General Biography

Nik Carter was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk on the 6th September 1985.

He started playing the clarinet at the age of 8 and moved onto the saxophone at the age of 12.
While at school he played with various youth concert, orchestra and big bands having sax lessons locally with George King and later Dean Masser, Nick Walker and Simon Allen.
He attended the Junior Jazz course at the Royal Academy Of Music for a year, which was lead by Nick Smart, and played with various British jazz musicians such as Tim Garland and Pete Churchill. At the age of 16 he made a guest appearance with NYJO, and after continued rehearsals obtained a regular spot in the band playing tenor. With NYJO Nik played with Buddy Grecco, and also played at the BAFTA Awards in London. He was also featured playing on a NYJO album called “London Pride” which featured special guests Sir John Dankworth and Cleo Lane. At around this time he acquired a place on the jazz course at Trinity College Of Music in Greenwich, London. At Trinity, he received lessons and master classes led by Martin Speake, Mark Lockheart, Mick Foster, Jean Toussaint, Russell Van den Berg, Gerard Presencer, Bobby Lamb and Ian Ballamy. Whilst at Trinity, Nik was presented with opportunities to work in the ‘session’ and commercial world of playing - the first of these being work with a band called “Holy Soul” who played at Peter Andre and Jordan’s wedding. More recently Nik has just finished two world tours with UK pop artist Lily Allen and is involved, performing and recording with various other Pop, Gospel and Jazz artists in London.

The instruments Nik plays are: -

Both the Alto and Tenor are Yamaha’s top Custom EX models, all in black.

Alto
YAS-875 EX

Tenor
YTS-875 EX

Baritone
YBS-62

Flute
YFL-211

Clarinet
YCL-650S

Nik is currently trying out a soprano which is a:
YSS-875EX Custom Bb Soprano Saxophone

The instruments Nik used to play were -

Soprano – A Yanagisawa S990 straight.

Alto – A 1936 Selmer Balanced Action

Tenor – A Selmer Mark VI 1953 (transitional model) and a Selmer Super Balanced Action Series II (which was in white lacquer)

Baritone – A 1953 Conn Crossbar

The Reasons I Prefer My New Yamaha Instruments.

For the past 2 years my saxophone playing has taken a different direction. From July 06 I started touring with pop singer Lily Allen, this was my first big pop gig and it meant that I needed different things from my saxophone. I have for many years played Selmer saxophones: - my main tenor was a very early Mark VI. There is no doubt that these horns are fantastic, which is shown in the respect they are given by player’s worldwide, young and old. However I believe that with the new direction in modern music with touring and working in the studio the New Yamaha EX horns have the upper hand. My reasons for this are: - Touring wise, the Yamaha’s are amazing mechanically. I have had no problems on the road at all. When you have to travel a lot, it is inevitable that the horns are going to be subjected to “wear and tear”, but the EX’s took it all in their stride. It’s great not having to worry about your horn breaking down. It is the worst feeling if you’re two minutes before you’re on stage and looking for elastic bands to hold your old sax together! In the studio the EX comes into its own, its tuning is immaculate all over the horn, and is better than any other horn I have played. You don’t hear any keys clanking or air leaking, just the pure tone of the saxophone. The way it projects is phenomenal - I can remember having my Mark VI vented (opening up the keys from the tone holes to make it speak louder). The problem with this is that you loose the accuracy on tuning because of the huge gap between the keys. The EX is not like that. Yamaha have found a way to make the horn project without any side effects such as loss in accuracy of tuning and response.
This is a material reason but none-the-less important. The horns look great, and I have been complemented so many times by producers and bandleaders on how smart the horn looks. My EX’s are lacquered in a black finish, the quality being perfect. The finish is like no other I have seen, as it’s really easy to keep clean. This is a great feature as you can quickly rub away any dried watermarks or sweat with ease. Having appeared on a lot of TV shows last year it has been important to me to play a smart looking (and sounding!) horn.
As I am continuing to develop as a player I am thankful to Yamaha UK for their support and great instruments.

Latest events gigs/projects and various sessions.

Recent Sessions include ‘The Mystery Jets’ ‘Late Of The Pier’ and “Findlay Brown”

Recent bands include ‘The Tarrantinos’ whom I played a film festival with in Holland.

In March I am due to play at the Royal Festival hall with the gospel company ‘IGospel’. They are a charity that works with children from various boroughs of London. I also appeared with them last year at the Royal Albert Hall.

In early February I held a master class at my old music centre in King’s Lynn, Norfolk. I educated a group of 14 students, from the ages of 16 to 40, about the role of the saxophone in the last century. It was a great success (I’ll forward a write up). This is something that interests me as I feel that at 22 I can relate a modern take on playing and the saxophone to young people.

Lily Allen is due to start touring again in the summer although no dates have been confirmed as yet.

TV Appearances: -

“Marriage and Mayhem" Peter Andre and Jordan's wedding
Taratata! - French T.V.
“Top Of The Pops” - (also on that show were Girls Aloud, McFly, Corrine Bailey Rae,)
“Later with Jools Holland- Hootenanny special” - (also on that show were: The Kooks, The Zutons, Amy Winehouse and Paul Weller)
“The BAFTA Awards” London.
“T in the Park” on channel 4.
“Popworld” on T4
“The Brit Awards” " The Brits are coming " 2007
“V Festival Live” - Channel 4 - 2006 & 2007
“Glastonbury Festival Live” on BBC1 - 2007
“Saturday Night Live” hosted by Drew Barrymore - 2007
“The Today Show” - Live broadcast 2007
“MTV – TRL” with Nicole Ritchie
“The Tonight show with Jay Leno” - LA
“The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” - CBS - LA
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” - LA
“Jimmy Kimmel Live !” - LA
“Later with Carson Daly” - LA
“Princess Diana Memorial Concert” - Live BBC broadcast from Wembley Stadium to over 140 countries and a total of 1 billion viewers...alongside great artists such as Sir Elton John, Rod Stewart, Brian Ferry, Will Young, Fergie, P.Diddy, Ricky Gervais, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Duran Duran, Kayne West, Joss Stone and celebrities such as, Kiefer Sutherland, Sienna Miller, Cat Deeley, and the Beckhams, to name but a few.
Various T.V. shows in Europe, Japan, Australia and Russia.

Places toured: -
USA, South America, Canada, Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Dubai.

Website. http://www.nikcarter.co.uk
Myspace. Myspace.com/nikcartersax