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Carol Sloane

Carol Sloane was born to Claudia and Frank Morvan on March 5, 1937, in Providence, Rhode Island, the older of two daughters, but she never lived in that city. Instead, she spent her happy childhood in the small town of Smithfield, just a few short miles north of the city. Her parents worked steadily through the years of World War II in the textile mill near their home.

Carol was the lucky member of a large family of cousins, aunts and uncles who all possessed natural singing voices. Only one uncle ever received formal musical education, and he played the tenor sax. In 1951, her Uncle Joe arranged an audition for her with a society dance band led by Ed Drew, and she began singing the stock arrangements of popular hits of the day each Wednesday and Saturday night at Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet Ballroom, located in Cranston, Rhode Island.

In 1955, Carol married a Providence disc jockey named Charlie Jefferds, and almost immediately, the couple found themselves at Fort Carson, Colorado where Charlie endured the rigors of basic training followed by a one-year obligatory tour of duty in Germany. They returned to the US in January 1958, and were amicably divorced in that year.

Carol continued to sing in small bars and clubs until she met the road manager of the Les and Larry Elgart Orchestra, which was touring the amusement park ballrooms in the southern New England area. She auditioned for Larry Elgart, who then asked her to come to New York with his band. The brothers had recently split the organization, Les taking the territory west of Chicago, Larry to handle everything east of Chicago. Larry Elgart suggested she change her name to Carol Sloane.

The “road years” with the Larry Elgart band continued until 1960, when the road simply became too boring and too difficult for her. After two years on the road, she was still unknown, and there were no singing engagements to be had. She took various secretarial jobs booked through Manhattan temp agencies. She continued her working relationship with the former road manager of the Elgart band, who had become an agent in the office of the legendary Willard Alexander. This man, Bob Bonis, arranged for Carol to sing at a jazz festival in Pittsburgh in 1960, at which time she met Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.

Jon Hendricks asked Carol if she could learn the LH&R book in order to be prepared to take Annie Ross’ place if that ever became necessary. Carol agreed to study the group’s exacting material, and continued her secretarial gigs. Then, one night in early 1961, when attending a performance of LH&R at the Village Vanguard, Jon asked Carol to sing a couple of tunes on her own, after which the legendary proprietor Max Gordon asked her if she’d like to sing at the club the following August as opening act for Oscar Peterson. In her own words, “I stammered an acceptance, and walked five feet off the ground on the way home”.

Another auspicious move was quietly being made for Carol in 1961, without her knowledge: Jon Hendricks made a very persuasive argument to the producers that Carol should be included in that year’s Newport Jazz Festival as part of the “New Stars” program. On the afternoon of that presentation, Carol had the use of the Ike Isaacs Trio which backed LH&R. The pianist, Gildo Mahones, didn’t know the verse to the Rodgers & Hart song “Little Girl Blue” so Carol blithely suggested she would sing it a cappella, and did so. The New York press unanimously praised the young woman’s talent, exceptional intonation and pitch, and she was also heard by a representative of Columbia Records. Her first album,”Out of the Blue” was recorded a few short months later, with arrangements by the legendary Bill Finegan, and an orchestra boasting Clark Terry and Bob Brookmeyer among the soloists.

In the 1960’s, Carol Sloane sang in major clubs such as Mr. Kelly’s in Chicago where she opened for Jackie Mason and the Smothers Brothers; at the hungry I in San Francisco where she opened for Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge and Richard Pryor; she also opened for Phyllis Diller, Stiller and Meara and Jackie Vernon at the Blue Angel in New York; she appeared regularly on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and became a regular member of the radio cast on Arthur Godfrey’s CBS weekly program. She continued to record and make club and concert appearances during this decade until the Beatles and rock ‘n roll began to consume the popular culture, forcing some jazz venues to the edge of ruin. In 1969, Carol accepted an offer to sing in a club in Raleigh, North Carolina, found the atmosphere in that city very much less hectic than New York, with an audience eager to hear and support jazz artists. She relocated to the south at the beginning of 1970.

Carol worked both as a singer and a legal secretary for the next several years, eventually returning to New York to begin a turbulent relationship with a legendary jazz pianist, Jimmy Rowles. Jimmy’s reputation as a master accompanist and soloist was solid and undisputed, but his alcoholism made their situation often stormy. He did, however, pull himself together long enough to play for Ella Fitzgerald when Tommy Flanagan left after almost twenty years of accompanying the great singer. Jimmy’s tenure was much shorter: only two years at the outside. He then decided to return to Los Angeles, and did so at the end of 1980. Carol also left New York, this time returning to her beloved New England.

She arrived in Boston in January, 1981, accepted a job in a prestigious law firm, and promptly threw away the idea of an “ordinary” life when a friend asked her to return to N.C. to help him in his new supper club recently opened in Chapel Hill. The venue was beautiful, comfortable and truly a perfect setting for any artist, and Carol booked her friends into the club: Shirley Horn, Joe Williams, George Shearing, Marian McPartland, Anita O’Day, Jackie & Roy, and of course, the great Carmen McRae. This club managed to last all of two years, a remarkable accomplishment. Carol also hosted a radio show at the NPR affiliate in Chapel Hill. In 1984, while singing in a Boston club, she met the man whom she would eventually marry.

Her marriage to Buck Spurr took place in November, 1986, and Carol has lived in the Boston area since that time. She recorded two albums for Contemporary in 1988 and 1989, then signed with Concord Jazz in 1991, recording six solo albums and touring Japan many times as part of the Concord-Fujitsu Festival. Carol stayed busy making her debut with the Boston Pops Orchestra at Symphony Hall, Boston in 1998, then with the New York Pops Orchestra in 1999, and recorded a tribute album to Duke Ellington on the DRG label that same year. In March 2000, she began a second career in radio, hosting The Jazz Matinee, a four-hour jazz program, five days a week on WICN-FM, the NPR affiliate in Worcester, Mass. This jazz show took a full year’s time to produce, until, in the spring of 2001, a heavy performance schedule made it necessary for Carol to leave WICN to resume touring and also record a new CD. In 2001, Carol signed a contract with the famous HighNote Jazz label which issued the first cd titled “I Never Went Away”. This has been followed by “Whisper Sweet”.

Carol’s latest recording, “Dearest Duke”, is recently released in April of 2007 on the Arbors label. Featuring Brad Hatfield on piano and Ken Peplowski on tenor sax and clarinet, this cd contains 15 tunes of Ellington material plus Billy Strayhorn’s “Day Dream”.

Ms. Sloane’s favorite flower is the white rose.

Awards

2006 BackStage Bistro Award for Outstanding Achievement, Major Jazz Engagment; 2008 NightLife Award for Outstanding Jazz Vocalist, Major Jazz Engagement

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Carol Sloane on Singers and Songs: A Blindfold Test

by Mathew Bahl
August 21, 2023

Tell Carol Sloane you like one of her records and you will probably get the same reaction every time. She will smile graciously, thank you sincerely and then proceed politely to explain how she could have done the song better. Given her own exacting standards, not to mention her experience as a disc jockey and as a reviewer for Downbeat, it seemed natural to put Carol in the hot seat for a blindfold test. I Could Have Told ...

Profile

Carol Sloane: Setting New Standards

by Mathew Bahl
August 21, 2023

In her concert appearances, Carol Sloane often sings a lovely ballad called “An Older Man is Like an Elegant Wine." Listening to Ms. Sloane extol the virtues of age and experience in a voice as soft and warm as angora wool, it is hard not to conclude that the sentiments of the lyric have an even more specific application to the art of jazz. The truth is that no matter how hot a young musician might be at a given ...

Radio & Podcasts

Celebrate Women's History Month With New Releases By Ally Fiola, Emily Braden, Danielle Wertz, Jane Bunnett & Maqueque, Jackie Ryan & More

by Mary Foster Conklin
March 13, 2023

This broadcast celebrates the beginning of Women's History Month with new releases from Bill Mays, Ally Fiola, Emily Braden, Danielle Wertz, Jane Bunnett & Maqueque, Jackie Ryan and Markus Rutz, plus birthday shoutouts to Carol Sloane, Miriam Makeba, Sara Serpa, Tomoko Ohno, Roseanna Vitro and Kirk Nurock, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and online. Purchase their music so they can continue to distract, comfort, provoke and inspire.Playlist ...

Album Review

Carol Sloane: Carol Sloane Live At Birdland

Read "Carol Sloane Live At Birdland" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
May 26, 2022

Was there ever a more storied exponent of the Great American Songbook than Carol Sloane? She started singing professionally at the age of fourteen, made her first recording in 1959, was the “gal singer" for Arthur Godfrey for a spell, and went on to record virtually any tune you can think of (and, more than likely, a few you cannot). Her voice, shimmering and luminous, worked especially well on ballads, but her up-tempo material was equally compelling. She sang with ...

Radio & Podcasts

Something Cool - Celebrating Carol Sloane

by Mary Foster Conklin
March 16, 2020

Women's History Month continues with new releases from saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, vocalist Jay Clayton, pianist Nuphar Fey and guitarist Pat Metheny, with birthday shout outs to vocalist Carol Sloane in the first hour (pictured), along with Nicki Parrott, Rachelle Garniez, Billy Childs, Carole Bayer Sager, Tomoko Ohno, Anat Fort and Eric Comstock, among others. Playlist Leslie Pintchik “Tumbleweed" from Same Day Delivery (Pintch Hard Records) 00:00 Carol Sloane “Can't We Be Friends?" from Something Cool (Candid Records) 06:56 ...

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Album Review

Carole Sloane: Dearest Duke

Read "Dearest Duke" reviewed by Suzanne Lorge

by Suzanne Lorge
September 7, 2007

One of the most fascinating things about Carol Sloane's Dearest Duke is that you can hear every discrete note of every performance on the disc, so spare is the accompaniment and so prominent are the vocals in the mix. Another interesting thing about Sloane's debut effort for Arbors: each number is a ballad. So again, you can hear everything. When Duke Ellington is the composer, Ken Peplowski the horn player, Brad Hatfield the pianist and Sloane the singer, such unabashed ...

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Album Review

Carol Sloane: Something Cool

Read "Something Cool" reviewed by J. Robert Bragonier

by J. Robert Bragonier
October 5, 2003

Carol Sloane has spent more than fifty years as a jazz singer, and she sings with as much sensitivity and feeling as anyone in the business. This album was recorded in 1978 and released the following year; she had made two prior Columbia records in the early ‘60s, and in 1977, two additional albums were released in Japan. Ms. Sloane’s acclaim as a mature artist makes this re- release required listening, while the quality of her sidemen virtually ensures that ...

Video / DVD

Carol Sloane: My 10 Favorite Tracks

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 28, 2023

Yesterday, I posted my full 2009 interview with the late Carol Sloane, which Matt Schudel quote for in Washington Post obit. Today, I thought I'd provide 10 of my favorite recordings by Carol: Here's Angel Eyes from After Hours, a demo tape recorded in 1959... Here's Prelude to a Kiss from Out of the Blue, with arrangements by Bill Finegan, in 1961... Here's Taking a Chance on Love from Carol Sloane Live at 30th Street in 1962... Here's When Your ...
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Obituary

Carol Sloane (1937-2023)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 26, 2023

Carol Sloane, a superb singer with remarkable pitch who was widely considered to be the last great female big-band and club jazz vocalist to emerge at the dawn of the 1960s, just before the British Invasion swept over the record industry, died on January 23, 2023. She was 85. “Sloaney," as she was known to friends, had Sarah Vaughan's phrasing in the 1960s but also shared the round richness and twinkle of Ella Fitzgerald. With a husky, rich and caressing ...
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Interview

Interview: Carol Sloane (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 18, 2010

No matter how hard singer Carol Sloane worked in the late 1950s, the odds of becoming a nationally known big band singer were against her. Younger audiences no longer found romance in the songs of Tin Pan Alley, and fewer adults were going out to hear music let alone dance. Touring with a big band, even a headliner like Larry Elgart, had its creative benefits but the grueling pace offered little long-term reward. [Photo of Carol Sloane in 1961, The ...
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Interview

Interview: Carol Sloane (Part 4)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 23, 2009

In the summer of 1964, the world turned upside down for singer Carol Sloane. That year her mentor Bob Bonis became the U.S. road manager for two English rock bands: the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Her close friendship with Bonis made her a part of the Rolling Stones' entourage during their first tour in June and an eyewitness to an event that all but buried jazz's popularity: the Beatles' appearance in 1965 at Shea Stadium. As Carol notes below, ...
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Interview

Interview: Carol Sloane (Part 5)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 23, 2009

Few jazz singers had as tough a time coming up through the ranks as Carol Sloane. Most singers who are top of mind emerged when jazz was America's pop music and plenty of opportunities existed for vocalists to record and connect with the public. But just as Carol's career began to flower in the early 1960s, jazz singing as a genre suffered several devastating blows. By 1965, jazz was rapidly being replaced by new forms of popular music, and female ...
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Interview

Interview: Carol Sloane (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 18, 2009

Carol Sloane is easily the finest jazz singer of the post-jazz era. After getting her start in 1958 with the Larry Elgart Orchestra, Carol experienced a series of Cinderella breaks just as rock was beginning to yank the commercial rug out from under jazz. Had Carol been born five years earlier, she surely would be as well known today as Carmen McRae, Chris Connor and other headline singers who emerged during the rock-free early 1950s.

When you listen to Carol's ...
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157

Interview

Interview: Carol Sloane (Part 3)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 18, 2009

The early 1960s was a bleak period for new jazz singers like Carol Sloane. Between 1960 and the arrival of the Beatles in 1964, pop music surged in popularity. Weary of Tin Pan Alley standards, young adult record-buyers favored music that was simple and upbeat. And new. To fill 12-inch LPs, record company A&R executives reached for the latest Broadway musicals and songs written by a new generation of show composers. [Photo of Carol and Coleman Hawkins at the Newport ...
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Recording

Recent Listening: Lou Levy, Carol Sloane

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
March 6, 2009

Trying to keep up with new releases, I often get sidetracked by old favorites. It happens that my recent listening coincides with the birthday of two of the listenees.

Lou Levy, Lunarcy (Verve). Levy would have been 81 today. He died in January of 2001. From his post-World War Two beginnings with Georgie Auld through work with Sarah Vaughan, Boyd Raeburn, Woody Herman, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz and Frank Sinatra--among many others--Levy was in demand as a band ...
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Performance / Tour

Carol Sloane And Dave Frishberg Continue Singers Over Manhattan Series December 12-14

Source: All About Jazz

Music Industry

CAROL SLOANE SIZZLES AT THE ALGONQUIN. AUGUST 14-SEPTEMBER 1

Source: All About Jazz

(New York, NY) Legendary jazz singer Carol Sloane begins a three-week engagement at the famed Oak Room in the Algonquin Hotel on August 14th. The sultry Ms. Sloane will feature songs from her forthcoming HighNote CD “I Never Went Away", performing with her Musical Director, great jazz pianist Norman Simmons.

“She is one of our very best singer/actresses, bridging the cabaret/jazz spectrum with a seeming ease born of absolute authority and a crisp intelligence." - Cadence Magazine

Oak Room, Algonquin ...
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Carol Sloane, "Dearest Duke" (Arbors): The other outstanding vocal album of the year is Ms. Sloane's latest and most heartfelt collection of Ellingtonia. The nod almost went to Andy Bey's new Birdland set, but the presence of the brilliant clarinetist Ken Peplowski on every track puts Ms. Sloane over the top. -Will Friedwald, The New York Sun, Dec. 28, 2007 The Washington Post, December 25, 2007 "DEAREST DUKE" Carol Sloane Jazz singer Carol Sloane has been perennially underappreciated during her long, uncompromising career. She sings with a rare maturity and grace and has dozens of excellent recordings, yet she is little known outside a small circle of admirers. Sloane has often recorded the music of Duke Ellington, including a full album in 1999 ("Romantic Ellington"), but her most recent effort reaches a deeper, more profound level. There are several up-tempo exceptions, but most of the 12 tracks on "Dearest Duke" are ballads that produce a delicate sense of intimacy. Sloane is supported only by Brad Hatfield's understated piano and the gentle fills of Ken Peplowski's clarinet and tenor saxophone. She doesn't scat a single note, yet her nuanced shifts in tempo and harmony — not to mention her sultry, smoky voice — possess the unmistakable feeling of jazz. Sloane brings an almost literary sense of interpretation to a song's lyrics and can make a subtle vocal quaver in "I've Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" convey a plaintive undercurrent of pain. Her poignant phrasing and inflections in "Solitude" and "I Didn't Know About You" draw on such a deep well of experience that we don't hear the words so much as feel them. At every turn in these familiar tunes, she discovers new colors and seams of meaning that we didn't know were there. This is the finest vocal album I've heard all year, and if Carol Sloane isn't America's greatest living jazz singer, then no one deserves the title. — Matt Schudel The New Yorker, January 14, 2008: Carol Sloane, “Dearest Duke” (Arbors)"There’s no place for Sloane to hide on this intimate set, and that works out just fine for this underrated veteran singer. Accompanied only by piano and Ken Peplowski’s clarinet and saxophone, Sloane glides over imperishable Ellington ballads, treating each with the blend of delicacy and solidity that only a skilled vocalist can conjure. It’s minimalist magic.

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