Carl Arter, an accomplished pianist and former president of the American Federation of Musicians Local 471, died Wednesday at UPMC Shadyside. He was 87.

Mr. Arter was no child prodigy. His musical insight arrived largely from the knowledge one acquires only after spending years performing in smoke-filled clubs, or time spent working through the challenges of some academic piece.

Mr. Arter grew up on the North Side and attended Allegheny High School.

At 23, he began to play the tenor saxophone. He'd heard a solo on the radio while riding to work one morning. A few days later, Mr. Arter purchased a terrible old sax that dated to the Civil War for $75.

After a few weeks, he began taking lessons. His first teacher taught him the rudiments, but he was interested in playing jazz so he began taking lessons from Max Atkins, a tenor player who also directed the house band at the old Stanley Theater.

After a couple of years, Mr. Arter joined the Army. Most of his time was spent at Fort Sill, Okla., directing the Army Jazz Band. During his time at Sill, he sat in with trumpeter Thad Jones and Snookum Russell's band in Oklahoma City. Mr. Russell's band also featured Pittsburgh drummer Joe Harris, bassist Ray Brown and vocalist Tiny Brown.

After his discharge, Mr. Arter returned to Pittsburgh and began to teach lessons in the Hill District.

Teaching gave him an opportunity to review things he had learned, and it was around this time that he began to realize how important the saxophone had become in his life.

It was also around this time that Mr. Arter met 14-year-old Stanley Turrentine. Mr. Arter and Stanley's older brother, Tommy, had been performing together, and Tommy asked whether Mr. Arter would teach his younger sibling.

And Mr. Arter did.

Mr. Arter continued to perform around town, performing in bands with Harry Nash and Linton Garner.

In 1957, Mr. Arter switched to piano. Mr. Garner had left the band to join singer and comedian Timmy Rogers' band. The job was supposed to be for a couple of weeks but was extended for several months.

"I tried to find a piano player but I wasn't able," Mr. Arter told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a previous interview. "So I found a tenor player and hired myself as the piano player."

For more than 10 years the group worked at the Pirate Inn on Frankstown Road.

From 1954 to 1960, Mr. Arter served as president of the American Federation of Musicians Local 471, the city's black musicians union.

"He was an unheralded genius," said trumpeter Chuck Austin. "He was a master musician in terms of harmony and arranging music."

In 2000, Mr. Arter was honored for his contributions to jazz at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center.

Mr. Arter is survived by his wife, Geneva, of Penn Hills; four daughters, Carlagene, of Lincoln-Lemington; Marilyn, of Lincoln-Lemington; Renae Reynolds, of Braddock Hills; and Denise Hempfield, of Swissvale; a son, Grieg Shrock of Swissvale; seven grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Samuel Coston Funeral Home, 427 Lincoln Ave., Larimer.

A funeral will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Mount Ararat Baptist Church, 271 Paulson Ave., Larimer.