Mike Carr, born Michael Anthony Carr in South Shields

South Shields

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...

, County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 (7 December 1937) is a jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

, pianist

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and vibraphonist

Vibraphone

The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....

. For a living he travels round and performs but he also teaches people how to write songs.

Younger brother of trumpeter Ian Carr

Ian Carr

Ian Carr was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator.-Early years:Carr was born in Dumfries, Scotland, the elder brother of Mike Carr...

, with whom he formed the EmCee Five band, he started out playing in Newcastle

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

 in the 60s before going on to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in the 70s and appearing regularly at Ronnie Scott's. EmCee Five featured some of the UK's top jazz musicians of the 60s and 70s, including John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin (musician)

John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...

, Ronnie Stephenson

Ronnie Stephenson

Ronnie Stephenson was an English jazz drummer.-Biography:Stephenson was one of the most in-demand drummers on the British jazz scene in the 1960s....

, Malcolm Cecil

Malcolm Cecil

Malcolm Cecil is a British jazz bassist and Grammy Award-winning record producer.A founding member of the UK's leading jazz quintet of the late 1950s, The Jazz Couriers, he went on to join a number of British jazz combos led by Dick Morrissey, Tony Crombie and Ronnie Scott in the late 50s and...

, Spike Heatley

Spike Heatley

Spike Heatley, born North London, February 17, 1933, is a British jazz bassist.Heatley was with Vic Ash's sextet in 1958, together with Ian Hamer , Johnny Scott , and Alan Branscombe and had then joined The Jazz Couriers some weeks before they disbanded...

 and Johnny Butts. In 1976 he was band member of Eric Burdon

Eric Burdon

Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...

.

From 1971-5, Carr was a member of Ronnie Scott's trio, first with Tony Crombie

Tony Crombie

Anthony John "Tony" Crombie was an English jazz drummer, pianist, bandleader and composer. He was regarded as one of the finest jazz drummers and bandleaders, and occasional but very capable pianist and vibraphonist, to emerge in Britain, and as an energising influence on the British jazz scene...

 and later with Bobby Gien. In the mid-1980s he led the band Cargo

Cargo (band)

Cargo is a well known Romanian Heavy Metal band from Timişoara, founded by guitarist Adrian Bărar in 1985.-Biography:Two of the current members are from Arad - Adrian Igrişan and Octavian Pilan , one is from Hunedoara - Cristian Pup and another one is from Deva - Alin Achim - but they are all...

, who were notable for recording the first jazz rap

Jazz rap

Jazz rap is a sub-genre of hip hop which incorporates jazz influences, developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The lyrics are often based on political consciousness, Afrocentricity, and general positivism...

 record, entitled "Jazz Rap".

with Emcee Five

• 1961: Let's Take Five.
• 1962: Bebop from the East Coast (Birdland) with Ian Carr
  Ian Carr
  Ian Carr was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator.-Early years:Carr was born in Dumfries, Scotland, the elder brother of Mike Carr...
  
  , John McLaughlin
  John McLaughlin (musician)
  John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
  
  .
• 2005: Legend

other recordings

• 1993: Good Times and the Blues (Cargogold) with Dick Morrissey
  Dick Morrissey
  Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.- Background :...
  
  , Jim Mullen
  Jim Mullen
  Jim Mullen is a Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum.-Biography:...
  
  .

External links

• http://www.puresource.co.uk/mikecarr/ Mike Carr Cargogold Productions & Birdland Records