Regina Carter
Regina Carter combines exciting technical proficiency and improvisation with an aggressive approach to her instrument, adding multicultural influence. Her playing is melodic, yet percussive. People are only used to hearing violin in European classical music or country music, says Carter, and so we get stuck in this idea that this is what a violin is supposed to do. And it's such a precious instrument and such a delicate instrument... That's what people think: it's such a small, delicate little thing. Even sometimes I play with classical players in a quartet and part of the piece might call to use the back of the bow, the wood, to hit on the string to get a percussive effect or to get a different sound, and they'll say, 'I'm not going to bang on my instrument like that. This violin cost way too much money.'They don't think of it as another way of playing the instrument. They don't really want to go beyond what we think of; so even the musicians themselves sometimes are stuck into those old ways of thinking.
*I think a lot of people look at the violin and they get a little nervous, Carter notes. They have a stereotype of what the violin is - very high, kind of shrill-sounding with long notes, and a lot of vibrato. It doesn't have to be that at all, it can be a very fiery persuasive instrument and that's how I like to use it. I don't think of the music trying to fit the violin, she continues, or how to make the violin work in this music. For me, it just does. I'm not playing it as a violin. Instead of being so melodic, which I can be, I tend to use the instrument in more of a rhythmic way, using vamp rhythms or a lot of syncopated rhythms, approaching it more like a horn player does. So, I don't feel that I have a lot of limitations - I feel like I can do anything.
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- Southern Confort by Maurizio Zerbo
- Southern Comfort by Dan Bilawsky
- Reverse Thread by Mark F. Turner
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Album Review
- I'll Be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey by Troy Collins
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Album Review
- Paganini: After a Dream by Dan McClenaghan
January 18, 2017
Jazz this week: Regina Carter, Iva Bittová & Hamid Drake, and more
May 14, 2015
Jazz this week: Regina Carter, Jeff Beck, STL Free Jazz Collective, and...
May 10, 2015
StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Regina Carter's Southern Comfort
November 21, 2013
Jazz This Week: Regina Carter, a Trio of Big Bands, a Benefit for Tony...
February 01, 2011
The Iridium Hosts Jim Weider & Garth Hudson, Regina Carter And More In...
November 04, 2010
Reverse Thread: A Glorious Reprise
November 04, 2010
Jazz This Week: Regina Carter's Reverse Thread, Banu Gibson, Dave...
October 24, 2010
STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Regina Carter's Reverse Thread
September 10, 2010
4th Annual New Jersey Blues & Jazz Festival
May 26, 2010
Notes from the Net: More Miles Davis Reissues; Regina Carter's New CD;...
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