Dear Miles

by Ron Carter

Product Description:

Personnel: Ron Carter (bass guitar); Stephen Scott (piano); Payton Crossley (drums); Roger Squitero (percussion).

Bassist Ron Carter has good reason to pay tribute to Miles Davis. When Carter joined Miles's great second quintet in the 1960s it launched him on a career that found him consistently in the top ranks of the genre's musicians. As an accompanist, Carter was sensitive, sympathetic, and rhythmically attuned to Miles's innovations. Carter has gone on to demonstrate these same characteristics in all of his session and solo work in the subsequent decades.

DEAR MILES, released in 2007, has Carter tackling 10 Miles tunes (or tunes that Miles helped make famous). Flanked by a crack band, Carter glides, swings, and dances through classics such as "Seven Steps to Heaven," "Someday My Prince Will Come," and "Stella By Starlight." It's a fitting tribute to both Miles's memory and Carter's own skills, and--in its masterfully executed loveliness--is much more than an exercise in nostalgia.