonists, with an extensive catalog of recordings and a rich history as a sideman for luminaries such as Horace Silver and Freddie Hubbard. Similarly, Vancouver-born pianist Renee Rosnes has forged an illustrious career marked by her collaborations with jazz legends like Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter. Her tenure with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra, the SFJAZZ Collective and her groundbreaking group Artemis have solidified her place in the jazz pantheon. Drummer Payton Crossley, who entered the jazz scene as a young prodigy, trained under drum great Alan Dawson, before joining the revered pianist Ahmad Jamal. This great quartet has drawn universal praise.