Barbara Carroll "Live"

 

Suzie's Bossa Nova

Barbara Carroll

Live!

Her Piano and Trio

Produced by George Lee

Cover Art: Tom Woodward

Art Direction: Ed Thrasher

Warner Bros. Records WS 1710

1967

From the back cover: Stars shoot, planets dive, constellation incandesce with the fierce splendor of multitudinous brilliants – and here on terra firmament one Barbara Carroll sets off equally celestial fireworks each time her fleet fingers meet the polished eighty-eights of Messrs. Steinway, Mason and Hamlin, or Yamaha. Whether at the London House in Chicago, where the spectacular action for this album took place, Shepheard's in New York, or on the hot line of national and international television.

To  be familiar about it: the sweetest slip of red jasmine ever to wind around a piano bench is back after an almost five-year hiatus, setting the jazz world right again and announcing her return with a display of dazzling dynamics that makes the aurora borealis look like a 25-watt bulb.

In other words, Mr. Edison, saucy, sassy Barbara's back in town, and you'd better invent some new ways of putting her name up in lights because she's spankier than ever, deliciously primed, and ready to drive fans and uninitiates wild with the phantasmagoria of piano pulchritude that is the Barbara Carroll brand of witchcraft.

To herald her reemergence from the world of family, friends, Julia Child, and the Late Late Show, Warner Bros. Records decided to bolt the door to the padded studio where most perfectionists isolate themselves and capture the lady flagrante delicate. To this end, they forayed the cheek-to-cheek ambiance of London House with a rig of delicate mikes, picking up not only the lady Barbara herself – with sidemen Beverly Peer (bass) an Dick Sheridan (drums) – but also the jubilation of a rafter packed room.

The result: a jumbo helping of jump-for-joy interpretations of show tunes and standards that project for the first time on vinyl the vibrant spectrum of Barbara Carroll live. From the wide-open grooving of "Satin Doll" and "What Now My Love" to the tremulous caress of "Here's That Rainy Day," with its succession of trellis-climbing chords finally released and floating skyward, this album will hold the record for the most heavenly happening until Halley's Comet makes it round again in 1985

Barbara Carroll Live! A galaxy of rhythmic and harmonic invention. A stelliferous show by a stellar artist.

Or as Mr. Edison said, plumbing in the marquee: "For you, baby, I've a 10,000 watter." – Hal Halverstadt

Mame

Here's That Rainy Day

Suzie's Bossa Nova

Cabaret

Satin Doll

What Now My Love

Fiddler On the Roof Medley: If I Were A Rich Man; To Life; Sunrise, Sunset,: Matchmaker, Matchmaker

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever