Interview with Deborah J. Carter

Jun 30, 2015

Hector Martin Gonzalez

Carter premiered her latest release in the Canary Islands (Spain) in May at the Third International Jazz Festival of La Laguna, Tenerife. While there, I had the chance to catch up with Deborah for an interview.

Don’t miss “Diggn’The Duke” portrayed from Deborah Carter’s perspective; she nailed it!

Hector Martin: How did your singing career start? Did you start when your were a young girl? Was it part of your family life?

Deborah Carter: I sang in the church choir, and my mother was always the choir director. It was a church whose music was classical hymns though, so any exposure I had to gospel was from other sources: the television, the occasional gospel concert, or my mother’s Mahalia Jackson albums.

Actually, everyone in my family tree – on my mother’s side- can either sing or play an instrument, but I’m really the first known professional musician in the family history.

HM: You came to perform in the third International Jazz Festival of La Laguna. How did this possibility come about?

DC: I was contacted via Facebook – which happens more and more often, to my surprise. Social media is becoming a very useful resource for making interesting contacts.

HM: Do you know any Canarian musicians? And Spanish musicians? Do you remember anyone in particular?

DC: When I was living in Spain I worked with many many great Spanish musicians from every corner of the country. I’m still in contact with many of them, almost daily, via social media.

The quality of the musicians in Spain, bit by bit, is getting more attention on an international level and I am very proud to have them as friends and colleagues.

A couple of years ago, I met Sebastian Gil Armas, a great trumpetist , professor at the Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Canarias, and artistic director of the marvellous Gran Canaria Big Band. The concert I had with that ensemble was one of the best I’d ever had with a big band. They were 17 or 18 musicians, all very hard-working and dedicated to their art. The rehearsals we had for two Christmas concerts – under the direction of Francisco ‘Latino’ Blanco (from Alicante) were some of the most intense that I had ever experienced. My hat goes off to them!

HM: Who did you perform with at the festival? Could you tell us about your band?

DC: I travelled to Tenerife with my husband and bass player, Mark Zandveld, there we joined up with three talented Canarian musicians: Akior García: drums, José Alberto Medina: Keyboards and Miguel Manescau: Electric Guitar

In recent years I have performed in Spain with a combination of musicians I brought from the Netherlands and musicians from Spain and some really wonderful music has been made because of that spontaneous fusion of the two distinct elements.