Daniel Carter (born 1945 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania) is an American free jazz saxophone, flute, clarinet, and trumpet player active mainly in New York City since the early 1970s. A review of a recent recording describes Carter's timbre as “an almost Lee Konitz-like cool.”

Carter is a prolific performer and has recorded or performed with William Parker, Federico Ughi, DJ Logic, The Negatones,Thurston Moore, Yo La Tengo, Soul-Junk, Anne Waldman, Cooper-Moore, Matthew Shipp and scientist/musician Matthew Putman among others. He is a member of the cooperative free jazz groups Test, Other Dimensions In Music, and Ghost Moth.

“Trumpeter and saxophonist Daniel Carter is in my opinion strongly underevaluated. He does not have a very pronounced characteristic that makes him instantly recognizable, yet he is one of the few people who can really build a song while improvising, with mood, melody and lots of soul, regardless of the context or the line-up. Carter is not a power-player, quite to the contrary, he is more into sensitive soul or expressive lyricism, while being adventurous at the same time.” – Free Jazz Collective