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Paul Carr
Since then, Carr has been based in the DC area performing on the local scene at venues including Blues Alley, Twins Jazz, Takoma Station, and the now-defunct (but once vibrant) One Step Down. Carr has been a repeat performer at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Jazz Café, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s jazz series.
Carr’s 1993 recorded debut as a leader, “PC10” was received with critical praise from the Washington Post, Houston Post, and USA Today, as well as magazines including including DownBeat, Cadence, and JazzTimes. Since “PC10,” Carr has recorded on over 25 other recordings as a sideman.
Carr’s strong commitment to jazz is most evident in his role as an educator. After over twenty years of teaching privately, Carr launched the Jazz Academy of Music, Inc., (www.jazzacademy.org) a 501c-3 non-profit corporation dedicated to “advancing and preserving jazz through jazz education” via year-round workshops and a summer camp where Carr and a staff of local musicians teach high school students the principles of improvisation, through small group and big band playing. His students have been selected for local, state, and national jazz groups; including the Maryland All-State Jazz Ensemble, the IAJE Clifford Brown Fellows, and Grammy National High School Honors Jazz Ensemble. Three of Carr’s students have been accepted to the prestigious Julliard jazz program in that program’s short history and several others have been admitted to The New England Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the New School.
Carr has performed numerous times at the White House, for Presidents Clinton, and Bush as well as the late King Hussein of Jordan. He has toured South America, Central America, Europe, and the Middle East. In addition, as a performer Carr has shared the stage with artists such as flautist Kent Jordan, saxophonists Branford Marsalis, Kirk Whalum, and Steve Wilson, and trumpeters Terrell Stafford, and Wynton Marsalis.
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Scenes from the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival
by Matt Hooke
The greatest gift any music festival can give a listener is the chance to think about a genre differently and the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival did just that between February 16 and February 18. Most concert goers attend a show to hear a specific artist they are already familiar with, but the beauty of a festival is that it can expose you to many different styles in the span of a weekend. Across several stages at the Hilton Hotel ...
read morePaul Carr: Straight Ahead Soul
by C. Michael Bailey
If saxophonist Paul Carr could be described in a single word, it would be durable. Carr's two previous recordings--Just Noodlin' (PCJE, 2008) and Musically Yours (PCJE, 2006)--displayed a dependable adherence to the Ray Charles' principles of rhythm and blues. His tone and attack are made of the same precious metal as that of Hank Crawford and David “Fathead" Newman. On Straight Ahead Soul, Carr does his part to move adult contemporary jazz toward respectability with the fussy and hard-to-please traditionalist. ...
read morePaul Carr: Musically Yours
by Michael P. Gladstone
Houston's tenor saxophonist Paul Carr has provided, within a short recording career span, a number of intriguing and solid appearances. On his debut, Just Noodlin' (Jazz Karma, 2006), Carr provides a soulful and robust tenor sax in the style of Hank Mobley without seeking any deliberate comparisons. In addition, with his appearance on Eric Byrd's Brother Ray (Self Published, 2008), Carr is one of the four-man sax section which pays homage to the Ray Charles Atlantic Records period. Carr is ...
read morePaul Carr: Musically Yours: Remembering Joe Henderson
by C. Michael Bailey
Listening to the music of tenor saxophonist Paul Carr, one recognizes that he has completely imbued the music of the late Joe Henderson, to whom he pays tribute on Musically Yours: Remembering Joe Henderson. Growing up in Texas under the spell of such “Texas Tenors" as Don Wilkerson and Arnett Cobb, Carr developed a big blusey tone.
Carr uses this to great effect as he draws the funk and blues out of the Henderson's compositions--performing them quite differently from how ...
read morePaul Carr: Musically Yours
by Edward Blanco
Remembering one of the great tenor masters of jazz, saxophonist and educator Paul Carr pays homage to the late Joe Henderson by offering an artful session of hard-driving bop with his third album as a leader on Musically Yours. He borrows the title from Henderson, who once autographed an album that Carr brought with him to a gig at the now closed Washington, DC jazz club, The One Step Down, where the saxophonist signed “To Paul, Musically Yours, Joe."
read morePaul Carr: Just Noodlin'
by Michael P. Gladstone
Growing up in Houston, saxophonist Paul Carr was rasised in the tradition of the Texas Tenors. His local heroes included Don Wilkerson and Arnett Cobb. Carr started his musical education at Texas Southern University and completed it at Howard University in Washington, DC. He has since spent more than twenty years as a dynamic part of the DC jazz scene.
Since Carr's debut album came out in 1993, he he has participated on over 25 other recordings. As ...
read morePaul Carr: Just Noodlin'
by Jack Bowers
Saxophonist Paul Carr is far too modest. If he's Just Noodlin', I'd love to hear what he could do if he ever buckled down and started playing in earnest. Carr and his front-liner partner, trumpeter Terell Stafford, remind me of the Brecker brothers, saxophonist Michael and trumpeter Randy--purposeful post-boppers with tons of technique and plenty of interesting things to say.
This is only the second album as leader for Carr, who has been gigging around the Washington, DC area since ...
read moreThe Jazz At The Mural Concert Series Features The Eric Byrd Trio, Paul Carr, Sol Roots, And Alison Crockett on January 27, 2024
Source:
9th Floor Music
The “Jazz at the Mural" 2024 concert series includes The Eric Byrd Trio, Paul Carr, Sol Roots, Alison Crockett, and more. On Saturday January 27, The Harriet Tubman Museum and Dorchester Center for the Arts kick off the “Jazz at the Mural" concert series, with the world traveled funk/soul guitarist Sol Roots. This live music series takes place at Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center, and at the Dorchester Center for the Arts, both located in Cambridge, Maryland. Recording artists ...
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Anatomy of a Recording Session... "Standard Domain"
Source:
The Independent Ear by Willard Jenkins
Last December, as saxophonist-educator Paul Carr and his wife Karmen Carr were busily locking down the forthcoming 3rd annual edition of their late winter Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, Paul invited this writer to a recording session for his summer 2012 release Standard Domain. Having worked with Paul and Karmen to develop the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, which arose from the ashes of the late East Coast Jazz Festival, I was also eager to catch at least part of the recording session because ...
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Saxophonist Paul Carr to Release "Straight Ahead Soul," His 4th CD as a Leader, on May 25
Source:
Terri Hinte Publicity
Straight Ahead Soul, the new CD by Paul Carr, is the most personal musical statement to date from the tenor saxophonist and educator, who's been a mainstay of the Washington, DC jazz scene for the last 25 years. It's a meditation on Carr's Southern roots and “the influence a Southern upbringing has had on my musical foundation," he says. And it explores his journey from inner-city Houston to the suburbs of Washington, DC, as he pays homage to mentors (and ...
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Paul Carr Climbs the Charts and Lands At #32
Source:
Kari-On Productions
Paul Carr's Just Noodlin' Climbs the chart on Jazzweek and lands at #32
One of the finest horn players in the DC metropolitan area, saxophonist Paul Carr is breaking through the sea of releases as he climbs the chart at Jazzweek and lands at the #32 spot for the week of March 23, 2007. This is Carr's first promoted CD to radio, and with enthusiastic support he debuted on the chart at #38 for the week of March 19, 2007. ...
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Paul Carr CD Debuts on JazzWeek At #38
Source:
Kari-On Productions
One of the finest horn players in the DC metropolitan area, saxophonist Paul Carr is breaking through the sea of releases as his album Just Noodlin' debuts on the Jazzweek chart at #38 for the week of March 19, 2007. He can also be found at #3 on the Earshot Jazz Chart (Canada), #25 CMJ Jazz Chart, Issue #997, and #20 at Roots Music Report.
Just Noodlin' strives for the soulfulness and intensity that Carr's bands get on stage. Composed ...
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Saxophonist Paul Carr Releases 2nd Solo Album, Just Noodlin' on Jazz Karma Records
Source:
All About Jazz
One of the finest horn players in the DC metropolitan area, saxophonist Paul Carr is proud to announce the release of his second album as a leader, Just Noodlin', on Jazz Karma Records. The outing features a who's who of DC-based musicians as well as featured guest soloist Terell Stafford, a longtime friend. “Terell used to appear with me when I had a weekly gig at Takoma Station in Takoma Park, Maryland," says Carr. Since those days, Stafford has gone ...
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Primary Instrument
Saxophone
Credentials/Background
Carr’s strong commitment to jazz is most evident in his role as an educator. After over twenty years of teaching privately, Carr launched the Jazz Academy of Music, Inc., a 501 C-3 non-profit corporation dedicated to “advancing and preserving jazz through jazz education” via year-round workshops and a summer camp where Carr and a staff of local musicians teach high school students the principles of improvisation, through small group and big band playing. His students have been selected for local, state, and national jazz groups; including the Maryland All-State Jazz Ensemble, the IAJE Clifford Brown Fellows, and Grammy National High School Honors Jazz Ensemble
Photos
Music
Dorothy
From: Paul Carr B3 Sessions (DC-NYBy Paul Carr
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