CAROL SLOANE

Candid recordings:

Biography:

Carol Sloane was born in Providence Rhode Island, was singing professionally with local dance band Ed Drew’s by the time she was 14 and toured Europe at 18. Her early career embraced gigs with the Les Elgart Band, appearances on numerous Jazz Festivals and a stint subbing for Annie Ross with Lambert and Hendricks. After an acclaimed performance at the 1961 Newport Jazz Festival she made her first studio albums for Columbia and appeared at a succession of New York nightclubs that were also on the comedy circuit - Sloane finding herself sharing the bill with artists such as Woody Allen, Bill Cosby and Lenny Bruce. After a period in the late sixties when her very real and intensely musical talent was out of step with audience demands, she moved to Raleigh North Carolina and away from music. A decade later ace accompanist Jimmy Rowles invited her back to New York where her career picked up once again. Successful engagements in Japan have lead to regular bookings, and in the last two decades she has recorded for Audiophile, Contemporary and Concord amongst others.

Her CHOICE session (CHCD 71025) was made in 1978 and finds Miss Sloane on the top of her game. She has a confidence which comes with maturity and experience and wisdom, which she puts to good use in this scintillating collection. ‘Classy, polished and entertaining’ - All Music Guide calls it. The title track is (as Gary Shivers notes) ‘a performance that truly reflects the meaning of the song rather than a study of the melody as on June Christy’s version.’

Although the set is entitled 'Something Cool' it could easily have been Something Hip, because hip it certainly is. Like Annie Ross’ lyrics to Wardell Gray’s solo on Jackie and Jon Hendricks’ fantasy on Duke’s Cotton Tail - ‘murder on a singer’s articulators’ says Gary. And like the hip choice of the underworked ballads Baby Don’t You Quit, Can’t We Be Friends and You’re a Bad Influence.

Her nicely balanced band spotlights the superb reed work of Norris Turney, no stranger to Cotton Tail from his years with the Duke. The rhythm section is led by the under-rated pianist Benny Aronov (also a CHOICE artist) with George Mraz on bass and Joe LaBarbera (drums) making up a terrific unit.

Miss Sloane is currently enjoying something of a renaissance and deservedly so, she is a consummate interpreter of ballads and one of the great exponents of the jazz vocal tradition. It is high time she received the recognition she so richly deserves.