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William Carter

Los Angeles-born William Carter graduated from Stanford University in 1957. He became a professional photographer, writer and editor while concurrently pursuing fine art photography.

In New York, Carter worked as a book editor for Harper & Row, 1961-63. Based in Beirut 1964-66, he published in LIFE, the London Sunday Times, Geographical Magazine and others. In 1966-69 he freelanced from London, doing assignments for such clients as The New York Times, Women's Wear Daily, and TWA's Annual Report.

Returning to San Francisco in 1969, Carter turned to longer-term projects. He published his first book of text and pictures, "Ghost Towns of the West," in 1971. His second book, "Middle West Country," appeared in 1975. Carter's permanent love affair with New Orleans jazz (he plays clarinet in local Bay Area Trad Jazz bands) led him to create his third book of text and photographs, "Preservation Hall," in 1991.

Increasingly absorbed in fine art photography, he began exhibiting in galleries and published Illuminations, a book of nudes, in 1996. Carter's fifth book, "Causes and Spirits," is an autobiographical photo-appreciation of humanity worldwide, available now.

William Carter's photographs have been widely exhibited in the U.S. and Europe. More than 150 of his black and white prints are in the permanent collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. A Carter nude was shown in the Getty's concise 150-year history of that genre in 2007-2008. Four of his Middle Eastern images appeared there in Engaged Observers, a 2010 survey of photojournalism since 1960.

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Jazz Emerges

Part 7: Sing Miller: This Little Light of Mine

Read "Part 7: Sing Miller: This Little Light of Mine" reviewed by William Carter


Born in 1914, pianist/vocalist Sing Miller was active on the New Orleans scene from the late 1920s until his death in 1990. If Sing didn't like something, he'd let you know. “Man...that ball don't bounce," is a Sing-saying drummer Jeff Hamilton remembers.Early one winter morning in Iowa in 1984, when I was traveling as a photojournalist with the Percy Humphrey band, Sing sat alone in the lobby for most of an hour, staring glumly out at the blustery ...

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Jazz Emerges

Part 6: The Basses of Our Music

Read "Part 6: The Basses of Our Music" reviewed by William Carter


Listen to bassist Pops Foster with the Luis Russell Orchestra from 1929, playing “Jersey Lightning." Also on this record are New Orleans men Henry “Red" Allen, Albert Nicholas and Paul Barbarin. Virtually all of the New Orleans bass players depicted in this post played in an energetic, percussive style very similar to Foster's:

Fundamental: Historians and scholars have long believed the world's first jazz band to have been that of Buddy Bolden, whose powerful ...

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Jazz Emerges

Part 5: Preservation Hall Won Hearts Across U.S.

Read "Part 5: Preservation Hall Won Hearts Across U.S." reviewed by William Carter


Visible Roots of America's Most Original Cultural ProductPhoto CreditAll Photos: William Carter ...

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Jazz Emerges

Part 4: Trumpeter Percy and Clarinetist Willie Humphrey On Tour and At Home

Read "Part 4: Trumpeter Percy and Clarinetist Willie Humphrey On Tour and At Home" reviewed by William Carter


Listen to “St. Louis Blues" class="meta-date"> In a long caption in my book, Preservation Hall (W.W. Norton, 1991), I told the story, quoted below, of the Humphreys' long lives and distinguished lineage. I never met their trombonist brother, Earl, who died relatively young. Their father, Willie Humphrey, Sr., was a clarinetist who spent much of his life on road tours; in a surviving publicity shot ...

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Jazz Emerges

Part 1: New Orleans Brass Bands 1950-1990

Read "Part 1: New Orleans Brass Bands 1950-1990" reviewed by William Carter


Visible Roots of America's Most Original Cultural Product

A lifelong preoccupation with traditional New Orleans jazz inspired my book, Preservation Hall (W.W. Norton, 1991). While doing my own shooting, I uncovered a trove of historical photos I decided to mix with my own (sources available on request). Like the music itself, this project is a blend of old and new, personal and professional. Blogs, like recordings, add a fresh dimension to a traditional art.

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“Causes and Spirits” is as solid and refreshing a book of photography as we are likely to encounter this decade.” —Matt Damsker, in Photogrpaphy News

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