RICHARD CARR: VIOLINIST, IMPROVISOR, CREATOR OF ORIGINAL MUSICAL WORKS, TEACHER AND PEDESTRIAN.
Richard Carr is a violinist, composer, and music educator. He holds a Doctorate in music education from Columbia University. He studied composition with Donald Martino and Jonathan Kramer as well as violin at New England Conservatory with Eric Rosenblith.
He has recorded numerous albums under his own name and with artists such as Bill Laswell, Fred Frith, Bootsy Collins, Sly & Robbie, The Swans, Milt Hinton, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli Jr., American Contemporary Music Ensemble, Caleb Burhans, Clarice Jensen, Alan Dawson, Howard Alden, and Karl Berger.
He has performed with James Williams, Kenny Davern, Doc Cheatam, Jay McShann, Jamal Nasser, Major Holley, Mike Nord, Georg Hofmann, Steve Gorn, John McDermott, Adam Rudolph and Brooklyn Raga Massive. He has regularly toured the US, Europe, Japan, and Mexico over the past thirty years. He is a former radio host on WDST in Woodstock, NY. In the 1980’s he lived in Boston and played sectional violin with the Boston Philharmonic.
An avid hiker and mountaineer, he has traversed the world's mountain ranges including the Rockies, Sierras, Alps, Dolomites, Himalayas, Andies, and the Darran Mountains.
"Much of what today passes for “new music” vacillates between copycat minimalism or twice reworked atonality, both of which tendencies tend to end up sounding “same old.” So much for “new” and so much for “music.”
So it is with immense pleasure that I welcome the release of Richard Carr’s Landscapes and Lamentations, the beautiful and latest about-to-be-released offering from the pleasantly unpredictable Neuma Records.
First, I hang my head in shame and confess I had neither heard of Richard Carr nor listened to his music. Now that I have, I am a convert. His is tuneful, often melancholy, occasionally joyful, always melodic, never jagged. Though once every so often spiced by a fleeting touch of dissonance Carr’s creations tend to remain assonant and opposite to the trendiness of Second Viennese School rip-offs."
Rafael de Acha
All about Arts August 2022
"For this gorgeously pastoral album, Richard Carr plays violin, piano and guitar along with the evocative string quartet called the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (cleverly shorted to “ACME”). There’s a soft and rural gentleness to the album, in a holistic fashion, not unlike the classic Windham Hill albums of the 80s. A George Winston-ish piano and violin glisten on “Rainbow Falls” with a fragrant chamber feel with strings and piano during “Castle Point”. There are homespun strings on the folksy “Loop Road” while the mix of guitar and Bartok-like strings make for deep moods on “Powerline” and the two create pizzicato’d pleasures for “A Cabin IN the Woods” There are some fugue-like moments with thoughtful cello by Clarice Jensen on “Underwater Photography” and long modern strokes on “Skytop” with a coy etude during “Gertrude’s Nose”. A modernist’s stroll through Givenchy."
Jazz Weekly 7/4/22
"The result is this gorgeous album, which somehow manages to combine a Medieval stateliness with an earthy naturalism, even drawing in strains of Americana. Four of the pieces have all players improvising based on structures created by Carr. It's testament to their taste and creativity that all the music here, whether scored or improvised, displays the same taste, musicianship, and creativity. A quiet wonder."
Anearful Classical Best 2021
Sun Ritual From August Dreams. Recorded and Performed by Richard Carr, Caleb Burhans, and Clarice Jensen
Solo with Go:Organic Orchestra at Roulette in Brooklyn August 2022
RECORDINGS
Night Fragments (2023) with American Contemporary Music Ensemble. London, Convivium CR073
August Dreams (2023) with Caleb Burhans and Clarice Jensen. Bluebridge BB 105
Landscapes and Lamentations (2022) with American Contemporary Music Ensemble. New York, New York, Neuma N-161
Over the Ridge (2021) with Caleb Burhans, Clarice Jensen, Laura Lutzke, Ravenna Lipchick. New York, New York, Neuma N-146
Time and Other things that don't Make Sense (2021) with Double Celled Organism. New Paltz New York, Team Love TL-150
The Meeting (2020) New York, NY. Meta-Dash
Double Celled Organism (2019) with Bill Brovold. New Paltz New York, Team Love TL-146
Gray Skies on the Edge (2019) solo album. New York, Blue Bridge BB 104
Places Ive Walked (2019) solo album. New Hampshire, Ravello RR8012
Biosphere (2006) with Mike Nord, Georg Hofmann, and Art Maddox. London England, Leo CD LR 456
In Walks Art (2004) with Mike Nord and Georg Hofmann. London, England, Leo CD LR 401
Along the Edge (1999) with Mike Nord and Georg Hofmann. Auchen, Germany: Nabel 4683-2
String Thing (1998) with Bucky Pizzarelli. New York: Savant 2010
Coast to Coast (1997) with Mike Nord and Georg Hofmann. Auchen, Germany: Nabel 4675-2
We Three Strings (1997) with Howard Alden and Milt Hinton. New York: Muse
Richard Carr And Howard Alden Just The Two Of Us (1991) with Howard Alden. New Orleans: Audiophile
Stringvibrations (1986) with Alan Dawson. Decatur Georgia: Progressive
Afternoon in New York (1984) with Bucky and John Pizzarelli. New Orleans: Audiophile
PUBLICATIONS
The Extraordinary Legacy of Lee Pogonowski, Visions of Research in Music Education, Volume 43, 2023
Writing a Soundtrack to Your Life, General Music Today, October 1997
PRESENTATIONS
Electro Acoustic Music, ATMI/CMS National Conference, Atlanta, September 2008
Improvising with Extended String Techniques, Tokyo International University, Kawagoe Japan, Summer 2006
Developing Musical Fluency Through Improvisation, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, Spring 2003
Constructing Musical Concepts Through the Improvisational Process, College Music Society, Northeast Chapter Conference, Albany New York, Spring 1998
Creative Arts Laboratory, American Educational Research Association, national conference, New York, Spring 1997
P.O. Box 74
Rosendale, NY 12472
e-mail: rcarr1018@gmail.com
