DATE: October 14, 2008
CONTACT:
Lillian Harder, 864-656-3043
harderl@clemson.edu
CONTACT:
Richard Goostein, 864-656-3043
regst@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Glenn Hare, 864-656-1478
ghare@clemson.edu
Jazz violinist to perform at Brooks Center Oct. 28
CLEMSON — Famed jazz violinist Regina Carter brings her band to Clemson University’s Brooks Center for the Performing Arts to perform a concert of innovative be-bob, swing and blues at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28.
A classically trained virtuoso who was named a MacArthur Fellow, Carter has studied with Itzhak Perlman and Yehudi Menuhin and played with everyone from Wynton Marsalis and Cassandra Wilson to Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige.
“She has established herself as one of the best and most dynamic performers of jazz today,” said Rick Goodstein, a Clemson jazz expert and head of the performing arts department. “There aren’t many jazz violinists, but Regina Carter follows players who have set very high standards, such as Noel Pointer, Jean Luc Ponty and the legendary Stephane Grappelli.”
Carter, a Detroit native, has combined her classical training, her longstanding interest in rhythm and blues and a background in the Motor City’s thriving jazz scene to form a style that ranges from high-speed licks to funky swinging jazz.
Carter came to national prominence as a member of the all-female jazz quintet Straight Ahead, which released three albums for the Atlantic label in the early 1990s. She released her first solo CD, “Regina Carter,” on the same label in 1995 and subsequently recorded five acclaimed CDs under her own name.
A major turning point in Carter’s career came with her appearance on “Blood on the Field” in 1997. She received strong critical acclaim for her work on the Pulitzer Prize-winning opus by Wynton Marsalis.
In 2006, she received a prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellowship and released “I’ll be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey,” a tribute album dedicated to her late mother, Grace Carter, one of the primary influences in her life, music and career.
Tickets for the Regina Carter concert are $25 for adults and $15 for students. Tickets and information are available at www.clemson.edu/Brooks or by calling the box office at 864-656-7787 from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
END