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TELL IT LIKE IT IS by Elzy Kolb March 2020 Issue Jazz Fans Should Be

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TELL IT LIKE IT IS by Elzy Kolb March 2020 Issue Jazz Fans Should Be TELL IT LIKE IT IS By Elzy Kolb March 2020 issue Photo Credit: Eric Stephen Jacobs Jazz fans should be delighted to hear that vocalist Carol Sloane has an autobiography in the works. A 75-minute interview is too brief to provide more than just a tantalizing glimpse into her almost seven decades-long creative career and her encounters with the famous, the fabulous and the notorious. “I’ve been shuffling around this mortal coil for a long time,” notes the vivacious octogenarian, who made her pro singing debut at age 14 with a society dance band, gigs for which she earned $9 a night. The next decade involved a lot of dues paying, including an extended stint on the road with Larry Elgart’s orchestra, among other ensembles, punctuated by secretarial temping whenever singing opportunities slowed down. Jon Hendricks heard her perform as an opening act in Pittsburgh. He was impressed, and asked her to learn the Lambert, Hendricks and Ross book so she could sub for Annie Ross. “I did that a couple of times,” Carol recalls. “The first time was at Pep’s in Philadelphia. Duke Ellington’s ‘Cottontail’ was the first tune Jon called. I didn’t know all the words. That was my baptism of fire.” Another time, Carol was in the audience at the Village Vanguard during an LH&R performance, when Jon brought her up to sing a couple of tunes by herself. As she left the bandstand, Vanguard founder and owner Max Gordon offered her a two-week run opening for Oscar Peterson. The vocalist remembers thinking: “I get to sing every night, then sit down and listen to Oscar Peterson, and I’ll get paid for it?!” Soon after, critics discovered her abilities during a “New Stars” program at Newport, and their glowing assessments ensured that her Vanguard debut drew crowds. “That, and Oscar Peterson,” Carol observes dryly. She says she set a record as the singer who played the Vanguard most often, including a seven-week run with the ground-breaking comedian Lenny Bruce. “That was just one of the things that happened along the way. He was so loaded most of the time you couldn’t have a conversation,” Carol recalls. “The audience was full of cops, waiting for him to say something they could arrest him for.” Early on, Peterson introduced Carol to Ella Fitzgerald, whom she describes as sweet and supportive. “She was a genius, equal to the best soloists of her era.” Carol muses, “She was a horn, not a singer. Ella went to such a place of concentration, there was a light you could see in her face and her body, you could feel it across the footlights. I saw it happen and it was amazing to watch her dedication and focus.” Audiences felt it too, and frequently wouldn’t let Ella leave the stage with fewer than six encores. Once, while waiting together for a flight, Carol asked Ella if she had a favorite song. The vocal icon began to sing her response: Billy Strayhorn’s “Something to Live For.” “I joined in. We were in the VIP airport lounge, and I was singing with Ella Fitzgerald. I couldn’t believe it.” Carol breaks into the verse, illustrating Ella’s phrasing. “I thought, Is this God’s way of saying this is as good as it gets?” Carmen McRae was another of Carol’s inspirations and influences. “She often sang at the Half Note, and I sat there every night taking notes. She had a texture I hadn’t heard from the other ladies. She had a reputation for being tough, very hard on musicians. The woman I knew was very generous and sweet. She was both regal and down to earth.” Carol still likes to hang and “keep track of what other singers are doing,” pointing out that she lives just a 30-minute drive from the clubs in Boston. She advises younger singers, “Don’t lose your compass. Don’t forget those who came before and were such a joy and inspiration. Don’t ignore them. And don’t think you can sing a song better than Gershwin wrote it. No one’s paying attention to older material now and that breaks my heart.” The memoir isn’t the only project the veteran vocalist has in the works. She also hopes to release a new live album soon. “I haven’t had the courage to listen to it yet. I’m not happy with my singing—any of it. Ever.” However, Carol admits that she has received good feedback from those who have heard it. She is also working on a documentary film in which she looks back on her life and her music. Catch Carol in action at Birdland Theater March 27-28, just a few weeks after celebrating her 83rd birthday on March 5. “New York people have always been so supportive of me,” she says. “I want to prove that I still have my fast ball.” She plans to focus on songs about spring, including “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most,” which Carol is learning for the occasion. “It’s the big daddy of spring songs, one of the most revered spring songs in jazz,” she says. “There are a lot of good versions. Carmen sang it, but Irene Kral is my favorite. She had such respect for the lyric and melody.” Carol Sloane plays Birdland Theater March 27-28, with pianist Mike Renzi, bassist Jay Leonhart and drummer Ron Vincent. .
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