Saxophonist/clarinetist
John Carter was associated with Ornette Coleman
in the '40s in their shared hometown of Fort Worth. Coleman moved to Los
Angeles in the early '50s as did Dallas trumpeter Bobby Bradford who
would work with Ornette sporadically for the next 20 years. Carter moved
to LA in 1961 and eventually found in
Bobby Bradford an ideal
collaborator.
Initially calling their quartet The New Art Jazz
Ensemble, they made their debut album Seeking in 1969 for the small
Revelation Records. Their music was very much in the same orbit as
Ornette's with darting linear compositions and freedom from chordal
structures blended into a marvelous fresh sense of swing and blues
roots.
