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Born Carol Morvan in Providence, Rhode Island, on March 5, 1937, Carol Sloane grew up in the small town of Smithfield, surrounded by music and an extended family of musicians. |
As a teenager, Carol often sang with friends that had put together an informal band. Her mother disapproved of this group, but when Carol was 14, her Uncle Joe helped her land a gig with Ed Drew's dance band, performing stock renditions of contemporary pop hits two nights each week in nearby Cranston.
Marriage and travel to Germany with her husband, who had joined the Army, took up the mid- to late 1950s for Carol, but upon her return to the U.S., she got divorced and began a professional singing career.
From 1958 through 1960, she toured with the Larry Elgart Orchestra and at Elgart's suggestion, changed her last name to Sloane. But when that engagement ran its course, Carol moved to New York, where a confluence of events, including a jazz festival gig in Pittsburgh, brought her to the attention of singer Jon Hendricks.
Hendricks had Carol fill in for Annie Ross in the classic vocal ensemble Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, and also engineered her performance at tthe 1961 Newport Jazz Festiva, which that led to her first recorded work, "Out of the Blue."
Through the 1960s, Carol toured the nightclub circuit, performing with Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, and others. She was a regular on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show.
At the start of the 1970s, she moved to North Carolina, and for the next thirty years, went back and forth from professional music and the "straight" life -- which for Carol meant working as a legal secretary.
Marriage and travel to Germany with her husband, who had joined the Army, took up the mid- to late 1950s for Carol, but upon her return to the U.S., she got divorced and began a professional singing career.
From 1958 through 1960, she toured with the Larry Elgart Orchestra and at Elgart's suggestion, changed her last name to Sloane. But when that engagement ran its course, Carol moved to New York, where a confluence of events, including a jazz festival gig in Pittsburgh, brought her to the attention of singer Jon Hendricks.
Hendricks had Carol fill in for Annie Ross in the classic vocal ensemble Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, and also engineered her performance at tthe 1961 Newport Jazz Festiva, which that led to her first recorded work, "Out of the Blue."
In 2001, Carol appeared on Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center.
 Carol on her first professional gig
Carol on meeting her idol Carmen McRae
Carol on working with Jon Hendricks
Carol on Ella Fitzgerald
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Through the 1960s, Carol toured the nightclub circuit, performing with Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, and others. She was a regular on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show.
At the start of the 1970s, she moved to North Carolina, and for the next thirty years, went back and forth from professional music and the "straight" life -- which for Carol meant working as a legal secretary.
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Carol's first album for Concord Records, Heart's Desire, was released in 1992, and she followed up a successful Sinatra tribute album with a 1996 CD dedicated to the music of her idol as a young singer: the great Carmen McRae. Her latest disc, I Never Went Away, has garnered praise from virtually every critic who hears it. |
The Village Voice has stated that Ms. Sloane is "a hardcore jazzer...(with) a voice as soft and warm as angora." All About Jazz says "the skillful manipulation of timbre and volume, as well as the exacting intonation and vocal flexibility, suggest a singer who knows every nook and cranny of her own voice."
Song List for Carol Sloane on Piano JazzCheek to Cheek (I. Berlin)
Don't Worry 'Bout Me (Bloom/Koehler)
In A Sentimental Mood (Ellington)
Waltz for Debbie (B. Evans/Lees)
Little Girl Blue (Rodgers, Hart)
How Could You Do a Thing Like That to Me (Glenn/Roberts)
Lover Come Back (Hammerstein/Romberg)
Love You Madly (Ellington)
The Official Carol Sloane Web site
Song List for Carol Sloane on Piano Jazz
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