When Miles Davis asked Ron Carter to join his band in 1963, Carter did not react like someone being handed the opportunity of a lifetime. Instead, according to Carter himself, his response was effectively:
“Mr Davis, I have a job already.”
Today, that sounds almost impossible.
By the early 1960s, Miles Davis was already one of the towering figures in modern jazz. He had recorded Kind of Blue, worked with John Coltrane, and become one of the most influential musicians in America.
Yet as Carter recalls in the interview embedded below, he was not sitting around waiting for Miles to call.
At the time, Carter was performing at New York’s Half Note club with a group featuring Art Farmer and Jim Hall during a two-week engagement.
Miles came into the club during the run and pulled Carter aside.
The existing Miles Davis rhythm section was beginning to split apart. Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb were preparing to branch out on their own, although Cobb had agreed to stay temporarily for an already-booked tour.
Miles needed a bassist quickly.
But rather than immediately abandoning his current commitment, Carter told Miles that if he wanted him for the tour, he would first need to ask Art Farmer to release him from the Half Note engagement.
Farmer agreed.
And one of the most important groups in jazz history quietly began to take shape.
Looking back now, Carter still seems amused by the exchange.
“I’m sure Miles would never have thought that some guy would say, ‘I’m busy. Can you ask my boss to let me off?’”
More importantly, Carter believes the moment established the tone of their relationship from the very beginning.
“I think that kind of set the tone with our relationship, Miles and I.”
That relationship would soon become central to the evolution of modern jazz.
When Carter officially joined Miles Davis’s band in 1963, the group gradually evolved into what is now known as the “Second Great Quintet,” featuring:
- Miles Davis
- Ron Carter
- Herbie Hancock
- Wayne Shorter
- Tony Williams
Unlike the earlier Miles Davis quintets rooted more firmly in hard bop structures, this version of the band operated with an extraordinary degree of rhythmic and harmonic flexibility.
The musicians often seemed to stretch time itself without fully breaking it.
Listen to recordings such as:
- E.S.P.
- Miles Smiles
- Nefertiti
- Sorcerer
- Footprints
and the music constantly shifts beneath the soloists. Tempos bend subtly. Harmonies are implied rather than stated outright. Drums and bass move independently while somehow remaining perfectly connected.
Much of that freedom rested on Carter’s bass playing.
Rather than simply outlining chord roots in predictable patterns, Carter frequently approached the bass melodically. His lines often floated through the harmony, creating movement and ambiguity while still anchoring the band. Together with Tony Williams’s restless drumming, the rhythm section became one of the defining sounds of 1960s jazz.
Carter’s own musical path had prepared him well for that role.
Born in Michigan in 1937, he originally studied cello before moving to bass, partly because opportunities for Black classical cellists were limited at the time. After studying at the Eastman School of Music and later the Manhattan School of Music, he quickly became one of the most in-demand bassists in New York.
Even before joining Miles Davis, Carter had already worked with major figures including Eric Dolphy, Cannonball Adderley and Jaki Byard.
Over the decades that followed, he would become one of the most recorded bassists in jazz history, appearing on well over 2,000 albums spanning jazz, classical, soul, film music and pop sessions.
Yet part of what makes this interview clip so enjoyable is how little Carter mythologises the moment.
There is no dramatic story about destiny or instant awe.
Instead, the exchange sounds like two working musicians discussing schedules and professional commitments.
That understated quality says something important about the jazz world of the early 1960s.
Even musicians who would later become legendary were still navigating club bookings, touring logistics and regular working relationships inside a relatively small musical community. The mythology surrounding these figures came later.
At the time, Ron Carter was simply honouring a commitment to Art Farmer.
The irony, of course, is that his calm, professional response may actually have impressed Miles Davis more than immediate enthusiasm would have done.
Miles famously valued confidence, independence and individuality in his musicians. Carter’s refusal to instantly drop everything may well have signalled exactly the kind of personality Miles respected.
Either way, the conversation became the starting point for one of the greatest small groups jazz has ever produced.
And it all began with a bassist politely explaining that he was already booked.