Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

CARR, Ian

(b 21 April 1933, Dumfries, Scotland; d 25 February 2009) Trumpet, flugelhorn, leader, composer, writer, self-taught from age 17. He began recording in Newcastle in 1961 with the EmCee 5, a band that played very good bebop led by his brother, keyboardist Mike Carr (see his entry). (Ian had to audition for Mike, and passed.) He made five albums as co-leader of a quintet with Don Rendell '63-9, five with the New Jazz Orchestra, and also played with Joe Harriott, John McLaughlin, Don Byas and others. He formed the fusion group Nucleus in 1969, influential in Europe; albums included Elastic Rock and Solar Plexus '70, Belladonna '72, Labyrinth and Roots '73, Snakehips Etcetera '75, all on Vertigo (Phonogram); In Flagrante Delicto and Out Of The Long Dark '77-8 on Capitol, Awakening '80 and Live At The Theaterhaus '85 on Mood.

Carr made five albums after 1975 with the United Jazz And Rock Ensemble (gigging '94 with Barbara Thompson on board, especially popular in Germany). He dropped the name Nucleus; the Ian Carr Group's Old Heartland '89 on MMC had begun as the suite 'Spirit Of Place' '86 for the Bracknell Jazz Festival. He taught workshops for teenagers in North London, and also at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. A valuable music journalist, he contributed to many periodicals, and his books included Music Outside: Contemporary Jazz In Britain '73 and Miles Davis: A Critical Biography '82. As co-author of the excellent A--Z Jazz: The Essential Companion '87 with Digby Fairweather and Brian Priestley (new edition '95 as Jazz: The Rough Guide with work by Chris Parker and others), he knew better than ever that too many UK jazzmen have to go abroad to find work, so he formed Orchestra UK in 1989 for gigs, with reedmen Evan Parker, Alan Skidmore, John Surman and Tony Coe, flautist Philip Bent, all three members of Azimuth, etc.

Carr suffered from ill health in later years; he had beaten cancer in the 1970s, and suffered from depression (one of his later albums was called Out of the Long Dark) but was always cheerful and enthusiastic for his colleagues when it came to music. He later suffered from Alzheimer's disease.