Carr performed and recorded with the Rendell-Carr quintet and jazz-fusion band Nucleus, and was an associate professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
[1] After university he joined his brother in a Newcastle band, the EmCee Five, from 1960 to 1962, before moving to London, where he played in a quintet co-lead by Don Rendell, with pianist Michael Garrick, bassist Dave Green, and drummer Trevor Tomkins.
Apart from writing a regular column for the BBC Music Magazine, Carr wrote biographies of the jazz musicians Keith Jarrett and Miles Davis.
In 1987, Carr was appointed associate professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London,[2] where he taught composition and performance, especially improvisation.
In addition to fellow Nucleus member Geoff Castle, speakers at the service included artist Gerald Laing, author, critic and broadcaster Alyn Shipton, Mike Dibb (with whom Carr collaborated on two films on Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett)[4] and Carr's students Julian Joseph, Sara Dillon and Nikki Yeoh.