Grand Central
“I remember Ian Carr talking about the sort of band he wanted Nucleus to be: it had to be different from what he’d been doing before and different from the norm in jazz terms.”
John Marshall
“He could rub people up the wrong way a little bit sometimes but he must be one of the most courageous and the bravest people I’ve ever met,” says Soft Machine drummer and ex-Nucleus member John Marshall, discussing the work and legacy of trumpeter Ian Carr who founded the pioneering jazz rock outfit, Nucleus, in 1969. Between 1970 and 1975, no fewer than nine albums, including a Carr solo record, were released on the Vertigo label. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the band’s formation, they have been remastered and gathered together as Torrid Zone, an aptly titled box set.
Carr, who died in 2009 aged 75 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, notched up many achievements during a lifetime spent in music: documentary maker, acclaimed biographer of Miles Davis, music journalist, academic, and session player number among his accomplishments.
