By Lisa Morgan
Everybody loves music, but few are cut out to be the vessel to provide this magically universal gift. Fewer still are willing to make the sacrifices to focus on their craft such as leaving the proverbial “day job” behind in order to channel and fine tune this gift full time. Scott C. Carter is one such troubadour who, armed with musical intelligence, natural ability, desire and character, is quickly becoming a local desert favorite among patrons and fellow musicians.
Influenced by his father’s old Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock jazz records and keeping his ear on Sly Stone’s late night radio program featuring The Temptations and The Four Tops, Scott knew early on what he wanted to be. Scott’s father even took him to see Buddy Rich live, but when he saw the Jackson Five for the first time on the Ed Sullivan show all thoughts of becoming anything other than a performer went out the window. Living in San Francisco’s Daily City, the attitude of the local youth was “Put up or shut up”. So when his brother and he would play the set of drums owned by one of the neighborhood kids, the rule was, “You play until you make a mistake”. Much to the chagrin of other kids waiting for their turn at the drums, Scott found himself in his natural element. Scott started playing drums at 9 years old and was performing his first paid gig with his brother by age 12.
When his dad, a doctor, went to Vietnam, Scott and his brother moved to Cambridge with their mother where the two boys began playing clarinet and learning how to read music. When Dad sent home an electric guitar, Scott immediately turned in his clarinet. He began taking guitar lessons but the folk guitar he was being taught didn’t compare to the music he’d grown to love. Fortunately some local musicians in the neighborhood took him under their wing and Scott, ever willing to watch, listen and learn was taught his first two songs on guitar: Jimmy Hendrix’s Fire and Purple Haze. Dad was later stationed in Germany in 1970. There, Scott and his brother put together a band playing their first paid gig for the local Girl Scout troop. They played every song they knew, a total of 5 songs altogether, over and over all night long. Eventually they began playing at the military base youth club and ultimately at the NCO Club, where Scott and his brother found themselves playing with career musicians and learning at the speed of sound until their father was re-stationed once again, this time in El Paso, Texas.
In El Paso, Scott was able to learn advanced level music theory from an exceptional teacher in High school. Unfortunately this left Scott unchallenged at the University level and inspired him to move and enroll at Long Beach City College’s contemporary music program run by Dr. George Shaw. Shaw’s music program offered live interactive performances with the likes of modern Jazz greats such as David Sanborn, Tom Scott and Patrice Rush. Equipped with a 16 track recording studio, Scott was also able to study recording techniques and began to produce projects for other musicians. Eventually, Scott was invited to tour with the then popular group Shalamar, originally a disco-driven group created by Soul Train booking agent Dick Griffey and show creator Don Cornelius. Scott played for them on the jazz festival circuit, working huge concert venues for up to 85,000 fans and touring along with other iconic artists the likes of Luther Vandross, Patty La Belle, Tina Marie and The Commodores in the 80’s.
In 1988, Scott’s former College professor pointed a record company in Scott’s direction. They then produced and distributed his solo album Scott Carter Real Love nationally.
Somewhere in the midst of all this success, Scott got lost in drugs and alcohol. From 1985 until 1991, his life was consumed. “I lost everything to it – guitars, drums, a fiancé. No one would hire me. My family attempted two interventions. Finally, my mom, all by herself, convinced me to look at my life and enter a rehab in New Hampshire. I’ve been clean and sober ever since December 12, 1991.” Scott credits Narcotics Anonymous, their meetings and the 12 steps for his recovery. His life is all about music and recovery now.
But putting his life back together after recovery didn’t include music initially. He thought he’d never play again after not picking up an instrument for two years. “I just didn’t think I had the chops for it anymore.” But sometime after moving to the McAlister Institute for Treatment and Education in Oceanside, a clean and sober dwelling for recovering addicts, Scott managed to get one guitar out of hock. He started to play a little and pretty soon, a couple of guys in recovery with him formed the Trenton Street Blues Band. He was then approached to play in a band at The Sugar Shack at Pacific Beach every Saturday night and things just grew from there.
Scott had managed to earn his credential as a medical technician and for about 10 years he’d work that job by day and play music a couple nights a week. But, as often happens when you’re really good, the music opportunities escalate and it came down to a choice: the day job or music. “I haven’t looked back ever since. I’ve been playing music solely for a living since 2002. There’s been some good times and bad times. But I’ve never regretted it. And things are really starting to look good here in the desert where music is concerned. It seems things have come full circle. I’m really excited about this next year.”
Writing music since he was 23 years old, Scott now has a self-produced album and is working on a second. Scott Carter and his band New Breed are booked at Fantasy springs about once a month with their next show scheduled for February 8-9. They have opened shows for Hootie & the Blowfish, UB-40, Stanley Clarke, Eek A Mouse, Bedouin Sound Clash, John Brown’s Body, Jesse Colin Young, Robert Walters (of Greyboy Allstars featuring Karl Denson), Common Sense and The B-Side Players. You can also find Scott weekly at Palm Springs Village Pub on Tuesday nights with reggae band Kingstown Trio along with band leader Roger King on drums, Rob Martinez on bass and Scott on guitar. Scott plays and sings solo with his guitar at Village Pub on Sundays from 2-5 and plays acoustic guitar at The Hogs Breath Inn in Old Town La Quinta Sundays and Mondays from 6-9. Scott can even be found playing drums for the John Stanley King Band on occasion as he did this past New Year’s Eve.
To sum it up, Scott Carter is a man doing exactly what he was created to do. An artist, an entertainer, a top notch musician and producer. But most importantly, Scott Carter is a tenacious survivor and man of character whose depth is clearly communicated through his music. For more information regarding scheduling or booking go to his website www.newbreedband.com, follow him on Facebook at Scott C Carter or email him at cartermusic@hotmail.com.
