Liane Carroll (born 9 February 1964) is an English vocalist, pianist and keyboardist.[1]
Early life
Carroll's parents were semi-professional singers who met and sang at the Country Club in Eastbourne.[2] She grew up in a musical household[2][3][nb 1] in Hastings[4] and in south London.[5] She started learning the piano at the age of three,[1][3] began composing at the age of eight,[5] and has been a professional singer, pianist and composer since she was 15.[6][7]
Carroll formed her own trio and recorded for Jazz Art, Bridge, and Ronnie Scott's Jazz House.[5]
From 1996 to 2002, Carroll worked with singer-songwriter-guitarist Peter Kirtley, with whom she composed many songs. They appeared together on a charity single for Brazilian street children, on which Carroll's backing singer was Paul McCartney.[5][8]
From 1996 onwards Carroll started working with Hospital Records. In 2003 she toured internationally with a band formed by Hospital Records' owner Tony Colman, playing at the Brazilian Electro Dance Music Festival in Brasília. In the early 2000s she began recording for the Splash Point label, releasing a series of recordings that embraced jazz, R&B and the singer-songwriter tradition. From 2005 onwards, she decided to focus on her jazz work.[5]
Jazz critic Dave Gelly of The Observer described Carroll as "one of the most stylistically flexible pianists around, with a marvellous, slightly husky singing voice".[17] According to John Fordham of The Guardian, she is "a powerful, soul-inflected performer with an Ella Fitzgerald-like improv athleticism and an emotional frankness on ballads".[18] Peter Quinn of Jazzwise said, "Liane Carroll has that rare ability to meld effortless, often transcendent vocal and piano technique, with heart stopping emotion and soul bearing power."[19] Nick Hasted of The Independent said she is "still frustratingly little-known" but "one of Britain's most emotionally visceral and accomplished singers".[20]
Carroll's five albums since 2009 have each received four star reviews in The Guardian or The Observer.[citation needed]
Personal life
Carroll lives in Hastings[6][21] with her husband Roger Carey, bassist in the Liane Carroll Trio; they married in 1990.[7] She has a daughter, Abby.[22]
Features Dave Mattacks (drums) and Roger Carey (bass), with a guest appearance by trumpeter Dick Pearce
Dolly Bird
Ronnie Scott's Jazz House
18 August 1997
Recorded live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. Features Peter Kirtley (guitar, vocals), Steve Lamb (bass guitar) and Greg Leppard (drums)
Son of Dolly Bird
Ronnie Scott's Jazz House
28 January 2002
Recorded live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in January 2001. Features Steve Lamb (bass guitar), Greg Leppard (drums) and special guest Julian Siegel (tenor saxophone)
Carroll's first solo album.[7] Includes four original songs by Carroll: "Three Sheets to the Wind", "Fly Little Bird", "Dublin Morning" and "Billy No Mates"[12]
Recorded live on 5 June 2005 at Studio 1, Abbey Road Studios. Features the Liane Carroll Trio (Roger Carey on bass guitar and Greg Leppard on drums) and guests Ian Shaw (vocals), John Parricelli (guitar) and Bobby Wellins (tenor saxophone)[nb 4]
Featuring concert by the Liane Carroll Trio (Roger Carey on bass and Mark Fletcher on drums) at the Brecon Jazz Festival 2006; Ian Shaw guests on one track[nb 6]
Recorded in London, Hastings, Brighton, Prague and Memphis, Tennessee, it features Kenny Wheeler, Kirk Whalum, Julian Siegel and James McMillan as guest soloists[33][34][nb 10]
Features various Hospital Records artists. Includes one track by Liane Carroll ("The Trap" [A cappella]). She is also lead vocalist on five of the six London Elektricity tracks[54]
Notes
^In a short film by Sarah Linklater about Liane Carroll and her weekly performances at Porters, a small pub in Hastings, Carroll said that her parents were both singers and her grandmother had played the piano. Sarah Linklater for Hidden Gems (May 2011). "Liane Carroll (video)". Retrieved 12 June 2011 – via Vimeo.
^Together with Paul McCartney, she performed with the Peter Kirtley Band on the 1998 charity CD single "Little Children".
^Reviewing Standard Issue for Jazzwise magazine, Peter Quinn said: "her arrangement of Janis Ian's 'At Seventeen' is close to musical perfection." Peter Quinn. "Liane Carroll: Standard Issue". Jazzwise. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
^As well as jazz standards, and numbers by singer-songwriters including Laura Nyro, Donovan and Tom Waits, Slow Down includes an original song, "You Can't Slow My Heart Down", co-written by Liane Carroll with Peter Kirtley. Reviewing Slow Down for BBC Music, Kathryn Shackleton said: "On Slow Down Liane sings her way through the whole spectrum from jazz diva to fragile victim. Van Heusen and Cahn's 'All The Way' and Duke Ellington's 'In My Solitude' are remade as torch songs, with vulnerability oozing out of every verse, while 'Lazy Afternoon' perfectly captures her molasses low tones and silken high ones – her sparse electric piano accompaniment creating a brooding, hypnotic tension." Kathryn Shackleton (4 January 2008). "It doesn't just tug at your heart strings, it rips them out..."BBC Music. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
^Filmed by the BBC, the DVD is introduced by Julian Joseph.
^Reviewing One Good Reason for All About Jazz, Dave Major said that "at no time does one voice truly overpower the trio. Even in dense, concerted passages, you can appreciate each subtle nuance, change in vibrato or balance". Dave Major (26 September 2008). "CD/LP/Track Review: The Passion: One Good Reason (2008)". All About Jazz. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
^Guardian reviewer John Fordham said of Live at the Lampie, "Since Liane Carroll can loose off a jazz-singing broadside that might touch on Betty Carter and Bobby McFerrin (with soul-vocal asides including everyone from Aretha to Stevie Wonder), and Scottish piano virtuoso Kellock has a comparable range from Fats Waller to free-improv, the potential for repetition in this duo is low. Released from her singer/pianist responsibilities, Carroll has rarely sounded more spontaneous and relaxed." John Fordham (14 August 2011). "Liane Carroll/Brian Kellock: Live at the Lampie". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
^Guardian reviewer John Fordham said of Up and Down, "Singer/pianist Carroll is a world-class act, but this is the first recording to capture the full range of her expressiveness. Up and Down embraces intimate voice/piano performances, orchestra-backed extravaganzas and jazz jams with soloists of the pedigree of Kenny Wheeler and Julian Siegel." John Fordham; et al. (19 May 2011). "F&M Playlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
References
^ abcSean O'Shea (29 March 2013). "All that jazz..."Hastings Online Times. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
