at JazzWax, Eddie Harris, John McEnroe, Barbara Carroll ...

This weekend at JazzWax, Eddie Harris, John McEnroe, Barbara Carroll, Harry Belafonte and more... https://t.co/BONJ7yHrq7 pic.twitter.com/VCldrWcSez

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) 18 de fevereiro de 2017

why the late #BarbaraCarroll matters ....

At JazzWax, why the late Barbara Carroll matters... https://t.co/syyVP8hnMo pic.twitter.com/IavmRveJKz

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) 16 de fevereiro de 2017

Barbara Carroll....

In the year 2005, Barbara Carroll could boast that she has began playing piano for a grand total of 75 years. Not without a pause to sleep and eat, obviously, but with a determination that might suggest such extremes. Born Barbara Carole Coppersmith, she began the instrument at only five-years-old and went on to classical training three years later, eventually graduating from the New England Conservatory. In terms of professional stagecraft, her initial training ground was a USO tour during the second World War in which she was part of an all-girl trio. This was quickly followed by leading her own trio on New York City's famous lane of jazz, 52nd Street, where she adopted her middle name of Carole as a stage name. The pianist was associated with such fine players as guitarist Chuck Wayne and bassist Clyde Lombardi, but what would develop into an extensive discography began in 1949 with a recording session backing up multi-instrumentalist Eddie Shu for the Rainbow label.

Among female piano players, Carroll is known as the first to venture into the progressive bebop style that was especially associated with Bud Powell. Unlike the infamous Billy Tipton, Carroll also did not think it was necessary to hide the fact that she was a woman in jazz -- but this was New York City, not Oklahoma or Washington state. Not that Carroll had an easy time in a genre dominated by men. "People tended to put you down before they ever heard you," she has commented in interviews. "If you were a girl piano player, the tendency was to say: 'Oh, how could she possibly play?' You never even got a chance to present what you could do. But then, if you did prove yourself, it almost became a commercial asset, in a sense; you were regarded as unique."

One audience that found Carroll to their liking was the high society crowd, becoming enamored with her during an extended run at the ultra-chic Embers supper club. Her group at the latter venue included the bassist Joe Shulman, whom she married in 1954. Carroll did not ignore the pop styles of subsequent decades, yet always managed to keep a strong jazz flavor present in whatever material she performed. If swing was a bay leaf, it would be said that Carroll has a large bush growing right outside her kitchen window. She has recorded for many of the best labels in the genre including Verve and Atlantic and continues to be in demand at clubs and cabarets. Carroll works as an actress on occasion, such as the Broadway play entitled +Me and Juliet. by Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide

Barbara Carroll On Piano Jazz

Pianist and singer Barbara Carroll is an old and dear friend of Piano Jazz host Marian McPartland. In fact, Carroll was the second ever guest to appear on Piano Jazz when the show began 30 years ago. Carroll recalls 1979 as a banner year for her, as well — it's the same year she started what became a 25 year run performing at Bemelman's Bar, at the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan.
Like McPartland, Carroll came of age during the bebop era. She was a fixture on New York's famed 52nd Street jazz scene in the 1940s and '50s. Carroll recalls her first gig in New York, at the Down Beat, where Charlie Parker introduced her to another "chick piano player," Sarah Vaughan. Carroll and McPartland discuss what it meant to be "chick piano players" leading their own trios, at a time when such a thing was still relatively rare, and decide that that any hardships they faced were certainly worth it.

Carroll begins the show with Bill Evan's challenging piece, "Very Early," demonstrating her elegant approach as well as her serious piano chops. On Cy Coleman's "I Wanna Be Yours," Carroll adds the vocal stylings that made her a sought after performer in New York's most famous cabaret rooms. A highlight of her performance here is the seldom heard Billy Strayhorn piece, "Something to Live For."
Carroll admits to "dabbling" in composition, and her exquisite jazz waltz, "In Some Other World," reveals both her skill and her modesty. McPartland is moved to improvise a musical sketch of her guest and recalls Chick Corea's Season 1 appearance, when the idea of the "musical portrait" first became an important part of Piano Jazz. A couple of improvisatory numbers complete the hour — Carroll and McPartland get together on a free form piece, and finish the show with "Barbara and Marian's Blues."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106463842&ft=1&f=24

Barbara Carroll at the Algonquin

Legendary jazz pianist Barbara Carroll at the Algonquin Hotel, May 25, 2008. With bassist Jay Leonhart, she performs her signature closing song, "Old Friends" by Stephen Sondheim.