A highly rated American jazz and fusion violinist who spans a variety of genres, Regina Carter started learning the instrument through the Suzuki method of ear training at four-years-old. She was primed for a career in classical music before witnessing the swinging, flamboyant style of French fiddler Stéphane Grappelli in concert. Alongside her classical training, Carter had only really heard her father's easy listening radio stations and Motown records at that point, but the revelation of Grappelli led her to discover Ella Fitzgerald, George Gershwin and Duke Ellington and she soon transferred to Oakland University to study under jazz trumpeter Marcus Belgrave.
After teaching and working as a nanny in Germany, she kick-started her career as part of the female jazz-pop quintet Straight Ahead, but got her big break when she moved to New York and worked as a session musician for the likes of Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill and Mary J. Blige and played with the String Trio of New York. She released her self-titled debut album in 1995 through Atlantic Records and hit her stride when she joined legendary jazz label Verve for 'Motor City Moments' in 2000 and 'Freefall' in 2001. Her style was drawn mainly from bebop, swing and Afro-Cuban grooves, but she also took on African roots music and worked with Malian kora player Yacouba Sissoko on her acclaimed 2010 album 'Reverse Thread', before delving back into her family tree and trying to re-imagine the traditional sounds that her coal mining grandfather from Alabama would have heard on 'Southern Comfort'. She also worked with singer Cassandra Wilson, trombonist Steve Turre and singer-songwriter Joe Jackson, and in 2017 paid tribute to Ella Fitzgerald on the album 'Ella: Accentuate the Positive'.
