regarded as an act which was hard to follow as she would create so much energy and excitement among the audience it was a hard plateau for others following her on stage to reach.
Through her company, Bet Car Records, she would produce many of her best works which include The Betty Carter Album, Betty Carter (later re released as At the Village Vanguard), Now It's My Turn, and I Didn't Know What Time it Was - culminating in the December 1979 recordings that became The Audience with Betty Carter, "Considered by some to be the finest vocal jazz recording ever made."
Verve Music Group
And she backed up those claims with her live performance on Saturday Night Live during its first season in 1976 and at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1977 and 1978. These performances helped Betty solidify her place in the world of Jazz as both a major vocal talent and a discoverer of new Jazz talent which included such names as John Hicks, Curtis Lundy, Mulgrew Miller, Cyrus Chestnut, Dave Holland, Stephen Scott, Kenny Washington, Benny Green and more.
While on tour in the United States, Europe and South America she would seek out and listen to many others who she would invite to sit in practice sessions and during concerts.
Betty had finally found her calling as she began to focus her energies not only on her performance but on the future of Jazz as well. The 70's had come to an end and the 80s was now just over the horizon.
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