Pioneering jazz musician Benny Carter has died aged 95, after two weeks in a US hospital complaining of bronchitis and fatigue. Big band leader Carter, helped break the racial boundaries that existed on the circuit and in film scoring, breaking many black composers. Carter was one of the first black composers and arrangers to work on mainstream Hollywood films, and had an illustrious career spanning seven decades, and bringing him into contact Miles Davis, Fats Waller and Dizzy Gillespie. Close friend Quincy Jones said: "If Benny was not there, we wouldn't be here. We walked through the door on his shoulders. He was a quiet and dignified man. And one of a kind."
Jul 16, 2003
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1 min read
Jazz musician Benny Carter dies aged 95
Jazz musician Benny Carter has died aged 95 after two weeks in hospital, remembered for breaking racial barriers in the circuit and in Hollywood film scoring.