Carol Sloane: Difference between revisions

American jazz singer (1937–2023)

Carol Sloane (March 5, 1937 – January 23, 2023) was an American jazz singer.

Carol Morvan was born on March 5, 1937 in Providence, Rhode Island to Frank and Claudia (Rainville) Morvan.^[1] Morvan and her eldest sister, Lois, were raised in the Providence suburb of Georgiaville. Her family played music and enjoyed singing together.^[2] Raised a Catholic, Morvan’s earliest musical experiences included singing in the church choir with her family. She also attended Catholic School in her elementary years where she was taught by nuns to be “a good girl”, according to Morvan. Around age 12, her parents bought her a radio where she heard early rock and roll during the day time and jazz at night time.^[3]

At age 14, she obtained a job singing twice a week with local bandleader, Ed Drew.^[4] The group performed at the Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet Ballroom in Cranston, Rhode Island where she was paid $9 per gig and performed under the name, Carol Van.^[5] In high school, she also worked as a secretary and a babysitter. One of her babysitting clients was local songwriter, Jim Howe, who had co-written the song “So Long”. She traveled to New York City where she recorded his composition.^[2] After finishing high school in 1955, she married Charlie Jefferds.^[5] When he was drafted into the US Army, she followed him to Germany in 1957. Overseas, she appeared in traveling military musical productions, beginning with Kiss Me Kate. Upon returning to the US, the couple lived in Providence where Morvan obtained a secretarial position at a law firm. She also performed at a local club part-time where she was heard by Bob Bonis, a representative for Les and Larry Elgart. Bonis had her audition for Larry Elgart’s Orchestra and she was hired in 1958.^[5][2]

Morvan stayed with the Elgart’s big band for two years^[2] where she spent time touring with the group throughout the US.^[3] She also recorded with the orchestra, including an appearance on his 1960 RCA Victor LP, Easy Goin’ Swing.^[5] Elgart did not like her maiden name, Morvan, and insisted on changing it. They experimented with different names before settling on the last name “Sloane”,^[2] after she saw the name on a furniture store.^[3] Sloane left Elgart after realizing big band orchestras were becoming increasingly out-of-fashion. Now a solo artist, she performed at a Pittsburgh jazz festival where she was heard by Jon Hendricks of the trio, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Sloane agreed to Hendricks’ offer to substitute for Annie Ross when was unable to perform in their trio.^[5] According to Sloane, Hendricks helped her land a spot performing at the 1961 Newport Jazz Festival^[3] where she appeared as part of their “New Faces” show.^[6] She wanted to sing “Little Girl Blue“, but the festival’s pianist did not know the verse. Sloane instead sang it acapella,^[5][2] which impressed the crowd that day. In the audience were jazz critics, along with representatives from Columbia Records, who offered her a contract several weeks later.^[1]

Her Columbia contract yielded two albums,^[7] beginning with the 1962 LP, Out of the Blue.^[5] The album was mostly a collection of ballads arranged by Bill Finegan. It spawned a 45 RPM single, which was a cover of “I Want You to Be the First to Know”.^[8] Out of the Blue received critical acclaim,^[1] including from Billboard, which named it one of their “Special Merit Albums” on May 19, 1962.^[9] Her second Columbia LP was Carol Sloane Live at 30th Street, titled for its recording sessions that were held at New York City’s 30th Street studios. It was named Cash Box magazine’s “Jazz Picks of the Week” on January 19, 1963^[10] and was rated three out five stars by AllMusic.^[11] She also recorded a live album in 1964,^[7] but it went unreleased until 1977 when it was issued by the Honeydew label.^[12]

Sloane’s career got further exposure on television during this period^[3] when she appeared on The Steve Allen Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.^[1] Sloane recalled being given the title of the “Queen of First 15” for appearing as the first guest on The Tonight Show from 11:15-11:30. Because most markets only picked up the show at 11:30, she often missed exposure to a larger national audience.^[13] Sloane also held concerts at night clubs like San Francisco‘s the Hungry I, Chicago’s Mister Kelly’s and New York City’s The Blue Angel.^[2] Also on the bill were fellow jazz musicians Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster,^[14] along with comedians like Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor.^[2] She also joined The Beatles and The Rolling Stones on their early US tours in 1964 due to her association with the tour’s manager, Bob Bonis.^[5][15]

In 1965, Sloane’s career was given a second go-round at Columbia. This time, she was pushed in a pop marketing direction that drew inspiration from the careers of Edyie Gorme and Peggy Lee. The 1965 single, “Music” (produced by John Simon and Ernie Altschuler), received some airplay on US top 40 radio stations, according to Billboard.^[16] She was ultimately dropped from Columbia’s roster,^[1] but continued performing in concert during the 1960s, including at Boston‘s Jazz Workshop.^[5] Occasionally, she wrote album reviews for Down Beat magazine between September 1967 and May 1968.^[17] Despite this, Sloane was just making ends meet and returned to secretarial work in New York to her bills.^[18] In 1969, an agent contacted Sloane and coaxed her to moving to Raleigh, North Carolina to headline at The Frog and Nightgown jazz club.^[3] Sloane performed monthly concerts centered around the music of Cole Porter and Noel Coward,^[18] while also working as a secretary for politician Terry Sanford during the weekday.^[3]

Around 1977, Sloane returned to New York City to fill-in for Dee Dee Bridgewater‘s concert with the New York Jazz Quartet. She also met pianist, Jimmy Rowles, during this period whom she became romantically involved with for several years.^[18] At the same time, Japan’s growing interest in jazz music was leading several artists to record overseas, including Sloane.^[19] In 1977, Japan’s Trio label issued her next studio LP, Sophisticated Lady,^[20] followed by the LOBster-issued Spring Is Here (1977)^[21] and the Nadja-issued Cottontail (1978).^[22] The American-based Progressive Records released Carol Sings in 1980.^[23] Sloane moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1981 where she booked jazz acts like Helen Merrill, George Shearing and Carmen McRae.^[18] Sloane continued recording through 1985 in what resulted in 12 albums over a decade-long period, none of which yielded high sales figures.^[5] Among these recordings were 1982’s As Time Goes By (released by Baybridge)^[24] and a 1984’s Three Pearls (released by Eastworld that also featured Chris Connor and Ernestine Anderson).^[25]

Her career stalled for a time in the 1970s, but resumed by the 1980s. In 1983 she found a nickel under her carseat and brought it to a psychic who told her she should sign with Concord Records; then she had some successes touring in Japan. In 1986, she married Buck Spurr.^[26] In April 2016 Sloane was among the inductees into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame (RIMHOF).^[27] She lived in Stoneham, Massachusetts.^[28] She died on January 23, 2023, due to complications from a stroke she had two years prior.^[29] Sloane: A Jazz Singer, a documentary feature film profiling her career, was released in 2023.^[30]