Have just seen the news about Ian. I know he has not been well for some time. I do keep in touch with Geoff,and John. We had some great times and music over the years I was with the band. - Brian & Irene Smith [this email has been edited]

Just wanted to express my great sadness over the death of Ian. I’d known Ian since the 1980s, and he was a lovely man. I’d been visiting Ian for some time and I last saw him just before Christmas. It was heartbreaking that this kind, generous, enthusiastic and highly articulate man should fall prey to such a cruel illness. At least he is at peace now. Best wishes. - George Cole (Author, 'The Last Miles') [this email has been edited]

I would like to add my condolences to the many that must be flowing in. I so enjoyed the time we spent living and working in London and although my musical involvement with Nucleus was quite minor, I will never forget the kindness and friendship Ian showed me. I was also incredibly touched to have him turn up to our Return to London gig at Ronnie's in 1998, which was our last visit to London. Although he had been very ill, he made this enormous effort to come and say hello. One of Ian's great attributes was that he was never afraid to show his excitement. We so enjoyed that brief and unexpected reunion. I will remember Ian with love and great respect. - Joy Yates, (Vocalist on 'Roots' and wife of Dave MacRae) [this email has been edited]

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. - Dave MacRae

I like many, many others, was saddened to hear from Don Rendell that Ian passed away recently. His contribution to music in so many ways has been quite unique. I first met Ian back in the 60's when the Rendell-Carr Quintet were projecting their music to us all at so many different locations here in the UK. - Tony Williams, Spotlite Records [this email has been edited]

I checked the website yesterday (as I do pretty regularly) to see that Ian had died on Wednesday. I am devastated, I knew he was unwell but hadn't realised quite how seriously ill he was. I met Ian twice, both times in 1980, once after the Nucleus set at the Bracknell Jazz Festival where he very kindly gave me his address so that I could send him a blank tape to record Belladonna for me (as I was having no luck getting a copy). I received a lovely letter back within a few days, along with the cassette duly containing Belladonna and some UJRE tracks. The second time we met was (and I will never forget the date) the 18th December 1980 in the gents! at the Seven Dials Jazz Club in Soho. Nucleus were devastating that night, playing mostly tracks from Awakening. He was so approachable, remembered me, and my name!, and was so pleased that he had fans (I was 20 at the time) that were relatively young and interested in his music. What a total gentleman, intelligent, literate, talented, and so grossly underrated and unappreciated in this country for so many years. I am so pleased that he was alive to see the re-releasing of the Rendell/Carr / Nucleus back catalogue and to receive the awards he so richly deserved. A sad loss to music. - Paul Curtis

I have been a fan of Ian`s music since the early 1970`s and am deeply saddened to learn of his passing. Mention has been made in other tributes of Ian`s warmth and generosity which I can vouch for in a small way. In about 1980, I was playing with a local jazz rock band in the Leeds area and decided to write to Ian having become frustrated trying to transcribe Nucleus scores from the LP`s. To my delight, within a few days several scores from the Out of The Long Dark LP turned up in the post with a very friendly and encouraging letter from Ian (no mention of copyright or anything) We had great fun rehearsing his fiendishly clever and involving music and I don`t we think we ever got it right! Ian will be much missed by many be they musicians or simply fans of his wonderful music and writing. - Justin Williamson

We at WAC worked with Ian for more than 20 years during which time he inspired hundreds of young people, many of whom went on to become professional musicians. He taught Julian Joseph, Wayne Batchelor, Mark and Michael Mondesir, Dorian Ford, Byron Wallen Jason Rebello, Philip Bent, Nicky Yeoh, David, Ricky and Alan Mian, Sara Dhillon, Zoe Rahman, Tom Bentley, David Okumo, Milo Fell, Robert Fordjour the list goes on. Always inspiring, always rigorous and challenging, always assuming they could work with him as musicians however much they still had to learn, Ian had a profound effect on the lives of many, many young people. His legacy lives in the music of these talented musicians. - Celia Greenwood, Chief Executive, Interchange Trust and WAC Director, WAC Performing Arts and Media College.

Very sad news about the death of Ian. I had the honour of interviewing Ian as part of the Jazz Britannia series back in 2004. Over the years I have followed Ian's amazing career, he will be sadly missed. It's good to know that, in his final years, a new generation of music lovers were exposed to Ian's talents through the reissue of his various musical projects, through the likes of Impressed, the CD reissues. I know Ian had been ill for a while - he was rather frail when I interviewed him for Jazz Britannia. However, despite the illness, he was still sparky and full of enthusiasm. The last time I saw him play would have been around 2002, in a pub in South East London - a good gig even if Ian's chops were a little sore and he couldn't make it to the end. I feel proud that, in my own small way through my work on the Impressed project, his music was reintroduced to a new audience and that the wonderful musical legacy he had created and the inspiration he gave, through his teaching and journalism, recognised anew. I think it's important that Ian is seen as an innovator. Nucleus is certainly, in my opinion, one of the defining groups in European jazz and is only now being justly recognised for the truly important steps it took into the unknown. - Tony Higgins

I just found out about Ian's passing. I'm sad I'll never get a chance to meet this great musician and as was mentioned, a great human being. Please pass my sympathies on to [his family] and let us all find some solace in the masterworks he created that continue to bring joy and inspire us whenever we hear them. Kind regards, Bob Levy

A fine, personal tribute by one of Ian Carr's former pupils appears on Dan Paton's blog here

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, 21 March 2009.