Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz - Thomas R. Carter

Thomas R. Carter

Thomas R. Carter, President, co-founded the Institute in 1986 with the family of jazz pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk. The following year, he co-founded the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. In 1995, he helped create the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, now at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Carter served as the producer of several "Jazz at the White House" gala concerts that were taped and aired as PBS television specials. He also initiated and served as executive producer of "A Celebration of America's Music," a one-hour ABC television special that was broadcast in 1996 and became the first jazz television special to air on network television in more than 25 years. In 1997, Carter served as executive producer for a second ABC television special. In 2011, he oversaw a series of educational programs in the United States and abroad that marked the Thelonious Monk Institute's 25th Anniversary. That same year, he helped establish International Jazz Day, a worldwide annual April 30 celebration of jazz designated by UNESCO, and presented in partnership with the United Nations, the U.S. Department of State, and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.