Regina Carter....

Turn to the word “grace” in the dictionary and you will find an unusually lengthy string of complimentary descriptions that includes: virtue from God, fluidity of movement, striking beauty or a most pleasing musical adornment. Above all of these, for jazz violinist supreme Regina Carter, Grace is the name of the woman who left indelible imprints upon her heart, mind and spirit, inspiring her to walk with pride, seek her personal best in all that she endeavored and, specifically, to ornament the world with the soul-stirring sound of music. The woman bearing that poetically apropos name was her mother.

Throughout an enviable career that has been marked by eclectic virtuosity, heart, and stunning fusions of music both celestially classical and earthily modern, Ms. Carter delivers her most stylistically focused work to date with her sixth solo release, I'll Be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey. The album was crafted in loving memory of her mother, Grace Louise Carter, who passed away following a long illness in March 2005. “She was the reason for everything my brothers and I are and have,” Regina states. “She sacrificed a lot. We couldn't have asked for anything more. It was difficult after losing her to figure out what I wanted to play, or, if I even wanted to play at all anymore. After some soul searching I thought, ‘Let me honor her by doing some of the tunes that she loved.’”

I'll Be Seeing You is comprised of intimate, authentic, acoustic arrangements of songs spanning the ’20s to the ’40s — tunes that were subliminally or whole-heartedly enjoyed by Regina's mother in her youth. Rallying around Regina to lend her spiritual sunshine and support at what was a difficult time are special guest singers Dee Dee Bridgewater and Carla Cook, clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera, accordionist/arranger Gil Goldstein, producer/arranger John Clayton and current band members: pianist Xavier Davis, bassist Matthew Parrish and drummer Alvester Garnett. “It was such a gift to be able to do this recording with these musicians. They gave me absolute hope and love.”

Regina Carter’s immersion in music began at the age of two when she took up piano, followed by violin at the age of four. Forever indebted to the Suzuki method of music teaching, the approach freed her from the rigid restraints of solely reading music and opened her to the wonders of improvisation. Though her original focus was classical music, with the hope of being a soloist with a major symphony, the pull of Detroit’s rich soul music legacy and the discovery of jazz broadened her horizons.

Regina attended Detroit's prestigious Cass Technical High School. Upon graduating, she departed for the New England Conservatory of Music, only to return to Michigan’s Oakland University, seasoning her chops by gigging with several local musicians. She later joined the attention-grabbing all-female quartet Straight Ahead which recorded two albums for Atlantic Records. Carter departed the band in 1994, recording two solo albums for Atlantic while also making the most of her newfound New York connections by working with the likes of the String Trio of New York, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Greg Tate and the Black Rock Coalition.

Carter joined Verve Records in 1998 and has since recorded four critically acclaimed works of astounding maturity and variety: Rhythms of the Heart, Motor City Moments (also produced by John Clayton) and Paganini: After a Dream (for which she made history by being the first African American and jazz musician to travel to Genoa, Italy to perform and record with the legendary Guarneri del Gesu violin owned by classical music virtuoso Niccolò Paganini), and a duet project with pianist Kenny Baron entitled Freefall. Her playing has also graced work that includes filmmaker Ken Burns’ soundtrack for the PBS documentary, Jazz; Wynton Marsalis’ opera Blood on the Fields; Cassandra Wilson’s tribute to Miles Davis, Traveling Miles; and the queen of hip-hop soul Mary J. Blige. In the summer of 2006, Regina will join Latin Jazz pianist Eddie Palmieri for some dates related to his latest recording, the Grammy® award-winning, Listen Here, on which she was also a guest.
http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/reginacarter