[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 21, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1912]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING BASSIST KETER BETTS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 21, 2005

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of the legendary 
bassist William Thomas Betts, better known as ``Keter'', who died at 
age 77 on August 6, 2005.
  Mr. Betts was born on July 25, 1928 in Port Chester, New York, raised 
by his mother, who was a hard working domestic worker. He received his 
nickname from a family friend who said he was as cute as a mosquito. 
From there, mosquito became Skeeter and evolved into Keter. Betts began 
his musical love affair while on a milk and bread errand for his 
mother. On his journey he came across a drummer in an Italian parade 
band. Enchanted by the music, he followed the band across town. After 
he braved the wrath of his mother for not coming right home, he 
expressed his fascination with the drums. His mother arranged for him 
to take drum lessons.
  In 1946, Betts made the switch from the drums to the bass after the 
experience of having to lug the drums up and down four flights of 
stairs, and after an influential encounter with a bassist in Cab 
Calloway's band, Milt Hinton. At the age of nineteen, Betts landed his 
first professional gig, playing for Carmen Leggio for 13 weeks in the 
D.C. area. After touring the country from 1949 to 1951, Betts met jazz 
singer Dinah Washington and toured with her from 1951 until 1956. The 
next 5 years found Betts working in the hottest clubs in the country 
and touring Europe and South America with Charlie Byrd and Woody 
Herman. In 1964, Betts joined up with Ella Fitzgerald for a short tour. 
He would rejoin her several more times, and their career together would 
span 24 years.
  Since the early sixties, Betts has instructed countless young people 
on musical appreciation through various programs, including 
Washington's Performing Arts Society's Concerts in Schools and Prince 
George County's Arts Alive. Although he has appeared on countless 
albums and performances, Betts did not release his first solo album 
until 1998 called Bass, Buddies & Blues. One year later he released a 
second album, Bass, Buddies & Blues Beauty Too. Betts was also a member 
of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Big Band and was inducted into the 
Washington Area Music Association Hall of Fame. Betts performed 
annually at the All-Star Christmas Jazz Jam on the Millennium Stage 
from 2000 to 2004.
  William Thomas Betts, one of jazz's musical geniuses, was truly ``on 
the top plateau of all the bass players.'' His contributions to both 
American musical history specifically and American history in general, 
cannot be denied. Although Betts will be greatly missed, his legacy 
lives through his music.
  I submit the obituary of William Thomas Betts found in the August 6th 
edition of the Washington Post.

                  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 hands 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.

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