Castles of Ghana
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Castles of Ghana
| type = studio
| artist = John Carter
| cover = Castles of Ghana.jpg
| alt =
| released = 1986
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio = East Studio
| genre =
| length =
| label = Gramavision{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-carter-mn0000810946/biography|title=John Carter Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic}}
| producer = John Carter, Jonathan F. P. Rose
| prev_title = Dauwhe
| prev_year = 1982
| next_title = Dance of the Love Ghosts
| next_year = 1987
}}
Castles of Ghana is an album by the American musician John Carter.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nc_QCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA595|title=The Oxford Companion to Jazz|first=Bill|last=Kirchner|date=October 19, 2000|publisher=Oxford University Press}}{{cite news |last1=Point |first1=Michael |title=Legend of jazz passes away |work=Austin American-Statesman |date=11 Apr 1991 |department=Onward |page=15}} It was released in 1986.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x0a_wkS4gUkC&pg=PA505|title=The Essential Jazz Records: Modernism to postmodernism|first1=Max|last1=Harrison|first2=Charles|last2=Fox|first3=Eric|last3=Thacker|first4=Stuart|last4=Nicholson|date=January 1, 2000|publisher=A&C Black}} Carter premiered the music at The Public Theater, in November 1985.{{cite news |last1=Pareles |first1=Jon |title=Jazz |work=The New York Times |date=3 Nov 1985 |page=A2}} Carter chose the title after being informed that former Ghanaian castles had been used to hold Africans sold into slavery.{{cite news |last1=Tesser |first1=Neil |title='Unfulfilled dreams' Carter opus tracks poignant experience of black migration |work=Chicago Tribune |date=15 Nov 1989 |department=Tempo |page=3}}
Production
The album was the second part of a five-part series on Black history, titled Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/castles-of-ghana-mw0000193303|title=John Carter Castles of Ghana|website=AllMusic}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rJ81XpYP7B4C&pg=PA82|title=A Night in Tunisia: Imaginings of Africa in Jazz|first=Norman C.|last=Weinstein|date=September 2, 1994|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation}} The liner notes were written by Carter, who described the atrocity of slavery.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dnGfoaI5eT4C&pg=PA442|title=Texan Jazz|first=Dave|last=Oliphant|date=September 2, 1996|publisher=University of Texas Press}} Benny Powell played trombone on the album; Andrew Cyrille played drums.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Will |title='Castles' Is One of Best from Last Year |work=Omaha World-Herald |date=January 18, 1987 |department=Entertainment}}
Critical reception
{{music ratings
|rev1 = AllMusic
|rev2 = Robert Christgau
|rev2score = B−{{Cite web|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=John+Carter|title=John Carter|website=Robert Christgau}}
|rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
|rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=2 |page=227}}
|rev4 = MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide
|rev4score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite book |title=MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide |date=1998 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=209}}
}}
Robert Christgau wrote that "this ain't jazz, it's modern chamber music, quite European in view of its ostensible subject." The New York Times called the album "a powerful jazz composition in its own right and an ideal setting for the composer's hard-edged, penetrating clarinet improvisations."{{cite news |last1=Palmer |first1=Robert |title=Jazz Virtuosos Usher in a Second Golden Age of the Clarinet |work=The New York Times |date=1 June 1986 |page=A25}}
The Gazette noted that it "is not easy listening," writing that "Carter's compositions are closer to the European brand of improvised jazz, without the rhythmic and harmonic convention usually associated with the music."{{cite news |last1=Block |first1=Irwin |title=For a taste of the avant garde... |work=The Gazette |date=26 June 1986 |page=E2}} The Los Angeles Times determined that Carter demonstrates "his amazing facility for jumping from one register to another with an ease that seems to extend the [clarinet]'s naturally capacious range."{{cite news |last1=Feather |first1=Leonard |title=Rebirth of the Clarinet? |work=Los Angeles Times |date=12 Oct 1986 |department=Calendar |page=57}}
The Philadelphia Inquirer listed Castles of Ghana among the 10 best jazz albums of 1986.{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Francis |title=Best of 1986: In Jazz, the Year of the Composer |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=1 Jan 1987 |page=D1}}
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing =
| title1 = Castles of Ghana
| length1 =
| title2 = Evening Prayer
| length2 =
| title3 = Conversations
| length3 =
| title4 = The Fallen Prince
| length4 =
| title5 = Theme of Desperation
| length5 =
| title6 = Capture
| length6 =
| title7 = Postlude
| length7 =
}}