Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz… Read Full Bio ↴Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognised as such by other jazz musicians who called him King.

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.

Some Other Spring
Benny Carter Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Some other spring
I'll try to love
Now I still cling
To faded blossoms
Fresh from worn
Left crushed and torn
Like the love affair I mourn

Some other spring
When twilight falls
Will the night bring
Another to me?

Not your kind
But let me find
It's not true that love is blind
Sunshine's around me
But deep in my heart it's cold as ice
Love, once you've found me
But can that story unfold twice?

Some other spring
Will my heart awake?
Stirring to sing
Love's magic music
Then forget the old duet

Love in some other spring?
Spring?

Overall Meaning

The song "Some Other Spring" by Benny Carter is a poignant tale of lost love and the hope for a new chance at romance in the future. The lyrics speak of the singer's lingering attachment to the remnants of a past relationship, which they compare to faded blossoms that have been crushed and torn. However, despite this sadness, the singer looks ahead to "some other spring" when they may be able to find love again. They wonder whether a new person will come into their life, bringing with them the possibility of a magical, musical love story.

The second verse of the song adds another layer of complexity to the singer's feelings. They seem to acknowledge that the previous love affair was not entirely healthy or fulfilling, as they sing "not your kind, but let me find, it's not true that love is blind." This line hints at a realization that the love they had was not perfect and that there might be something better out there for them. However, they also express doubt about whether they can find true love again, singing that their heart feels "cold as ice" despite the sunshine around them.

Line by Line Meaning

Some other spring
In some future season, possibly spring

I'll try to love
I will attempt to love again

Now I still cling
Currently, I'm still holding onto

To faded blossoms
Relationships that have diminished

Fresh from worn
New ones emerging

Left crushed and torn
But have been damaged and hurt

Like the love affair I mourn
Similar to the love I have lost and am grieving

Some other spring
In some future season, possibly spring

When twilight falls
At the time of day when the sun is just below the horizon

Will the night bring
Will darkness bring

Another to me?
Someone else to love