Kent Carter (born June 12, 1939 in Hanover, New Hampshire) is an American jazz bassist. He is the grandson of American artist, Rockwell Kent.
Kent Carter's father was a viola player and conductor and his son studied piano, cello and bassoon as a child, starting with the bass in 1959. He studied music in Boston, Mass. from 1960 to 1964, participating in the "October Revolution" (a creative music movement in New York in early 60's) as well as performing and recording with the "Jazz Composers Guild Orchestra under the direction of Michael Mantler and Carla Bley.
From 1964 Kent Carter toured and recorded in Europe with Paul Bley, Carla Bley, Michael Mantler, Steve Lacy, Don Cherry, Gato Barbieri, Alan Silva, Mal Waldron, Michael Smith, Bobby Bradford, Max Roach, Enrico Rava, Roswell Rudd, Derek Bailey, John Stevens, Trevor Watts, Steve McCall and many others. He was a member of the Steve Lacy Quintet from 1970-81 in Paris and a member and co-founder of the trio TOK with Takashi Kako and Oliver Johnson, touring Europe and Japan with extensive recordings on TRIO records in Japan and ECM in Europe. He started the Kent Carter String Trio with Carlos Zingaro, violin and Francois Dreno - viola and undertook tours and radio concerts in France and Germany. A CD recording The Willisau Suites was recorded in the 80's.
Moving to the South West of France in the 1980s, he taught at the Beaux Art School in Angouleme for 6 years and during this period also toured with The Magic Circus theater co. performing Stravinsky's History of a Soldier throughout the south of Europe. He played with the trio Detail with the late John Stevens on drums and Frode Gjerstad, tenor sax with concerts and festivals in Norway and England. Recordings -included Less is more with Billy Bang on violin.
Kent Carter also composes music for dance and theater, video and film and concerts. He has played at festivals in Royan, Chateauvallon, Willisau, Berlin, Moers, Molde, Porri, St.Sebastian, Milano, Baden Baden, Nancy, Warsaw, Paris, Vilnius, Hamburg, East Berlin, Bremen, Rome, Pisa, Torino, Lisbon, London, Glasgow, Krakow, New York, Vancover, Berklee Calif. Tokyo etc.... Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.