Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1527863
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 OCTOBER 2024 PEOPLE story of Tony Carr grant, who like Carr had lived through the ravages of WWII, left behind the austerity of the British fortress colony, to go right to the centre of the empire, seeking adventure and a name for themselves. Carr's very detailed recol- lections and anecdotes, which narrate Strait Street apart from contributions from others like Tony Pace and Mary Rose Mall- ia (Carr played on 'Songs From Malta', with conductor Charles Camilleri), more than colour the flavour of the age. Packing his belongings inside his kick-drum, Carr left for Lon- don in 1953. Like many who sought fortune in London, his storyline also dovetails with that of the burgeoning Maltese crime syndicate that was taking root in Soho in the fifties. His namesake was a club-owner whose board- ing house had been the site of the Tommy Smithson murder in 1956 – so George took his moth- er Tonina's name and shortened the 'unpronounceable' Caruana to make his own mark. He knocked on doors hoping to land a job in a market already crowded with jazz musicians. His breakthrough came with in- ternational star Billy Eckstine on his European tour. "They knew when you were a good musi- cian," Carr says of his audition, snapped up after rapping his fingers and hands on the skins. Eckstine would go on to dub Carr "the best drum accompa- nist I've heard in Britain." It solidified Carr's reputation, who by the 1960s was engaged by pianist and arranger John Cameron to perform alongside Donovan, and later Ella Fitzger- ald, Alan Price, Sixto Rodriguez, and then Madness, the Alan Parsons Project, Bryan Ferry, Roy Harper, Hot Chocolate, and Racing Cars amongst others. For years Carr was part of Do- novan's backing band, and the British blues outfit Collective Consciousness Society – Alexis Korner and Peter Thorup – with whom he played in three top hits. Donovan's Sunshine Superman would reach No.1 in the United States 1966 – the guitarist on the track was then a young Jimmy Page, yet to form Led Zeppelin three years later. But Carr was in this very constellation of in-de- mand session players like Page and bassist John Paul Jones, his days spent driving from one stu- dio to the other. In 1978 he is in Paul McCa- rtney's 'Rockestra' session at Abbey Road, where Carr finds himself in the company of Pete Townshend, Hank Marvin, Dave Gilmour, John Paul Jones, Ron- nie Lane, Kenney Jones, John Bonham, Speedy Acquaye, and others. In 1979, Carr plays the Concert for Kampuchea, with Wings, the Clash, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Queen, and the Who. It beggars belief as to how Carr's name only gets to enjoy wider recognition in Malta dec- ades since his latter exploits, thanks to Camilleri's research and Vella's work. Sometimes, we do not even know ourselves; but it is reassuring that this legacy has been committed to histori- cal record. With Alexis Korner's CCS, Tony Carr (right) Director Cedric Vella, with Elaine Bugeja and jazz musician and researcher Guzè Camilleri at the premier of Strait Street To Abbey Road Tony Carr playing at the Apollo Club, Malta, early 1950s Stranded in Malta right at the outbreak of WWII, the African-American jazz violinist Robert 'Juice' Wilson became established in Malta and promulgated jazz to yet another white audience