Carol Sloane is one of my favorite singers. She has a terrific sense of jazz articulation, she's a hip swinger and she goes deeper into a song than most other singers. She also takes risks mid-song to make standards sound more interesting. and when she leaps, she always lands sunny side up. Carol grew up as Carol Morvan in Providence, R.I., and started singing locally at age 14. On her first single at 16 in 1953, she was known as Carol Vann. In the '50s, she went off to Europe to appear in a touring production of Kiss Me Kate.
By the late 1950s, she was singing with Larry Elgart, and she subbed for Annie Ross in Lambert, Hendricks and Ross at the dawn of the '60s. The latter half of the 1960's was increasingly tough for Carol as jazz work dried up in the rock era. So she took a secretarial job while living and singing in Raleigh, N.C. Carol resumed studio recording in 1977 in Tokyo. Two albums of standards were recorded for the Japanese market that year in October—Sophisticated Lady and Spring Is Here.
Of the two albums, I'm more partial to Spring Is Here. On the album Carol was accompanied by Sir Roland Hanna (p) and George Mraz (b). Every song is perfectly executed, with Carol's earthy, confiding voice and wide range. She also is matched perfectly by Hanna's exceptionally beautiful chords and runs, and Mraz's scampering on bass. The tracks are Spring Is Here, Love Is Here to Stay, I'm Glad There Is You, They Can't Take That Away from Me, 'S Wonderful and But Not for Me. The album includes both the master and alternate takes of each song. Carol's voice is so gorgeous, you'll be hard-pressed to figure out why one take was chosen over the other. I wish all of her albums were reissued and were available at Spotify. Today's singers could learn a great deal from Carol's mastery.
Carol will be singing in Bristol, R.I., on April 27 with pianist Mike Renzi and tenor saxophonist Harry Allen. Then she'll be at Winter's Jazz Club in Chicago on June 21 before appearing at New York's Birdland September 20 and 21, accompanied by Mike Renzi and bassist Jay Leonhart. For more information, go here.
To read my JazzWax interview with Carol, start here (additional parts can be accessed by clicking on the next link above the red date at the top). To read Carol's blog, go here.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Carol Sloane's Spring Is Here here or at eBay.
JazzWax clips: Here's the second take of the title track...
Here's the master take of I'm Glad There Is You...
And here's the master take of But Not for Me...
