Barbara Carroll

Early life and career

Carroll was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. She began her classical training in piano at age eight, but by high school decided to become a jazz pianist. She attended the New England Conservatory of Music for a year, but left it as it conflicted with working for bands. In 1947 Leonard Feather dubbed her "the first girl ever to play bebop piano." In the following year her trio, which featured Chuck Wayne on guitar and Clyde Lombardi on bass, worked briefly with Benny Goodman. Later Charlie Byrd replaced Wayne and Joe Shulman replaced Lombardi. After Byrd's departure, Carroll decided to have it be a drums, bass, and piano trio.

In the 1950s Carroll and her trio worked on Me and Juliet by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The decade saw her career ebb due to changing musical tastes and personal concerns.

Later career

In 1972 she revived her career due to a renewed interest in her work. In 1975 she was asked by Rita Coolidge to work on a session for A&M. In 1978 she toured with Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson. In the following two decades she became known as a cabaret performer.

Personal life

In September 1954 Carroll married jazz bassist Joe Shulman, a member of the trio. The marriage lasted less than three years due to his death from a heart attack in 1957 at age 33. She subsequently married agent and photographer Bert Block, with whom she had a daughter, Suzanne. Block died of emphysema in 1986. In 2011, Carroll married advertising executive Mark Stroock, a union that lasted until her death, at the age of 92.

Awards and honors

In 2003, Carroll was awarded the Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award.

Discography