Keter Betts
Keter Betts , actually William Thomas Betts (* 22. July 1928 in Port Chester , New York ; † 6. August 2005 in Silver Spring , Maryland ) was an American jazz - bassist .
Live and act
Betts was initially a drummer, but switched to bass in 1946. He played at the beginning of his career as a 19-year-old with Carmen Leggio , 1949-1951 with Earl Bostic , accompanied the singer Dinah Washington from 1951 to 1956 and played with Julian Cannonball Adderley from 1956 to 1957. From 1957 he worked for Charlie Byrd in Washington , DC and toured with Woody Herman's band .
In 1962 he played Jazz Samba on the Stan Getz / Charlie Byrd record , which played a key role in popularizing the Bossa nova style. In the mid-1960s began a long collaboration with the singer Ella Fitzgerald , where he played mainly in the formations of Tommy Flanagan . In the 1970s he played and toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic , Count Basie , Eddie Lockjaw Davis .
During this time Betts played with musicians like Oscar Peterson , Nat Adderley , Bobby Timmons , Joe Pass .
In the 1990s, he made recordings with Buddy DeFranco in 1992, Ron Holloway in 1993, Hamiet Bluiett in 1995, Hank Jones in 1996 and Jay McShann in 1997 and worked as a musician on the transatlantic liner SS Norway . He also worked as a music teacher and consultant for the jazz program on the WBET-TV channel. In 1998 he released his first album on The Orchard under his own name Bass, Buddies & Blues .
Keter Betts long settled in Washington, DC ; he died in 2005 at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland.
literature
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide of Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Bielefeld Catalog Jazz 2001
- Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
Web links
- Works by and about Keter Betts in the catalog of the German National Library
- Keter Betts biography and video interview excerpts at National Visionary Leadership Project
- Keter Betts at Allmusic
- Obituary in the Washington Post
Remarks
- ↑ His nickname "Keter" is a corruption of the word "mosquito".
- ^ Congressional Record
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Betts, Keter |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Betts, William Thomas (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz bassist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 22, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Port Chester , New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 6, 2005 |
| Place of death | Silver Spring |