Search - Barbara Carroll, Joe Shulman, Bill Faite :: The Barbara Carroll Trio Plays Standards plus ""Funny Face"" and other Gershwin tunes

This CD presents the two albums The Barbara Carroll Trio recorded for the Verve label in 1957. On the first, "Barbara," she confines herself to piano on a selection of familiar standards, with a strong leaning towards slow ballads. Relaxed and refreshingly at ease, she leisurely explores the tonal colours suggested by the material in a reflective approach to trio playing. On the up-tempo tunes, Mine and Acquaintance, the bassist Joe Shulman's strength and intelligence is evident, while drummer Bill Faite's brushwork is a model of good taste. The second album presents six songs from "Funny Face," along with six from several Gershwin shows. This set contains a pair of nicely off-hand vocals, Who Cares?, and a lightly swinging version of 'S Wonderful that she sings much in the sophisticated style of Bobby Troup. With Joe Shulman on bass, and Joe Petti on drums, the trio s approach displays a blend of imagination, taste, touch, and swing. And though Barbara Carroll was by no means an innovator or trailblazer, she was a talented performer with a distinctive musical personality that enabled her to do justice to her repertoire and communicate musically with the listeners attractive and hardly minor gifts at any level of music.