Pete Carney

Dr. Peter "Pete" Carney is a professional saxophonist, recording artist, and DJ from Chicago. His ensemble, Pete Carney and Orange Alert, is an acid jazz group that has performed throughout Europe and the United States.

Pete Carney's jazz group Orange Alert headlined at the Rochester International Jazz Festival, Milwaukee's Jazz in the Park, Halo-London, and was the first American ensemble to be featured at the Aberdeen Jazz Festival in Scotland. His albums, Orange Alert and Redline Grooves have also been featured on NPR Electro Lounge, NBC, and BBC. Before launching Orange Alert, Carney traveled with soul singer Otis Clay and performed at jazz festivals in Italy, France, Germany, Norway, Finland, Sweden, England, and Germany. Carney’s composition Redline Groove, was lifted anonymously for the DePaul Basketball Band who played it during March Madness at Madison Square Garden.

In 2009 he began working on a new method for listening to music, frustrated with the traditional music history textbooks that were available, Carney worked for two years to create a new educational system based on Socrates’ ancient method of continuous questioning, which he called Interactive Listening. A month after its release in 2012, Interactive Listening was named by Apple Inc. as the #1 Editor’s Choice out of 22,000 titles. Three months later it became the first music education method to be featured on Apple’s website, where it stayed for 2 years. Since then Dr. Carney has been a featured speaker at The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, The Texas Music Educators Association, ABC, and NPR. Interactive Listening is now taught in hundreds of schools around the world including the University of North Carolina, Florida International University, all of Duval County, and The United Nations International School in New York. Carney was recently invited to give a TED Talk on Designing Curiosity at TEDx Jacksonville. His TED Talk based on Interactive Listening was broadcast live to a global audience of 15,000 viewers. In 2016, the state of Florida adopted Carney’s self-published method as the official state music textbook for high school and middle school.

Currently, Dr. Pete Carney is the Director of Jazz Studies at the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota in Bradenton, Florida. Before coming to SCF, Dr. Carney taught jazz and classical music at Saint Xavier University, and The City Colleges of Chicago while performing as a saxophonist and directing the Chicago All-City Jazz Ensemble. Dr. Carney has earned two degrees from the University of Michigan with degrees in classical saxophone and music composition. He studied with William Albright, William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Donald Sinta, and Glenn Watkins. Turning to Jazz, he studied at the University of Miami and completed his Master’s in Jazz at Florida International University. Dr. Pete Carney received his Doctorate in Jazz from The University of Illinois. Recently he conducted the University of Illinois Concert Jazz Band and Orchestra at The Jazz Education Network Conference in Louisville KY.

Arrangements and compositions

• 1995, "Ascension"for Strings and Saxophone, University of Michigan, Undergraduate Recital.
• 1997, "String Quartet No. 1" University of Michigan Composers Concert,
• 1999, "Descension" for electronic music ensemble, University of Miami, Master’s Recital.
• 1999 "The Seven Sins" for jazz ensemble, Florida International University Master’s Recital.
• 2001, "Project XMas" Album, co-arranged by Pete Carney and Fred Johnson at Alter Ego Studios.
• 2003, "Brighter Day," by Gospel Grammy Award Winner Kirk Franklin, direction and arrangement for the CD at Navy Pier.
• 2003, "Seven Sins," Seven songs describing the seven sins for small chamber ensembles.
• 2004, "Believe in the Sun," written for the Chicago Children’s Choir.
• 2004, "Orange Alert," Loopjazz Records, A musical description of current events during 2004.
• 2005, "Give Me One Reason,” by Tracy Chapman, brass arrangement for Nellie Travis European Tour.
• 2005, "Times of Refreshing," Tabernacle Voices of Praise, horn section composed and engineered by Pete Carney for Pastor Larry Trice.
• 2005, “Hey Ram," Looking Glass Theater/ Chicago Water Tower Theater, Sita Ram, composed by Pete Carney for Choir and Orchestra
• 2006, "Sita Ram," song written by Jai Uttal, Looking Glass Theater/ Chicago Water Tower Theater, orchestration, composition, and arrangement of songs for orchestra, choir, and stage performance.
• 2006, "Redline Grooves," Loopjazz Records, a collection of songs based on the various styles of music in Chicago. Funded by the Chicago Cultural Center.
• 2006 The Chicago Blues Festival, horn arrangements for five headline artists at Petrillo stage.
• 2007, "Snowtrane," with Aaron Montgomery from Trapt (Warner Brothers. Records)
• 2007, "Send It On Down," for the Victory Travelers, complete CD horn arrangements.
• 2009, "Adventureland," (Disney Motion Pictures) with The Plain White T's, horn arrangements/saxophone performance
• 2013–14 Big Band Arrangements for the University of Illinois Concert Jazz Band:
• "La Vie en Rosé"
• "Straight Street"
• "Sunshowers"
• "In Darkness Let Me Dwell"

Solo albums

• 2004 Orange Alert
• 2007 Redline Groove
• 2010 Who Me?

Notable recordings and works

• 2001 "Precious" by Otis Clay
• 2004-2010 Various albums with Otis Clay
• 2004 This One's For The Zapp Fans, The Zapp Band