Collection: Ron Carter

Born Ronald Levin Carter on 4 May 1937 in Ferndale, Michigan, Ron Carter is an American double bassist and cellist whose 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history.

His first jobs came with Chico Hamilton in 1959, followed by work with Jaki Byard, Cannonball Adderley, Randy Weston, Bobby Timmons, and Thelonious Monk. One of his first recorded appearances was on Eric Dolphy's Out There (1960) featuring Carter on cello, followed by Don Ellis' How Time Passes (1960) and his leader debut Where? (20 June 1961) with Dolphy, Mal Waldron, Charlie Persip, and George Duvivier. From 1963 to 1968, Carter was anchor of Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet alongside Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams, appearing on iconic albums including E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky, and Filles de Kilimanjaro. Davis even recorded Carter's compositions including "R.J.", "Mood", and "Eighty-One", and the rhythm section of Carter, Williams, and Hancock powered the quintet to legendary status.

After leaving Davis, Carter became a mainstay of CTI Records throughout the 1970s, recording under his own name and appearing on numerous label releases. Notable partnerships included Joe Henderson, Houston Person, Hank Jones, Gabor Szabo, Cedar Walton, and the New York Jazz Quartet. He recorded with Thelonious Monk, Paul Desmond, Jim Hall and appeared on diverse projects from Billy Joel's The Bridge (1986) to A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory.