The cover of Ian Carr's funeral service programme
which took place on 13 March 2009 at Golders Green Crematorium, London.
The full programme is available to view here
A message from Selina Carr - 10 April 2009
I just would like to thank everyone so much for all their kindness and for all the letters, cards, emails, cds and dvds that I have received from my father's friends and work colleagues. I am very touched. So thank you everyone!
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A message from Selina Carr - 10 April 2009 I just would like to thank everyone so much for all their kindness and for all the letters, cards, emails, cds and dvds that I have received from my father's friends and work colleagues. I am very touched. So thank you everyone! |
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Ian Carr - A Personal Tribute
The Chelsea Arts Club has a long tradition of having musician members performing. I have been running the Friday jazz slot, off and on, for around thirty years. Towards the end of his playing life, I invited Ian to play with my band at the club. He explained that he didn't know many mainstream tunes and I said that we'd play whatever he was happy with. I told him to write out a list and that we'd work round it. The list included, Stella By Starlight, All Blues, Lover Man, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise and The Man I Love. And not much more. The set lasted two hours and we always managed to make this handful of songs go the distance. We might add an improvised blues, and a tune Ian didn't know well. Ian would sit out the head and simply take a couple of choruses in the middle. The line up varied from week to week but the core was Mark Wood on guitar, Dominic Alldis or Sara Dhillon on piano and George Trebar on bass. I played tenor, clarinet and alto. When we couldn't get a bass player, I played bass. There were nights when Ian would play alone with John Butler on piano and me on bass. Ian's fragility worsened visibly during this period and it was obvious something serious was wrong. One night, Ian invited his doctor to listen. When I asked, reluctantly, he told me the bad news. Those Friday nights remain the highlight of my own musical journey. Ian's smile of approval is something I will treasure all my life.
Barry Fantoni
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News
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Nucleus Revisited to play at Ronnie Scott's Nucleus Revisited is playing a gig at Ronnie Scott's on Tuesday 4th August 2009 as part of the club's August British Jazz Festival. The line-up of Nucleus Revisited is: Geoff Castle keyboards; Chris Batchelor trumpet; Phil Todd saxes; Mark Wood guitar; Rob Statham bass and Nic France drums. Michael Garrick is also appearing with a quartet on the same evening. More info on booking tickets for this gig are available on the Ronnie Scott's Club website here |
29 June 2009 - John Latimer Smith, one of Ian Carr's oldest and closest friends died on Friday 26th June. Ian and John first met when Ian did his stint of National Service in the early 1950s. John subsequently became a publisher and his imprint was the Latimer New Dimensions which published Ian's first book "Music Outside". Latimer published a number of books on music, including one by Cornelius Cardew, and a number by modern English poets. John was originally going to publish Ian's much acclaimed biography of Miles Davis, but unfortunately the company had to go into receivership, and the book was published by Quartet.
21 June 2009 - On the latest edition of 'Freakzone' (BBC Radio 6, 21 June 2009) guest Richard Morton Jack described the lack of a CD reissue of 'Hum Dono' by Joe Harriott and Amancio D'Silva as 'shameful'. The title track from this album was then played. Ian Carr, amongst others, appears on this album.
16 June 2009 - This website is saddened to learn of the death today of the great alto player Charlie Mariano, erstwhile member of the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble and colleague of Ian Carr.
9 June 2009 - Hugh Hopper, legendary bass guitarist best known for his years playing with Soft Machine, died on 7 June aged 64. He had been suffering from leukaemia. Apart from Soft Machine, Hopper played in various other bands including Isotope, Gilgamesh, Stomu Yamashta's East Wind, the Carla Bley European Band and latterly with Soft Heap and Soft Machine Legacy (with John Marshall). Hopper also made several albums under his own name including '1984' and 'Hopper Tunity Box'. Hugh was still a member of Soft Machine when it was cited as the top UK small jazz group in the Melody Maker jazz polls in the early 1970s. RIP Hugh.
28 May 2009 - A new Facebook Group has recently been started entitled 'RIP Ian Carr', in honour of this great musician. Join it here
25 May 2009 - The albums 'Silent Promise' and 'Creatures of the Night' by bassist and Nucleus founder member Jeff Clyne and his great jazz rock band 'Turning Point' are to be reissued by Vocalion at the end of this month. They are very highly recommended and features, amongst others, Pepi Lemer on vocals. More details here
5 May 2009 - Last Saturday's 'Jazz Library' included archive interviews with Ian Carr and Neil Ardley plus two tracks featuring Ian Carr, 'Torso' from 'Solar Plexus' and the title track from 'Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe'. The programme can be heard for another four days on the BBC iPlayer from the link here
30 April 2009 - This Saturday's 'Jazz Library' (BBC Radio 3, 16.00 GMT, 2 May 2009) features listener's recommendations including tracks by Ian Carr. There is also an archive interview with Neil Ardley on the programme. At Midnight there is a special repeat of the 'Jazz Library' interview with Ian Carr, previously aired earlier this year.
21 April 2009 - Today is the 76th anniversary of Ian Carr's birth.
9 April 2009 - An obituary for Ian Carr appears in the latest issue of Record Collector (May 2009, No 362).
6 April 2009 - George Cole, author of the book 'The Last Miles - The Music of Miles Davis 1980-1991' has written a personal tribute to his friend Ian Carr on George's website which can be viewed here
26 March 2009 - Alyn Shipton has written an elegant and personal tribute to Ian Carr in the latest issue of Jazzwise magazine (April 2009, issue 129)
23 March 2009 - The latest issue of Mojo magazine (May 2009) has a whole page obituary for Ian Carr written by Chris Ingham, who eulogises thus: "Ian Carr was a towering figure in British jazz."
19 March 2009 - Alyn Shipton and Tim Whitehead will be interviewed on BBC Radio 4's obituary programme 'Last Word' tomorrow (Friday 20 March 2009) to talk about Ian Carr. The programme airs at 16.00 GMT and will then be repeated on Sunday 20.30-21.00 GMT and is available on the BBC iPlayer now for the next seven days only. The link to the iPlayer programme is here
Alyn has also asked this website to mention that there will be a 'Jazz Library' Listener Feedback show on 2 May 2009 which will include a section on Ian Carr, playing music requested by listeners to the 'Jazz Library' edition on Ian's music. Alyn is hoping to include some short interview sections with the late Neil Ardley talking to me about Ian. The original Ian Carr edition of 'Jazz Library' (first broadcast on 7 February 2009) will then be repeated at midnight that same Saturday evening.
Also: Alyn Shipton contacted this website on 19 March regarding Ian Carr's funeral service, "I overlooked one of the most important things I had intended to say at the event, which was to thank all the carers and medical staff who had looked after Ian during his last years of illness."
18 March 2009 - A description written by George Foster of the funeral service for Ian Carr which took place on 13 March 2009 at Golder's Green Crematorium can be viewed here
16 March 2009 - Tonight on Jazz on 3 (11.15 pm on BBC Radio 3) is, as part of its programme, broadcasting a tribute to the late Ian Carr. This is the synopsis from the Jazz on 3 Newsletter: "Ian Carr was perhaps most famous for forming Nucleus, the most celebrated home-grown British jazz-rock band of the 1970s. However, the music he produced was only a small part of his creative output as we discover at midnight tonight. Jazz on 3 speaks to some of the people that knew and worked with Ian over the years, plus Guardian writer and long-time friend John L Walters joins Jez in the studio to celebrate the man, the writer, the educator and the musician". This broadcast should also be available on the BBC replayer for seven days
14 March 2009 - Ian Carr's funeral took place yesterday afternoon at Golder's Green Crematorium. The West Chapel was filled to capacity with Ian's friends and amongst those invited to speak at the service were Alyn Shipton, Gerald Laing, Mike Dibb, Geoff Castle, Sara Dillon, Nikki Yeoh and Julian Joseph. Henry Lowther played a short requiem 'For Liam' (which was also known as 'The Rest is Silence' on Ian's album 'Sounds and Sweet Airs'). The full programme for Ian Carr's funeral service is available to view here. A very moving and fine tribute to one of the most significant figures in British and indeed world jazz. Rest in Peace Ian.
8 March 2009 - Stuart Maconie's Freakzone (BBC Radio 6) paid a special tribute to Ian Carr tonight by playing three tracks from 'We'll Talk About It Later' ('We'll Talk About It Later', 'Lullaby For A Lonely Child' and 'Song For The Bearded Lady')
7 March 2009 - An obituary for Ian Carr has now been published in The New York Times and can be viewed online here.
6 March 2009 - An obituary for Ian Carr has now been published in The Tribune (Glasgow) and can be viewed online here. There is also an obituary in this week's Ham & High (Hampstead and Highgate Express, 5 March 2009) on page 10, where Ian was described as a resident of Primrose Hill (because he lived there for several years). An obituary for Ian also appears on the All About Jazz website, and can be viewed here.
4 March 2009 - DJ Simone Vimercati from Como, Italy has emailed this website to report that she will play as a tribute to Ian Carr, The Don Rendell / Ian Carr Quintet track "Dusk Fire" on her web-radioshow Jazz It Up!!! (#156) which will be available online from next week all over the world: here, or here
3 March 2009 - BBC Radio 3's 'Jazz on 3' broadcast last night (2 March 2009, 11.15-13.00 GMT) a short tribute to Ian Carr and played the track 'Snakehips Dream'. Jez Nelson mentioned that there would be a future 'Jazz on 3' tribute to Ian and that Radio 3 was also planning to re-broadcast (at an unspecified future date) the recent 'Jazz Library' programe which featured Ian Carr. The 'Jazz on 3' programme is still available to hear for the next seven days on the BBC iPlayer, the link to which is here. A photo of Ian Carr and Don Rendell circa 1969, was kindly sent to this site today by Jack Goodwin and can be viewed here
28 February 2009 - Two more obituaries for Ian Carr have now been published in the national press today. The Daily Telegraph has an online version here and The Guardian has one here
27 February 2009 - Two obituaries for Ian Carr have now been published in the national press today. The Times has an online version here and The Independent has one here
25 February 2009 - Dave MacRae sent the following email to this website "I have just heard from Brian Smith of Ian's passing. As my own ego diminishes with age I can better realise the great driving force Ian was and how much dedication and just hard work it must have taken to push forward with his musical ideas and dreams. Some of us who travelled with him as contributing "sidemen" were sometimes not appreciative of the difficulties involved in running "Nucleus" and this must have made forward progress a little more difficult.........if I knew then what I know now etc. etc....I realise what an important time it was for me to have shared some of the "Nucleus spirit" and would like you to pass on to my fellow musicians sharing the "Nucleus Bus" how lucky we were to share some of Ian's musical dreams. Now that my son is delving into the world of vinyl recordings, the sound of Ian and Nucleus have returned to my house. My condolences to all who will miss him." - More emails of condolence sent to this website can be viewed on the Ian Carr Tribute Page here.
25 February 2009 - This website is very sad to report the death of Ian Carr this afternoon. An obituary for Ian Carr can be viewed here.
Update 2 March 2009 - There is a tribute to Ian Carr on the Elastic Rock blog here.
9 February 2009 - This website is sad to report the passing of two musicians with whom Ian Carr played. Kofi Ghanaba or Guy Warren of Ghana died on 22 December and Blossom Dearie, with whom Ian Carr recorded on her last album for Fontana 'That's Just The Way I Want To Be', who died on 7 February. Guy Warren is heard on the Rendell Carr Quintet's album 'Change-Is' and the RCQ are heard on Guy's album 'Afro Jazz'.
27 January 2009 - Ian Carr to feature on BBC Radio 3's Jazz Library! Jazz Library presented by Ian's biographer Alyn Shipton will feature the life and music of Ian Carr. This programme is scheduled for transmission on Saturday 7 February 2009 at 16:00 GMT. The following is from the press release on this programme: Few people active on the British Jazz scene have not come across Ian Carr, whether as trumpeter, bandleader, author or teacher. His insightful biographies of Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett are classics, and his work as leader of Nucleus did much to establish jazz rock in Britain. In this interview (recorded before Carr began to suffer from a long illness) he picks some of his favourite examples from his lengthy catalogue of recordings, showing how he was at the forefront of bringing some of the innovations of Miles Davis to the UK scene. The Rendell-Carr Quintet was one of the most influential bands of 60s, as was the Newcastle-based EmCee five led by Ian's younger brother Mike, which made some powerful recordings.
(pictured also, Jon Hiseman and Barbara Thompson)
Photographs: Mark Allan - Courtesy Air media, tours, management
Alyn Shipton's biography of Ian Carr 'Out of the Long Dark', was published by Equinox on 21 June 2006. 
Information about the book is viewable on the Equinox website
here
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| Exclusive interview with Alyn Shipton, author of 'Out of the Long Dark', the biography of Ian Carr is viewable here |
Tony Coe, Michael Garrick and Don Rendell in the background
from Sir John Dankworth at the
Parliamentary Jazz Awards on 11 May 2006.
(Photograph courtesy of JM Enternational / PPL)
who came out to support Ian Carr at a benefit gig for him on 26 September 2006 at the 100 Club, London
images © BGO Records
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Little known fact: Ian Carr recorded an album of contemporary music with John Taylor playing organ, entitled 'Sounds and Sweet Airs' which was produced by Jon Hiseman. This album is still available to purchase from: Discord Distribution in the UK or from Celestial Harmonies in the USA. |
