SPRINGFIELD, Nj — Barbara Carroll was a pioneering jazz pianist and vocalist who would have celebrated her centennial birthday on Jan. 25, 2025.
Sanford Johnson, editor of Jersey Jazz magazine, recently presented a tribute to Carroll at the Springfield Free Public Library. He spoke about her life and career and showed several video clips of her songs and performances.
New York Times writer, poet, and film and music critic Stephen Holden called Carroll “the first lady of jazz piano… With her bright red hair piled high, she embodied a timeless bohemian elegance and artistic grace.”
Carroll was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. She began her classical training in piano at age 8, but by high school she 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.
Her first influence was Nat King Cole.
She moved to New York in 1947. During that time, there were not a lot of women jazz pianists working. She was booked under the name “Bobby Carroll,” because it was hard to become established. She was often pre-judged as “chick pianist,” however, that quickly passed. Composer, producer and music journalist Leonard Feather called Carroll “the first girl to ever play bebop piano.”
She led her own trio on Broadway and became a lifelong friend of Tony Bennett.
Carroll got into contemporary music, as well as old songs. In the 1970s, she toured with Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson. Carroll played piano on Coolidge’s album “Out of the Blue” on nine of the 11 tracks, including a song called “Am I Blue?”
In the 1980s, she covered “What I Like About You,” by The Romantics, and made it her own.
Carroll was awarded the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. Receiving the award, she said, “Growing up in Worcester, Massachusetts, my father told me, if I applied myself to music, I’d have a wonderful life. Instead of a Lifetime Achievement Award, I consider this a Half-Time Achievement Award.” She continued in her musical career another 14 years. In 2008, she was 85 years old and still performing.
In 2015, Carroll was honored as The New Jewish Home’s Eight Over Eighty Gala honoree.
She died in February 2017 at the age of 92.
For more information on the Springfield Free Public Library, visit: https://www.sfplnj.org/.
Photos by Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta