Barbara Carroll

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barbara Carroll (left) with bassist Clyde Lombardi and guitarist Chuck Wayne. Downbeat, NYC, 1947. Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .

Barbara Carroll , born Barbara Carole Coppersmith , (born January 25, 1925 in Worcester , Massachusetts , † February 11, 2017 in Manhattan , New York City ) was an American jazz pianist and singer .

Live and act

Carroll began playing the piano at the age of five and took classical piano lessons from the age of eight. Already in high school she began to orientate herself on jazz, especially the then current bebop , and while studying at the New England Conservatory of Music she played at night in a band in the Boston area . With her All Girls trio, she also played on a tour of the US Army camps in New England. In 1947 she went to New York City, where she was sponsored by Leonard Feather . With her own trio, she performed in clubs on 52nd Street in New York City, sometimes under the male name (Bobbie Carroll), in order to circumvent prejudices from club owners. In 1949 she appeared regularly in the "Tin Pan Alley" club, where she met Tony Bennett , with whom she had a lifelong friendship. Their trio included Chuck Wayne (guitar) and Clyde Lombardi (bass), replaced in 1949 by Charlie Byrd (guitar) and Joe Shulman (bass). In 1948 her trio recorded recordings with Benny Goodman , Stan Hasselgård and Wardell Gray .

Barbara Carroll with bassist Jay Leonhart at a Jazz Vesper at St Peter's Lutheran Church (2007)

After performing in a bop session with her sponsor Bud Powell at a concert at the Royal Roost , she was also accepted in bebop circles. In 1949 she was involved in recordings by Serge Chaloff and Eddie Shu ; From 1950 on, recordings followed under his own name. In 1952 she recorded with Sylvia Sims and began an engagement in "Embers", initially as an opening act for Art Tatum . There she was discovered by Richard Rogders and Oscar Hammerstein , who cast her as pianist for the musical Me and Juliet (with her then trio accompaniment Shulman and Herb Wasserman , recording with RCA ). She also had her own radio show and was often on the Today Show on NBC , where she was to accompany Billie Holiday (with whom she played in the clubs on 52nd Street in the late 1940s) shortly before her death. From 1957 she recorded for Verve . In the late 1950s, club engagements decreased, many of which closed in the atmosphere that had been changed by the triumph of rock 'n' roll . She recorded two more albums in 1964, but then withdrew from the scene for the time being to take care of her daughter Suzanne. She only appeared again from 1972, accompanied country singer Rita Coolidge in the 1970s and made recordings for United Artists (1977 with Ron Carter and Steve Gadd ) and Blue Note Records . In 1979 she appeared as a soloist at the Newport Jazz Festival . From 1974 she worked in a duo with Jay Leonhart . From 1978 to 2003 she played regularly and mostly solo at the Hotel Carlyle in New York, which she supplemented with cabaret singing in the 1980s. For this she received an award from the “Manhattan Association of Cabarets” in 1998 and 2003. In 2003 she received the "Mary Lou Williams Jazz Award". On June 30, 2009 she presented herself for the second time on Marian McPartland's radio show Piano Jazz , where she was invited in 1979 as the second guest in the series. Until December 2016 she performed regularly on Saturday afternoons with Jay Leonhart at Birdland in Midtown Manhattan. Her last album was released in December 2016: Barbara Carroll Plays at Birdland .

In 1954 she married Joe Shulman, who died in 1957 of a heart attack while on vacation together. In 1960 she married the music agent Bert Block († 1986), with whom she has a daughter. She was married to Mark Stroock since 2011.

With her light, red hair she embodied a bohemian elegance and artistic grace. As an admirer of the Great American Songbook , she seemed familiar with all the popular standards ever written. She was an eminent interpreter of the works of Cole Porter and the team of Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh. In her later career she also devoted herself to songs by Stephen Sondheim .

Discographic notes

  • Complete 1951-1956 Trio Recordings
  • Old Friends (1989, with Phil Bodner , Jay Leonhart, Grady Tate )
  • Live at Birdland (2005, with Jay Leonhart, Joe Cocuzzo )
  • Barbara Carroll Plays at Birdland (2016, with Jay Leonhart)

literature

Web links

Commons : Barbara Carroll  - Collection of Images

References and comments

  1. ^ Jazz Pianist, Composer, and Vocalist Barbara Carroll Passes Away Age 92 . Obituary in Broadway World, February 12, 2017, accessed February 13, 2017.
  2. a b c d Stephen Holden: Barbara Carroll, Pioneering Jazz Pianist and Singer, Dies at 92 . Obituary in The New York Times , February 14, 2017, accessed February 17, 2017.
  3. In his book Inside Bebop from 1949 she is even represented with a photo. He announced her there as the “first female pianist of bebop”.
  4. It was initially very difficult for her as a woman to get opportunities to perform. A jazz pianist friend of mine posed as "Bobby Carroll" and when the job came about, she would appear at the venue where they "had to let the organizers play". - Ursel Schlicht It's Gotta Be Music First. On the meaning, reception and work situation of jazz musicians Karben, Coda 2000, p. 181f.