LOS ANGELES, July 14: Jazz giant Benny Carter has died at the age of 95, a notice on his website said on Monday.

Carter died early on Saturday at Cedars-Sinai hospital here after a brief illness, it said.

“Although physically weak, he remained completely lucid and enjoyed speaking with many of his friends worldwide over the past few weeks,” the notice said.

Although not widely known to the jazz public until late in an extraordinarily long career, fellow musicians nicknamed him “the King” for his astonishing versatility, and critics recognized him as a major influence in American music. A multi-instrumentalist, Carter could hold his own on the trumpet, clarinet, piano, tenor and bass saxophone, although his greatest skill was the alto saxophone.

His compositions and arrangements were featured by a Who’s Who of jazz instrumentalists and singers, including Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Lou Rawls, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, and Mel Torme.

He helped shape big band and swing jazz as a bandleader from 1929 to 1946, while work overseas in the 1930s helped spread jazz in Europe.

Carter toured Europe from 1935 to 1938, playing mostly in France, Denmark and the Netherlands, and spent 10 months as arranger for the BBC dance orchestra.

Younger musicians like Miles Davis and Max Roach played in his bands and considered him a teacher.—AFP