You’d think that in the 11 years since the world-records people at Guinness recognized Ron Carter as the “most recorded jazz bassist” ever, people would’ve quit asking what his “next project” would be. Nope. Even the president of Blue Note Records was curious. “I ran into Don Was at a gig somewhere,” Carter says, “and, of course, he said, ‘Hey, man, what’s your next project?’ I said, “Oh, man, not you.’”

Carter said he’d been thinking of making a public version of the private hymn recordings he’d made for his mother during her final days. Was suggested he team up with Ricky Dillard, the leader of the 80-voice New-G (for “Generation”) choir. 

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Carter said OK, and suddenly found himself outside his comfort zones. 

“I’ve seen choirs. I’ve heard them all my life. But my skill level—my skill set—doesn’t have in it helping them say whatever they’re trying to say.” Also, how does one record gospel-choir-meets-bass performances without drowning out the bass altogether?

Was and Dillard’s assistant Zeke Listenbee found a way, and the proof is the album, Sweet, Sweet Spirit. Whether on rousing roof raisers (“Open My Eyes,” “Everybody Will Be Happy”) or more rhythmically nuanced workouts (“Pass Me Not,” “Just a Little Talk with Jesus”), Carter’s elastically loping bass pulses as palpably as a vein in a well-flexed arm. 

In Peter Schnall’s 2022 documentary Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes, then 84-year-old Ron said, “I’m not sure what I want to do other than keep looking for the right notes. I know I’ve found some, but there’s some more available to me, some other combination of notes that I haven’t discovered.”

Did he find any on Sweet, Sweet Spirit? “This record does have some of those very special notes. I don’t necessarily issue a challenge of ‘Find Waldo,’” he says, laughing, “but they’re there.”

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