(1910-04-01)April 1, 1910 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died
October 8, 1974(1974-10-08) (aged 64) New York City, U.S.
Genres
Jazz
Occupation(s)
Musician
Instrument(s)
baritone saxophone, clarinet
Years active
1930s–1970s
Musical artist
Harry Howell Carney (April 1, 1910 – October 8, 1974) was a jazz saxophonist and clarinettist who spent over four decades as a member of the
Duke Ellington Orchestra. He played a variety of instruments, but primarily used the
baritone saxophone, being a critical influence on the instrument in jazz.
Early life
Carney was born on April 1, 1910, in
Boston, Massachusetts.[1] In Boston, he grew up close to future bandmate
Johnny Hodges.[2] Carney began by playing the piano at age seven, moved to the clarinet at 14, and added the alto saxophone a year later.[1] He first played professionally in clubs in Boston.[1]
After playing a variety of gigs in New York City at the age of 17, Carney was invited to join the
Duke Ellington band for its performances in Boston in 1927.[5][note 1] He soon recorded with Ellington too, with a first session in October that year.[5] Having established himself in the Ellington band, he stayed with it for the rest of his life.[1] The band began a residency at the
Cotton Club in New York at the end of the year.[5]
After Ellington added more personnel in 1928, Carney's main instrument became the baritone saxophone.[5] He was a dominant figure on the baritone in jazz, with no serious rivals on the instrument until the advent of
bebop in the mid-1940s.[7] Within the overall sound of the Ellington band, Carney's baritone was often employed to play parts of harmonies that were above the obvious low pitching of the instrument; this altered the textures of the band's sound.[8]
Carney was the longest serving player in Ellington's orchestra.[3] On occasions when Ellington was absent or wished to make a stage entrance after the band had begun playing the first piece of a performance, Carney would serve as the band's conductor.[citation needed] The Ellington orchestra typically travelled on a tour bus, but Ellington himself did not; he was driven separately by Carney, a "quiet, calm presence".[11]
Ellington wrote many showpiece features for Carney throughout their time together.[citation needed] In 1973 Ellington built the
Third Sacred Concert around Carney's baritone saxophone.[12]
After Ellington's 1974 death, Carney said: "Without Duke, I have nothing to live for".[5] Carney's final recording may have been under
Mercer Ellington's leadership, for the album Continuum.[3] Four months after Ellington's death, Carney also died, on October 8, 1974, in New York.[1]
Influence and legacy
Carney was an early jazz proponent of
circular breathing.[12] He was also
Hamiet Bluiett's favorite baritone player because he "never saw anybody else stop time" in reference to a concert Bluiett attended where Carney held a note during which all else went silent.[13] Two months after Carney's death, bassist
Charles Mingus recorded
Sy Johnson's elegy "For Harry Carney"; the track was released on the album Changes Two.[14]
Discography
As leader
Harry Carney with Strings (Clef, 1954;[1] reissued by Verve as Moods for Girl and Boy)
Rock Me Gently (
Columbia Records, 1960; recorded as "Harry Carney and the Duke's Men")
^Spring, Evan (2014). "Duke Ellington Chronology". In Green, Edward (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington. Cambridge University Press. p. xiv.
ISBN978-0-521-88119-7.
^Berish, Andrew (2014). "Survival, Adaptation, and Experimentation: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra in the 1930s". In Green, Edward (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington. Cambridge University Press. p. 115.
ISBN978-0-521-88119-7.
^James, Stephen D.; James, J. Walker (2014). "Conductor of Music and Men: Duke Ellington Through the Eyes of His Nephew". In Green, Edward (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington. Cambridge University Press. p. 44.
ISBN978-0-521-88119-7.