Ron Carter Big BandBirdlandThrough October 14Ron Carter Foursight QuartetBirdlandOctober 17-21Ron Carter and his big band began their first set of the week with “For Toddler’s Only.” This is his second of a three-week run with three different ensembles — which has become an annual tradition at Birdland in October — continuing next with his formidable Foursight Quartet co-starring the excellent pianist Renee Rosnes. In addition to being one of the great living bassists, Mr. Carter is a warm and engaging host and bandleader. Not that we should be surprised by this, except in that he attained the upper brackets of jazz superstardom as a sideman to a notoriously unwarm and uncharming bandleader, Miles Davis, who made it a point to treat audiences with disdain — or at least the illusion of it. Mr. Carter may have learned a lot about creating great music from the late and legendary trumpeter, but thankfully he has his own ideas about stagecraft. Mr. Carter has made two major big band albums in relatively recent years, “Ron Carter’s Great Big Band” (2011) and “My Personal Songbook” (2014), which is a collaboration with the great Cologne-based jazz radio orchestra, the WDR Big Band. “For Toddlers Only” comes from that latter album, which consists of 10 Carter originals adroitly arranged by Rich DeRosa, the drummer and orchestrator.Appropriate for a tune intended for toddlers, this opening number romped and stomped with the energy of a 2-year-old tearing after a rubber ball. This Carter-DeRosa compilation had room for solos by trumpeter Brandon Lee and trombonist Steve Davis as well as Mr. Carter. Like the rest of the set, it was hard-swinging and highly accessible, in the manner of New Testament Count Basie or virtually anything by Benny Carter. Following the opener, Mr. Carter addressed the house with characteristic good humor, pronouncing the club’s name as “Boidland” and describing the ensemble as “my 16-piece quartet. Sixteen guys are playing, but only four of us get paid.” Mr. Carter kept the joke going all evening, informing us as to specifically which soloists should and should not be expecting a pay envelope at the end of the week.The 16-piece quartet followed with two of the most familiar of all jazz standards, “Caravan,” from the Ellington band book, and “Con Alma,” from Dizzy Gillespie’s, both of which are on the 2011 “Great Big Band” album. The first, which opens that album, starts with a huge flourish of exotic sounds, before settling into Juan Tizol’s iconic melody stated on soprano saxophone by David DeJesus. “Con Alma” speaks to Mr. Carter’s soulful side as well as his more classically oriented side, opening with what sounds like a baroque brass ensemble and transitioning into some very Gospel-ly cadences. The especially eloquent guitarist Russell Malone played a powerfully chordal solo here, and so did Steve Wilson, who is rapidly becoming everyone’s favorite big band alto saxophonist. Another Carter original by way of Mr. DeRosa, “Cut and Paste,” displayed a creativity that completely contradicted the title, opening with a dramatic brass punctuation. There was a piano trio interlude by keyboardist Ray Gallon alongside the leader, a tenor solo from Ivan Renta, and more Brandon Lee and Steve Wilson — always a good thing. Mr. Wilson’s solo was especially well framed by swelling brass all around him. Perhaps anticipating the Foursight next week, Mr. Carter next called for a standard by his four-piece rhythm section, “Lullaby of the Leaves.” The energy level was too high for a ballad; this was another rapturously up piece, featuring a compelling solo by the leader, as well as by Messrs. Malone and Gallon and drummer Payton Crossley. Although this band is fronted by a bassist — he credited bass trombonist Doug Purviance as his contractor — for better or worse, there is not a preponderance of bass solos. Most of us could do with a few more. The set concluded with what seems to be an as-yet-unrecorded arrangement of “Buhaina’s Delight,” apparently the 1961 piece written by trombonist Curtis Fuller; dedicated to Art Blakey, this is a hard-driving minor key number. After 70 minutes of playing, the temperature in the club seemed at least 10 degrees hotter than when they started. As the weather gets colder, the fall jazz season becomes increasingly intense, with no open seats in the club and even the garages to the right and left nearly at capacity. I was shunted over to the bar area, seated next to a young family of tourists with two small children in tow, who danced to the music nonstop.Mr. Carter, seated with his bass at the extreme end of stage right, probably couldn’t see, but his music did indeed delight the toddlers who were present.
