DETROIT, MI Aspiring young jazz musicians will work first-hand with James Carter, one of today's most acclaimed saxophonist. Carter is "coming home" to host a one-day jazz workshop on Tuesday, October 14, 2003, presented by Wayne State University Department of Music. The workshop is being held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Wayne's campus in room 2414 of the Old Main Building, located at 4841 Cass Ave. between Warren and Hancock. Carter's workshop is free and open to the public. For more information call (313) 577-1795 or visit Department of Music.

Detroit-area high school musicians, along with WSU Jazz Studies majors will have an opportunity to hone their skills in an intense two-hour workshop lead by Detroit-native James Carter. "Detroit will always be important to me," states James. "It's the place where certain rites of passage took place." Like James's early days in Detroit, learning and mastering his instrument with local be-bop veteran Donald Washington, WSU and area high school musicians will have an opportunity to play for and be coached by a Detroit-made jazz prodigy.

At just seventeen, James Carter was invited by Wynton Marsalis to perform a number of engagements with his quintet. Soon to follow was an invitation by late Lester Bowie to make his New York debut with his New York Organ Ensemble in 1988. Following his debut, James moved to New York in 1990 and quickly made a name for himself, performing regularly with jazz legends Lester Bowie, Julius Hemphill, Betty Carter, and the Marsalis Big Band at Lincoln Center. Soon after arriving in New York City, Carter made his U.S. recording debut with "The Real Quietstorm" on the Atlantic Records label. The 1994 album earned James critical acclaim. Since "The Real Quietstorm" Carter released five albums on the Atlantic Records label. Now recording exclusively for Columbia/SONY Records, his debut album on the label, "Gardenias For Lady Day", will be released November 11, 2003.

In addition to his own recordings, James has performed on albums with Cyrus Chestnut, Herbie Hancock, fellow Detroiters Rodney Whitaker, Regina Carter, Karrin Allyson and Flip Phillips. In 2002, he toured in Japan with John Hick's group and toured Western Canada with his Organ Trio, concluding the tour at the Montreal Jazz Festival on July 4, 2002. In October 2002 James performed the world premiere of Roberto Sierra's saxophone concerto, commissioned and performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Carter has returned to Detroit this October to perform the Concerto with the DSO.

James Carter recently topped Down Beat's annual Critics Poll in the Baritone Saxophone category for the third year in a row.

Wayne State University Department of Music is celebrating 85 years of artistic and academic excellence. The Department's faculty includes renowned jazz artists, composers, scholars, educators and members of the internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra. WSU alumni have gone on to careers in distinguished orchestras, ensembles and as soloists and music educators the world over.