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NEW YORK'S DIVAS
CAROL SLOANE: A LIVING LEGEND ON AND OFF STAGE
The Grande Dame of American Contemporary Jazz. Period!
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Carol Sloane is NOT exclusively, a superb singer. She is a thinker with deep thoughts, knowledge of the world, warm humor with casual intellectualism and unmatched high caliber improvisation. Wise modesty is another virtue of this remarkable lady. On the music front, she took her public by storm and froze the attention of the critics. Grosso modo, she made her mark on the world of Jazz and secured her legend status on and off stage. "With all the talk today about new jazz singers, none comes even close to Carol Sloane. This is what jazz is all about.", wrote Nat Hentoff. New York Times' Stephen Holden wrote: "Miss Sloane drew out the lyrics in long, humming syllables that showed off the resilience of her smoky contralto with its soft, spinning vibrato. She made honoring your past synonymous with valuing life itself." Another glowing statement comes from the Boston Globe's Louise Kennedy. She wrote: "When Carol Sloane sings at the Village Vanguard, as she did last month, it's like hearing the concentrated essence of a half-century's worth of jazz in one night." The Village voice saw in Ms. Sloane, the singer of all singers. The paper echoed: "There are singer's singers, and then there are singer's singers' singers. Here's one of the latter group, who may know the tricks of the trade but never condescends to use them. " Although, her voice is powerful like a rock, this rock whispers sweet, tender and heart felt vocal virtuosity. The strength of her voice is enrobed with a rainbow of one million shades of lyrical beauty, reflective romanticism and a sublime nostalgia. You touch a Greek marble statue in a deity temple and you immediately sense its strength in its smoothness and limpid beauty. This is how the voice of Carol Sloane feels, looks and comes to life. And because she is an inspired and intelligent improviser, her intense vocal virtuosity so brilliantly flirts with standards and lyrics thought to be untouchable and unmovable, thus redefining the aura, persona and quality standards of a dogmatic Jazz. Her creative originality emerges from a very crafty style that encompasses an unexpected vivacious swing tempo, splashes of emotional cadence, perfect understanding and interpretation of melody, and above all, that magnificent lyrical elegance. This year, Diva Carol was honored and recognized as the Winner, 2006 BACKSTAGE BISTRO AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING JAZZ PERFORMANCE
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Her biography tell us that diva Carol Sloane " 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.
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