"I'm educating myself as I go along and learning more about myself and then putting my voice to the test on top of that, challenging it, making sure that it stays on top and does not drop. So I'm challenging the whole picture and taking what I call a risk."
Betty Carter
1980-1998
With the 80's came allot of new changes and one of them was Betty Carter.
Her American, European and South American tours were selling out and Bet Car records was continuing to release albums such as:
She would receive a one of a kind review by the New York Times that same year for her performance on the opening night of the Classical Jazz series at the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.
"Ms. Carter, who led a youthful trio that included Winard Harper, playing drums; Michael Bowie, playing bass, and Steve Scott, pianist, is one of a very few jazz vocalists who can be counted on to approach the familiar from a totally unexpected,
sometimes revelatory point of view. In Monday evening's program, she rethought Rodgers & Hart's ''Where or When,'' poring over the song in a deep, golden voice that bent, stretched and twisted it into an open-ended meditation on memory and feeling. ''Blue Moon'' became a fluttery, accelerated duet for voice and standup bass in which..
the words bled rhythmic abstractions that were then turned back into words. ''The Good Life'' played off three complementary musical ideas: an airy bossa nova pulse, a heavier non-Brazilian counter rhythm,
and a brooding free-form vocal that shifted in mood between pleasure and sadness, as the singer explored multi-faceted timbres and micro-tonal variations."
New York Times
August 5th 1987
In 1988 Betty was approached by Verve. Taking notice of her talents Verve and Bet Car came to an agreement and Verve immediately set about the re-releasing of the majority of her old material. A time span that stretched back to 1955.
Also in 1988, she burst back on to the popular jazz scene with the album that earned her a Grammy award.
In an interview with columnist James Jones IV she was asked about the difference between this album under the Verve label and the ones done under her own Bet-Car label. Betty's response was not only candid and to the point but a reflection on the politics of Jazz and the the music industry.
"I do believe the albums I did on my own label were just as qualified as this one that won a Grammy. But because they were on Bet-Car and not on a major label, they didn't have a chance. But if this Grammy has done anything, it's shown young musicians to just hang in there and deal with what you love to do; eventually it will be rewarded. You don't have to compromise. I couldn't compromise." Betty Carter
Betty was featured on Sesame Street and later on an episode of the Bill Cosby Show! In 1989 she did a TV Commercial for Coca Cola Classic with Bill Cosby as well. (See Pod Cast to view.)
The 1990s would show a new side of Betty Carter, a more mature sound not reined in by any means. A softer more confident sound: Betty the Balladeer.
She would receive 2 Grammy Nominations for her 1990 release..
Betty continued on her quest for young new talent and found young, up and coming musicians to feature on most of her albums.
In 1993 she founded the Jazz Ahead program which was devoted to the development of new Jazz artists and budding Jazz prodigies. A program that brought young, unknown Jazz musicians to New York for debut.
Originaly hosted at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, this was one of Betty's proudest achievements. Seen here in this profile done by CBS Sunday Morning, Betty speaks about the Jazz Ahead program and festival.
Now hosted at The Kennedy Center, it stands as a lasting testiment to both Betty and her dreams.
In 1993 she returned to the recording studio and produced what is considered by many to be her finest album since The Audience:
That same year she was featured as a major headliner at Verve's 50th Anniversary celebration at Carnegie Hall.
At the 1997 White House ceremony President Clinton presented Ms. Carter with the National Medal of Arts, the President said, "Hearing her sing 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' makes you want to curl up in front of the fire, even in summertime."
Over the years Betty Carter has received literally thousands of honors and awards. But the National Medal of the Arts was by far the most cherished.
Betty Carter made sure that every show was unique and you could never see the same show twice.
There are many Artists who lived and died on their routine. They would do tune A and follow it with tune B always in the same key just as before but Betty never settled for formula.
"People work hard and they pay a lot to come see you. Many of them may never see or hear you live again. You can't go onstage and BS them. Jazz just doesn't work like that. It's about taking chances. You have to hit 'em heavy straight from the start. That's why no body ever knew which tune I would call, even my musicians. They just had to hold their breath and be ready so they had to study everything."
Betty Carter
Continuing to teach she remained active both by touring the United States, Europe as well as South America and seeking out young talent until she was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in the summer of 1998. On September 26, 1998 Betty Carter succumbed to her illness.
Editor's Note: Being both her son and her road manager in the mid 1990s I've seen Betty Carter in so many different lights. As a mother and then a performer followed by all those shades in-between. From starting her own Recording Company to shaking hands and receiving honors from the president. Yet in all that time my relationship with her only spans a third of her life. Out of all the articles I've read and all the images I've gone through I'd like to provide you with one last quote from Betty Carter. An insight that may provide you with a glimpse of the odds she was up against when it came to the preservation of the music she fought so hard to stay pure to. The music she loved. These excerpts where taken from an interview conducted over the phone by Seth Rogovoy for the Berkshire Eagle on Nov 14 1997.
"Jazz is not a nice word today," said Carter -- who performs with her trio tonight in Chapin Hall at Williams College at 8 -- in a recent phone interview from her home in Brooklyn.
"Because jazz doesn't make money quickly, a lot of people in power are not encouraging young people to really use the word `jazz,'" said Carter, who was awarded an honorary degree at Williams last June.
"For a person who's been out here as long as I have, they're pretty much sick of me because I just won't go away," said the always outspoken Carter. "I'm not going away, see, that's what probably bothers a lot of people. "
"There's a lot of young singers who are coming up, and [record executives] hope that they will replace the idea of jazz being what I have in mind with what THEY have in mind. But until I go away, that's not going to happen, because as long as I'm around, I may be a thorn in some of the business peoples' sides who want to interpret the music another way for them to make money more quickly."
"They discourage these young girls, young singers, from dealing with this music called jazz -- don't improvise, sing it straight, or sing it like somebody else has done it, or be like someone else. We have a lot of African-American singers who sing the gospel, who come directly out of a church, and they have these big, wonderful voices, and they know how to program these young ladies, and they tell them they're going to make a whole lot of money if they sing this way instead of that way."
"In fact, the young singers, most of them don't even know what my singing is like. They don't have any idea what jazz is. Until they maybe hear me one day and then they're surprised. But it's too late for them then, they can't just change automatically and say I'm going to try to be like that."
Betty Carter
I think creating this web site for you has been the most therapeutic session of all. Over the next few years to come you'll find new featured aspects from her life as I find them and make them available. Hopefully you will find them insightful. If you have pictures a comment a suggestion a correction or even a Betty Carter story to tell, feel free to send us an email.
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