[Dixielandjazz] Keter Betts obit

[Stan Brager]

 Jazz Bassist Keter Betts Dies at 77

 By Adam Bernstein

  Keter Betts, 77, a jazz bassist heard on more than 200 recordings, notably
with guitarist Charlie Byrd and singers Dinah Washington and Ella
Fitzgerald, was found dead Aug. 6 at his home in Silver Spring.

 The cause of death has not been determined, according to the McGuire
funeral home in the District.

 Trumpeter Clark Terry, formerly with the Duke Ellington and "Tonight Show"
orchestras, said Mr. Betts was "on the top plateau of all the bass players."

 Mr. Betts played in bands with Oscar Peterson, Tommy Flanagan, Woody
Herman, Nat Adderley, Joe Pass, Clifford Brown and Vince Guaraldi.

 After he made the Washington area his home in the mid-1950s, Mr. Betts
teamed with Byrd, the lyrical guitarist who made his name with sensual,
samba-inspired bossa nova music. They were regulars at the Showboat Lounge
in the District and made several State Department-sponsored trips abroad.

 During one trip to Brazil, Mr. Betts became enthralled with samba records
and, he said, spent months persuading Byrd to play the music around
Washington.

 Although Mr. Betts was on the million-selling "Jazz Samba" (1962) album -- 
recorded at Washington's All Souls Unitarian Church -- stars Byrd and
saxophonist Stan Getz were credited with launching the bossa nova craze in
the United States.

 One of the most memorable songs from the album, "Desafinado," featured Mr.
Betts doing the supple bass-line introduction. But his contribution to
finding the music went unheralded until recent years, after he spoke to
JazzTimes magazine about his role.

 Ken Kimery, a producer and drummer with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks
Orchestra, told The Washington Post in 2003: "My experience with him is that
he feels the story will come out, and he does not feel he'll have to be the
one who takes the effort to do that. . . . Here's a gentleman who's done so
much and does not feel the need to self-promote."

 William Thomas Betts was born in Port Chester, N.Y., July 22, 1928, and was
raised by his single mother, a domestic worker. He got his nickname when a
family friend said the baby was as cute as a mosquito. Mosquito became
Skeeter, then Keter.

 One day, his mother sent the youngster for milk and bread at the market.
Thrilled by the sound of a passing Italian parade, he followed the drummer
across town. He was gone four hours with the milk and bread.

 "My mother almost killed me when I got home," he told an interviewer. "I
got a whippin'. After that, I told my mother I wanted to play drums."

 She figured that if her fury did not dissuade him, he must be serious. She
arranged for drum lessons.

 His switch to the bass came one day in 1946, his senior year in high
school. He went to New York to see Cab Calloway's big band and meet the
drummer. When bassist Milt Hinton appeared at the stage door, he told the
teenager that the drummer was gone but that he would spring for a 35-cent
lunch. He also talked up the bass.

 Ultimately, Hinton's words were not as persuasive to Mr. Betts as the fact
that carrying a drum set up four flights of stairs to his mother's apartment
was excruciating.

 Almost from the start, Mr. Betts's professional career brought him to
Washington. New York area saxophonist Carmen Leggio invited Mr. Betts to
play with his band at a club near the Howard Theatre in 1947.

 In 1949, while Mr. Betts was playing at Washington's Club Bali, R&B
bandleader Earl Bostic heard and hired him. He made his recording debut that
year on Bostic's rendition of "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams."

 "I didn't want to play R&B," Mr. Betts said. "But it was a good chance to
go on the road and see the country."

 He met Dinah Washington in 1951, when she and pianist Wynton Kelly were
doing a one-nighter with Bostic's band. The singer offered Mr. Betts a job,
and he spent five years with the notorious Queen of the Blues and cut
several classic records, including "Dinah Jams" (1954) and "Dinah!" (1956).

 Her gruff exterior was "for the people," Mr. Betts said. "She was a
different person inside." She paid for Mr. Betts's wedding reception in 1953
at Birdland in New York; Tito Puente provided the music.

 Washington taught Mr. Betts a secret to good musicianship: Learn the
lyrics. She said the best musicians know the entire song, not just the chord
changes.

 "There's an art to playing behind the singer," he said later. "When the
singer comes onstage, they're buck naked. And it's the job of the group
backing her up to dress that person for the audience."

 He met Fitzgerald through his golfing partner, bassist Ray Brown, the
singer's ex-husband and business manager. Mr. Betts played with Fitzgerald
in the mid-1960s and again from 1971 to 1993, often doing weeks of
one-nighters around the world.

 Meanwhile, he played at the Kennedy Center and on jazz cruises. He also
stayed active in musical education through Head Start, among other programs.
At the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, he often
amazed the kindergarten set by taking "Happy Birthday" and covering it in
different styles: classical, Brazilian, country and western, rock and jazz.

 In 1994, he was inducted into the Washington Area Music Association's Hall
of Fame.

 He emerged as a bandleader with a flurry of recent CDs and composed a
handful of songs, notably the sweet and tender "Pinky's Waltz," in memory of
his wife, Mildred Grady Betts, who died in 2000.

 Survivors include five children, William Betts Jr. of Washington, Jon Betts
of Olney, Derek Betts of Los Angeles and Jacquelyn Betts and Jennifer Betts,
both of Silver Spring; and four grandchildren.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nancy Giffin" <NANCYink at surewest.net>
To: "Dixieland Jazz" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 2:23 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Keter Betts obit


> If anyone finds a good obit honoring Keter Betts,
> please post it or send it to me directly.
> Thanks in advance!
>
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