Ron Carter Birthday Broadcast

WKCR is thrilled 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 4th, 2026. Tune in to the celebration and join us as we honor the mastery and depth of Carter’s musical influence.

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.

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.

Join WKCR in celebrating Ron Carter’s 89th birthday with a 24-hour broadcast honoring his life, legacy, and music—from classic recordings to live sessions.