Last year it occurred to me that I had not heard anything for some time from iconic Trumpeter, Ian Carr, founder of the Nucleus group and representative of the Golden Age of British Jazz. Ironically I must have been one of the last to hear of his passing courtesy of Last Words on BBC Radio 4.
I discovered Ian Carr's music at the end of the 60s when I was already becoming disillusioned by most of British Rock and folk music. I loved the Blues and had done since I was 12 and bought records by John Lee Hooker and Howlin Wolf but Jazz was somthing of an unknown territory to me and my peer group. I suppose you would loosely categorise Ian Carrs' at that time as Jazz Rock fusion along with people like John McLaughlin's Mahvishnu Orchestra who worked with Carr, but to my mind, McLaughlin always seemed to get carried away in his haste to outdo the virtuoisity of Rock musicians and Jazz sometimes came in a poor second. So generally I had left Jazz alone.
Ian Carr however, won me over. He didn't make this mistake and the Jazz always seemed to win through. I loved his long and usually unhurried phrases and melodies and also the excellent and sometimes explosive rhythm section in his band nucleus. He could also turn his hand to exquisite ambient textures with incursions into psychedelia of the most transcendental kind. I also grew to love the haunting vocals supplied by Norma Winstone which finished off some of his arrangements as devinely as a cherry completes a Bakewell Tart.
In the early seventies when I was roadie and sound engineer with a touring band, I often used to get home at 3 or 4 am after a long drive and eating my supper - breakfast whilst listening to Labyrinth or Solar Plexus was the perfect way to unwind. I saw Ian Carr with Nucleus in Manchester and was amazed at what I heard. So much so that I engaged him in conversation about his music and asked him where his next gig was happening. it turned out to be Leeds University the following night so I told him that we would be there.
Sure enough our little posse hit the recently opened M62 the following evening en route for Leeds. The traffic was heavy and we were a bit late arriving, and made the mistake of parking a good walk from the venue. The rain had stopped, and the sun came out just in time to set, so we walked in the gathering darkness towards the campus. Halfway there, the sounds of Nucleus started to drift towards us coming and going in the breeze and echoing around the towers of the University as the lights of the buildings came on.
It was a free gig and nucleus were set up outside with a few hundred people watching. He had just finished a number as we arrived and spotting us he gave us a wave as he went into the next song. It was one of those special gigs that happen every so often, though usually not often enough. The venue, the occasion, the music the time all combined to make it a truly magical experience. If anyone who reads this was there, I feel sure you will agree.
His radio programs were always a delight whether he played or merely talked about music. He had a soft voice, easy on the ear and he really knew his stuff and I always learned something whenever I listened. Besides, writing a regular column for the BBC Music Magazine, Carr wrote biographies of the jazz musicians Keith Jarrett and Miles Davis. He was also the co-author of the reference work The Rough Guide to Jazz which has passed through four editions from 1994 (originally Jazz, The Essential Companion, 1988). In addition he contributed sleeve notes for the albums of other musicians (eg "Indo-Jazz Fusions" by Joe Harriott/John Mayer).
I discovered Ian Carr's music at the end of the 60s when I was already becoming disillusioned by most of British Rock and folk music. I loved the Blues and had done since I was 12 and bought records by John Lee Hooker and Howlin Wolf but Jazz was somthing of an unknown territory to me and my peer group. I suppose you would loosely categorise Ian Carrs' at that time as Jazz Rock fusion along with people like John McLaughlin's Mahvishnu Orchestra who worked with Carr, but to my mind, McLaughlin always seemed to get carried away in his haste to outdo the virtuoisity of Rock musicians and Jazz sometimes came in a poor second. So generally I had left Jazz alone.
Ian Carr however, won me over. He didn't make this mistake and the Jazz always seemed to win through. I loved his long and usually unhurried phrases and melodies and also the excellent and sometimes explosive rhythm section in his band nucleus. He could also turn his hand to exquisite ambient textures with incursions into psychedelia of the most transcendental kind. I also grew to love the haunting vocals supplied by Norma Winstone which finished off some of his arrangements as devinely as a cherry completes a Bakewell Tart.
In the early seventies when I was roadie and sound engineer with a touring band, I often used to get home at 3 or 4 am after a long drive and eating my supper - breakfast whilst listening to Labyrinth or Solar Plexus was the perfect way to unwind. I saw Ian Carr with Nucleus in Manchester and was amazed at what I heard. So much so that I engaged him in conversation about his music and asked him where his next gig was happening. it turned out to be Leeds University the following night so I told him that we would be there.
Sure enough our little posse hit the recently opened M62 the following evening en route for Leeds. The traffic was heavy and we were a bit late arriving, and made the mistake of parking a good walk from the venue. The rain had stopped, and the sun came out just in time to set, so we walked in the gathering darkness towards the campus. Halfway there, the sounds of Nucleus started to drift towards us coming and going in the breeze and echoing around the towers of the University as the lights of the buildings came on.
It was a free gig and nucleus were set up outside with a few hundred people watching. He had just finished a number as we arrived and spotting us he gave us a wave as he went into the next song. It was one of those special gigs that happen every so often, though usually not often enough. The venue, the occasion, the music the time all combined to make it a truly magical experience. If anyone who reads this was there, I feel sure you will agree.
His radio programs were always a delight whether he played or merely talked about music. He had a soft voice, easy on the ear and he really knew his stuff and I always learned something whenever I listened. Besides, writing a regular column for the BBC Music Magazine, Carr wrote biographies of the jazz musicians Keith Jarrett and Miles Davis. He was also the co-author of the reference work The Rough Guide to Jazz which has passed through four editions from 1994 (originally Jazz, The Essential Companion, 1988). In addition he contributed sleeve notes for the albums of other musicians (eg "Indo-Jazz Fusions" by Joe Harriott/John Mayer).
In 1987, he was appointed associate professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he taught composition and performance, especially improvisation and was founder of the jazz workshop at the Interchange arts scheme, where pianist Julian Joseph, amongst others, was one of his students.
Thank you for your music and your inspiration Ian. Now I must search for those albums I have intended to buy for far too long.
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