Elwood S. Carl; Musician

Elwood S. Carl, who operated a music school in the San Fernando Valley and conducted several orchestras, has died in a Panorama City hospital. He was 73.

Carl died Sunday of heart failure and complications of emphysema, said his wife, Joan Carl.

Born Jan. 3, 1918, in Cleveland, Ohio, Carl began studying music at the Cleveland Institute of Music at age 11 and later played with the NBC radio orchestra in Cleveland and the CBS radio orchestra in Chicago.

A saxophone, clarinet and flute player, he served in the U.S. Air Corps Flying Band during World War II.

In 1952, he moved to California where he worked as a real estate broker, but returned to music in 1972 when he co-founded the Woodlowe Music Center in Woodland Hills.

In 1976, he started the Carl School of Music in Tarzana and taught at the Southern California Conservatory of Music from 1978-82.

From 1981-83, he conducted Elwood Carl’s Society Orchestra which performed big-band music at the Music Center as part of the Grand Peoples Concert series.

He later conducted a band called Elwood Carl and his El’s Angels which performed in Los Angeles.

Carl was a member of the American Federation of Musicians, Music Teachers National Assn., Music Teachers Assn. of California, the Phi Sigma Delta fraternity, a board member of the California Junior Symphony Assn. He served as president of the East Valley branch of the Music Teachers Assn. from 1978-80.

He is survived by his wife of 46 years; sons Michael Carl of Sherman Oaks and Barry Carl of New York City; and a granddaughter.

At his request, no formal services will be held. Alpha Cremation Society in Burbank is handling the arrangements.

Contributions can be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.