Eddie Carr is entering his fourth year as the director of the Pep Band at Maryville University, where he has also taught a number of jazz ensembles including the "Kitchen Sink" Large Ensemble. He studied composition and received a BA in Music from Brigham Young University. He has composed for every type of ensemble from jazz bebop combos to symphonic orchestra. His Latin salsa composition, “Yo Sueño Contigo,” was chosen as a Finalist in the GRAMMYs Midwest Regional Songwriting Competition in 2003. His musical score for the Bud Light Air Force was heard at air show performances all over the world.
As a jazz trumpeter, pianist, and member of an elite drum and bugle corps, Eddie has performed across the U.S. and Canada, in jazz festivals in Russia and Eastern Europe, and even played in a Christmas Eve processional on a Caribbean island. Eddie has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with such jazz notables as Louis Bellson, Michael Brecker, Jon Faddis, Mike Vax, Jim Widener, Nick Brignola, and Jim Manley.
In The Marching Arts, Eddie has arranged music for, designed drill for, and instructed marching bands and drum & bugle corps throughout the U.S. and Japan, including former Fiesta Bowl and Citrus Bowl Competition Champions The Parkway West High School Longhorns from St. Louis, MO. In addition, he has written drill for DCI Div. III finalist Drum & Bugle Corps, and was the founding arranger and drill designer for the Sonic City Lancers Drum & Bugle Corps of Omiya, Japan. He has written for or conducted Japanese competition favorites Nishihara High School of Okinawa, and the Utsunomiya Blue Crows.
Currently, Eddie writes for and performs with his own alternative rock combo, The Eddie Carr Five.
