As a youth, Carter lived in Harlem around the corner from Bubber Miley who was Duke Ellington's star trumpeter. Carter was inspired by Miley and bought a trumpet, but when he found he couldn't play like Miley he traded the trumpet in for a saxophone.
Carter began playing professionally at 15. He first recorded in 1928 and formed his first big band the following year. He played with Fletcher Henderson in 1930 and 1931, then briefly led McKinney's Cotton Pickers before returning to lead his own band in 1932. The few recordings his band made between 1933 and 1934 are considered by most jazz scholars to be milestones in early swing arranging. They were sophisticated and very complex arrangements, and a number of them became swing standards which were performed by other bands ("Blue Lou" is a great example of this.) He also arranged for Henderson and Duke Ellington during these years and wrote two hits, "Blues in My Heart" and "When Lights are Low." By the early 1930s he and Johnny Hodges were considered the leading alto players of the day. Carter also quickly became a leading trumpet soloist, having rediscovered the instrument. He recorded extensively on trumpet in the 1930s. Also, in 1933, Carter took part in an amazing series of sessions that featured the British band leader Spike Hughes, who came to New York specifically to organize a series of recordings featuring the best Black musicians available. These 14 sides were only issued in England at that time, though they are available on CD and worthwhile looking for. (The musicians were mainly made up from member of Carter's band and from Luis Russell's.)
In 1935 he moved to Europe, where he became staff arranger for the British Broadcasting Corporation dance orchestra and made several records. He returned to the United States in 1938 and led a big band and sextet before moving to Los Angeles in 1943 to write for movie studios. Carter continued writing and performing into his 90s. He arranged for Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Sarah Vaughan, among many others.
His biggest hit was "Cow Cow Boogie", a song he co-wrote with Don Raye and Gene DePaul, which was a hit for Ella Mae Morse in 1942.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Carter was one of the first black men to compose music for films. He was an inspiration and a mentor for Quincy Jones when Jones began writing for television and films in the 1960s. Also in the 1940s, Carter's successful legal battles in order to obtain housing in then-exclusive neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area made him a pioneer in an entirely different area.
He also appears uncredited in the 1952 film, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, as a sax player.
Carter was admired for his ability to write saxophone solis, which are sections of music that the entire section plays as one unit in the manner of a solo.
Carter was a member of the music advisory panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. He was also a member of the Black Film Makers' Hall of Fame and in 1980 received the Golden Score award of the American Society of Music Arrangers. Carter was also a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1996 and received honorary doctorates from Princeton, Harvard, Rutgers, and the New England Conservatory.
He died, aged 95, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles of what is thought to have been bronchitis.
All Or Nothing At All
Benny Carter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Half a love, never appealed to me
If your heart, never could yield to me
Then I'd rather (rather) have nothing at all
All or nothing at all
If it's love, there is no in between
Why begin then cry, for something that might have been
But please don't bring your lips so close to my cheek
Don't smile or I'll be lost beyond recall
The kiss in your eyes, the touch of your hand makes me weak
And my heart may go dizzy and fall
And if I fell (I fell) under the spell of your call
I would be, caught in the undertow
So you see, I've got to say no, no
All or nothing at all
In the song "All or Nothing At All" Benny Carter considers his options when it comes to love. He is not interested in a half-hearted love and believes that if he cannot be loved fully, then he would rather have nothing at all. The song talks about the necessity of commitment when it comes to love, and how there is no in-between in matters of the heart. Carter warns that starting something that could have been love, only to cry and regret it later, is not worth the pain. It is better to go all in, or not at all.
Carter sings about the power of physical attraction and how easy it is to fall under someone's spell. He admits that the touch of someone's hand or the kiss in their eyes can make him weak, but he recognizes the dangers of giving into that temptation. He understands that if he were to fall under the spell of someone's call, he would be caught in the undertow and lose himself. He ends the song with the repeated phrase that he would rather have nothing than half a love, reminding the listener of the importance of commitment and fully investing in love.
Line by Line Meaning
All or nothing at all
I want everything from you or nothing at all, no half measures.
Half a love, never appealed to me
I cannot accept only a portion of your love, it must be whole and complete.
If your heart, never could yield to me
If you do not feel the same way about me, I cannot be with you.
Then I'd rather (rather) have nothing at all
If I cannot have your full love, I would prefer to have nothing at all.
If it's love, there is no in between
Love is all encompassing and cannot be halfway, it is either there or it is not.
Why begin then cry, for something that might have been
Why start a relationship if it is not going to be complete and only cause heartache.
No I'd rather (rather) have nothing at all
I would prefer to not start a relationship at all if it cannot be a complete love.
But please don't bring your lips so close to my cheek
Although I am attracted to you, I cannot risk getting too close.
Don't smile or I'll be lost beyond recall
Your smile is captivating and may make me forget about the importance of a complete love.
The kiss in your eyes, the touch of your hand makes me weak
Your physical affection towards me is irresistible and pulls at my heartstrings.
And my heart may go dizzy and fall
The overwhelming emotions I feel may cause me to lose control and fall deeper in love with you.
And if I fell (I fell) under the spell of your call
If I became entranced by your beckoning, I may give into my emotions.
I would be, caught in the undertow
I would be swept away by my emotions and become lost in them.
So you see, I've got to say no, no
For the sake of my own heart, I must turn away from you.
All or nothing at all
I cannot compromise on a partial love, I need a complete and full love.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network
Written by: Arthur Altman, Jack Lawrence
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind