WKCR is pleased to announce our annual birthday celebration for the most recorded jazz bassist of all time, Ron Carter, broadcast on FM and HD radio and online 24 hours straight from 12:00 am to midnight on May 5th, 2025. This will include an exclusive broadcast from 8-10 pm, featuring interviews and a performance from Carter’s Foursight Quartet, live at the Blue Note.
One of the most original and prolific figures in modern jazz, Ron Carter is a towering presence whose refined sound, harmonic depth, and unmatched versatility have shaped the genre for over six decades. Born in Ferndale, Michigan, in 1937, Carter first studied cello before switching to bass at Cass Technical High School in Detroit. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music and a Master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where his classical foundation met his burgeoning love for jazz.
Carter’s career took flight in the early 1960s, and from 1963 to 1968, he anchored Miles Davis’s “Second Great Quintet”, one of the most celebrated groups in jazz history. He contributed to groundbreaking albums such as E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Nefertiti, and Seven Steps to Heaven, helping to define post-bop with Davis, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams. Simultaneously, he appeared on many of the era's defining albums, including Speak No Evil, Maiden Voyage, Red Clay, and Speak Like a Child.
With over 2,200 recordings to his name—earning him a Guinness World Record as the most-recorded jazz bassist—Carter’s collaborations span jazz legends such as Lena Horne, Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Dexter Gordon, Eric Dolphy, and Cannonball Adderley, as well as work in other genres with Roberta Flack, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, and A Tribe Called Quest, appearing on their seminal Low End Theory. His playing has spanned classical works, recording Bach chorales for multiple basses and string quintet reinterpretations of jazz standards with the Kronos and ETHEL String quartets. As a bandleader, Carter continues to tour internationally with his many ensembles, including The Golden Striker Trio, The Foursight Quartet, Ron Carter’s Nonet, and The Great Big Band.
Carter’s music has appeared in numerous films and documentaries, including Twin Peaks, Bird, and A Gathering of Old Men, and he has featured prominently in Ken Burns’ Jazz, It Must Be Schwing, and the PBS documentary Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes. His leadership is matched by his work as a composer and educator: he has written a series of innovative method books that integrate multimedia learning, and his autobiography Finding the Right Notes was published as a print, e-book, and audiobook—narrated by Carter himself. Carter spent 18 years as a professor at City College of New York, taught at Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music, and served as Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Studies. He holds seven honorary doctorates and was awarded France’s Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, and the Satchmo Award for his dedication to jazz education.
Join WKCR in celebrating Ron Carter’s 88th birthday with a 24-hour broadcast honoring his life, legacy, and music—from classic recordings to live sessions.
Follow us on Instagram (@wkcr) and X (@WKCRFM) for updates, and listen live anytime at 89.9 FM NY & wkcr.org.
