{{short description|American jazz musician}}
'''Wayman Carver''' (December 25, 1905, Portsmouth, Virginia – May 6, 1967, Atlanta)<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=434}}</ref> was an American jazz flutist and reeds player.<ref>{{cite web |title=Collection: Wayman A. Carver papers {{!}} Archives Research Center |url=http://findingaids.auctr.edu/repositories/2/resources/37 |website=Findingaids.auctr.edu |publisher=Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library |accessdate=18 January 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011225443/http://findingaids.auctr.edu/repositories/2/resources/37 |archivedate=2018-10-11}}</ref> He is considered as a pioneer of the use of the flute in jazz.
Carver was a rare jazz flautist active during the swing era, and was among the earliest soloists on his main instrument to perform jazz, although Alberto Socarras preceded him by about five years. Many historians credit him as the first pure jazz flutist.<ref name="Peter Guidi">{{cite web |last1=Guidi |first1=Peter |title=A Short History of the Jazz Flute (extract from 'The Jazz Flute', volume II). © 1997, Molenaar Edition B.V.) |url=http://members.chello.nl/guidiflute/history.html |website=Peter Guidi - Forbidden Flute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919003501/http://members.chello.nl/guidiflute/history.html |access-date=11 January 2025|archive-date=19 September 2017 }}</ref> His first professional experience was with J. Neal Montgomery.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> After he moved to New York City in 1931, he recorded and performed with Dave Nelson, and played with Elmer Snowden (1931–32), Benny Carter, and Spike Hughes (1933).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Yanow |first1=Scott |title=Wayman Carver {{!}} Biography & History |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/wayman-carver-mn0000241821 |website=AllMusic |accessdate=18 January 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429065746/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/wayman-carver-mn0000241821 |archivedate=2016-04-29 |language=en-us}}</ref> His recordings from this time, among the first which included jazz flute, are cited by jazz flutists during the late 1940`s and early 1950`s as being models for their playing.
From 1934 to 1939, he played with Chick Webb on both saxophone and flute.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> After Webb died, he continued in the orchestra during its period of leadership under Ella Fitzgerald until 1941.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> After leaving the jazz scene, he became a professor of music at Clark College, where he taught saxophonists George Adams and Marion Brown, among others.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Tenor saxophonist and flutist Frank Wess named Carver as one of his early flute teachers.<ref name="Peter Guidi">{{cite web |last1=Guidi |first1=Peter |title=A Short History of the Jazz Flute (extract from 'The Jazz Flute', volume II). © 1997, Molenaar Edition B.V.) |url=http://members.chello.nl/guidiflute/history.html |website=Peter Guidi - Forbidden Flute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919003501/http://members.chello.nl/guidiflute/history.html |access-date=11 January 2025|archive-date=19 September 2017 }}</ref>
==References== {{archival records|title=Wayman A. Carver papers}} {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/201649 Wayman Carver recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carver, Wayman}} Category:1905 births Category:1967 deaths Category:American jazz flautists Category:American jazz saxophonists Category:American male saxophonists Category:20th-century American saxophonists Category:Jazz musicians from Virginia Category:20th-century American male musicians Category:American male jazz musicians Category:20th-century American flautists Category:American male flautists