It was 3 p.m. last February, the afternoon before the Grammys, and a typically frigid day in Brooklyn, N.Y. Jazz vocalist Betty Carter restlessly paced her three-story brownstone home.
A number of awards flanked her living room, from a Washington, D.C., salutation declaring a Betty Carter Day to an Indy award naming Bet-Car the nation's best independent label in 1981. The only thing missing was a Grammy, a conspicuously glaring omission for a performer both Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughan have called the greatest pure jazz singer. But that accolade accompanies Carter's reputation of being difficult, unyielding, just down right bitchy. "The bitch is that I've been Betty Carter, that I'm seeking to be as creative as I can be, standing for what I believe in. If I'm a bitch, I'm a good one." Carter's uncompromising stance for pure jazz has kept record firms at bay. Undaunted, she formed Bet-Car in 1970 and released five albums. Two of Them - The Audience With Betty Carter and Whatever Happened To Love? - received Grammy nominations.
Both lost.
She was readying herself for a third defeat with Look What I've Got!, her first recording in six years and her first with a major label in 2 1/2 decades. Carter signed in 1987 with Polygram's reactivated Verve label, which has been snapping up jazz singers - Marlena Shaw, Nina Simone and Shirley Horn - with a vengeance.
She became a bit more hopeful after learning her photo was in a special section of Rolling Stone, promoting the Grammys. Her photo was perched underneath Tracy Chapman and Terence Trent D'Arby. "Someone called and told me about that. He said I was becoming a commercial success. I said, 'What do you mean? I've never commercialized my music.' 'Yeah,' he said, 'but Rolling Stone proves your music is being accepted anyway.'"
Indeed it is. That night, Carter won her first Grammy, climaxing what turned out to be the most visible year of her 40-year career. After decades of obscurity, her refusal not to "cop out" has been rewarded. "I feel great. I think it's the right thing for me, considering my age and how long I've been out there. It's good to be doing something constructive when you're at this age." [She's 59.]
"I do believe the albums I did on my own label were just as qualified as this one that won a Grammy. But because they were on Bet-Car and not on a major label, they didn't have a chance. But if this Grammy has done anything, it's shown young musicians to just hang in there and deal with what you love to do; eventually it will be rewarded. You don't have to compromise. I couldn't compromise."
That's been Carter's claim to fame throughout her career. Purism. Staunch dedication to bebop. As Carmen McRae said, "This lady is the only one of us who hasn't copped out. She's the only jazz singer left."
By James T. Jones IV
August, 1989
Betty Carter's memorial service was held in Manhattan on Oct. 3, 1998,
