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.
Star Dust
Benny Carter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
Benny Carter's song Star Dust is a sorrowful tune about lovers who are physically separated but connected by their shared memory of love. The opening lines set a melancholic mood as the singer watches the sun go down and the stars twinkle in the sky; he can't help but feel a pang of loneliness as he remembers the one he loves. The chorus is where the song gets its title as the singer refers to their lost love as 'stardust', something that once shone bright and beautiful but has now faded away into the night sky.
The second half of the song picks up the pace with a nostalgic look at the past. The singer remembers how they used to spend their time together, dreaming of a future filled with love and passion. But now they are apart, and the only thing that brings him comfort is the memory of a song that they once shared. The song's final stanza imagines a world where the two lovers are reunited, where the nightingale sings sweetly and roses bloom. Despite the impossibility of this dream, the singer finds solace in the knowledge that their love will always be a part of him, like the stardust that fills the sky above.
Line by Line Meaning
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
As twilight sets in, I reflect on how things used to be.
Steals across the meadows of my heart
The feeling of nostalgia invades even the most intimate part of me.
High up in the sky the little stars climb
The stars like us are moving on, yet they seem the same and somehow soothing.
Always reminding me that we're apart
Those beautiful lights remind me of this great distance between us.
You wander down the lane and far away
You have gone by your own path and left me behind.
Leaving me a song that will not die
You left me with a beautiful memory that I will cherish forever.
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The love we once shared has now turned into unforgettable memories.
The music of the years gone by.
The song takes me back to a time when we were both happy together.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
I often ponder how I manage to pass the time without you by my side.
The lonely nights
The nights that I spend alone are not only lonely but also depressing.
Dreaming of a song
In my dreams, there is a particular melody that takes me back in time.
The melody
The tune of the song that I dream of is so charming and lovely.
Haunts my reverie
The melody wraps itself around my memories and never fades away.
And I am once again with you
In my dreams, I am back by your side reliving the moments of our love.
When our love was new
This song reminds me of the thrilling feeling when we first met and fell in love.
And each kiss an inspiration
Every kiss we shared was so full of exciting thoughts that inspired my heart.
But that was long ago
But those moments belong to the past and will never happen again.
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Now, I find comfort in the memories, even though it's just a song.
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
When the stars are the brightest, I envision you beside the wall in the garden.
You are in my arms
In that moment, I can feel your embrace and all seems right in the world.
The nightingale
The bird that sings only in the evening.
Tells his fairytale
The nightingale sings a song that carries me away to a wonderful dream.
Of paradise, where roses grew
The story is set in a paradise, a place full of roses, representing a metaphorical love story.
Though I dream in vain
Although this is just a dream, I remain unaffected by reality and hold onto to my wishes.
In my heart it will remain
This beautiful memory will forever be etched in my heart.
My stardust melody
My dreamy melody that takes me back in time.
The memory of love's refrain.
The memory of our love and how it was during its glory days.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHRISTOPHER GENTRY, JOHN HUTCHINSON DEAN, MATTHEW EVERITT, SIMON IAN WHITE, STUART BLACK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Charles Barry
Benny Carter played great trumpet.He was really a multi instrumentalist.
JAZZCLASSIQUE
Excellent later days trumpet playing by Benny Carter. Who are the tenor sax and guitar player ?
Bob Lucore
Herman Rily on Tenor Sax, Bucky Pizzarelli on Guitar
Al Biondi
we lost Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar to that dam covid 19
坂巻洋
🙄🌱🥀💛