Photo

Click on photo to enlarge

Photo courtesy Brooks Center

In her career, Regina Carter has injected violin into various jazz idioms. She's currently exploring African music.

CLEMSON — Sometimes jazz violinist Regina Carter writes her set list on the back of an envelope. Other times it’s scribbled on a piece of paper found in the dressing room. Carter pens the lists just before walking on stage, with song order switched for each show.

“The audiences are not going to be the same every night— we’re not going to be the same,” Carter said.

During the actual performances, sets are amended on the fly, as Carter gets a feeling for what’s moving the room. The freewheeling approach fits her career. After starting out playing European classical violin, Carter fell into various jazz idioms — swing, bebop, fusion, etc.

Of course, jazz is not the first genre typically associated with violin. After spending much of her youth focused on becoming a symphony soloist, Carter discovered jazz in high school after a friend slipped her some Jean-Luc Ponty and Noel Pointer records.

“I was blown away by violin in any other music besides European classical,” Carter said.

A Detroit native, she began immersing herself in the vibrant local jazz scene at age 16, checking out shows by violinist Stefane Grappelli.

“Being able to see these people and hearing violin in a band instead of an orchestra … how much freedom they had to have their own voice,” Carter said.

Photo

Click on photo to enlarge

Photo courtesy Brooks Center

Regina Carter first gained notoriety in the mid-90s as a member of Straight Ahead, an all-female jazz quintet recording for Atlantic Records. In 1995, Carter released her self-titled solo debut and has gone on to cut five more solos LPs, including 2006’s 'I’ll Be Seeing You,' a collection of standards dedicated to her mother.

At Michigan’s Oakland University, she continued to chase blue voodoo and joined the school’s jazz big band. Carter’s music professor instructed her to stop listening to jazz violinists altogether — the idea being there were so few players in that niche the young violinist would never develop her own style.

So Carter began listening more to horn players and vocalists, transcribing Sarah Vaughn Charlie Parker tunes. Carter wasn’t looking to copy those artists’ exact licks; she wanted to learn from their sultry phrasing and use of space.

She fell hard for Ella Fitzgerald’s dusky purr.

“Some people have a gift from God, that little something extra. When Ella sings, there’s no one else that sounds like her,” Carter said. “She’s an instrumentalist; her voice is truly an instrument. She’s just Ella.”

Now 42 years old, Carter first gained notoriety in the mid-90s as a member of Straight Ahead, an all-female jazz quintet recording for Atlantic Records. In 1995, Carter released her self-titled solo debut and has gone on to cut five more solos LPs, including 2006’s “I’ll Be Seeing.” The latter disc is a collection of standards her mother Grace Carter used to spin, like “St. Louis Blues,” “Blue Rose” and “There’s a Small Hotel.”

Grace played no small part in her daughter’s destiny, insisting Regina begin music lessons at age four. Carter’s grandmother Sarah Williamson also cast a large shadow, a college graduate and pianist who inspired her family to seek out the arts and broaden their minds.

“My mother was a pretty powerful women,” Carter said. “She was very nervous because I wanted to be a jazz musician, but after a while she saw I couldn’t deny that to myself. And once she saw I was working enough to get health insurance she was very proud, and I would fly her out to certain gigs.”

In 2001, Carter recorded and performed playing the Excalibur of violins. Guarneri del Gesu was owned by 19th century composer and violinist Nicolo Paganini, who is often cited as the first rock star, due to his ability to lather listeners — particularly the females. Paganini’s old violin boasts an appropriately bodacious nickname: the Canon.

“The instrument is known for having a really dark sound, almost like a viola instead of a violin, Carter said. “It projects unusually well through a hall; usually something that dark won’t do well.”

These days, Carter plays a German trade violin, basically a tweaked copy of a 1700s axe, she bought in New York. Now based in New Jersey, Carter is exploring African music, including Ugandan Jewish tunes, and her current ensemble includes bass, drums and accordion, an instrument surprisingly vital in Madagascar arrangements.

Carter’s ability to shift between flash and sustain has unzipped dizzy opportunities. She studied with violin guru Itzhak Perlman and shared the stage with natty trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (whose music Carter remembered as “intricate”), blues chanteuse Cassandra Wilson (“mystique”) and hip-hop belter Mary J. Blige (“soulful”).

But, Carter saved her richest superlative for describing a performance with the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin: “Mmm, mmm, mmm — that’s all I can say about that.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Regina Carter

Oct. 28

Brooks Center for the Performing Arts

Clemson University

8 p.m.

$25 adults, $15 students

(864) 656-7787

www.clemson.edu/brooks