Barbara Carroll: Something To Live For

"Something To Live For is a predominantly Ellington album with a few other tunes. Carroll’s trio opens with one of the others, “All I Need Is The Girl” from the Broadway show, Gypsy, which offers bassist Jay Leonhart and drummer Alvin Atkinson intertwining solos. Letting you know where you’re at, she then moves into that quintessential New York song, “Lonely Town,” working in Gershwin’s Prelude In C Sharp” aka “The New York Prelude.” It’s late night New York at its loneliest. Then in a mood changer, Carroll takes a too rare vocal on Cy Coleman-Carol Leigh’s “I Wanna Be Yours,” which strides a line between cabaret and jazz. Backed by Carroll’s swinging piano, Ken Peplowski’s clarinet announces his presence on the upbeat “How Could You Do A Thing Like That To Me?” changing the trio into a quartet. Ellington trombonist Tyree Glenn’s tune, also known as “Sultry Serenade,” is the gateway to a series of Ellington era tunes. Peplowski’s clarinet solos Ellington’s lonely “Single Pedal Of A Rose” from ”Queen’s Suite.” With on Peplowski’s clarinet, Carroll slides into “In A Sentimental Mood” and “Mood Indigo,” probably the two tunes most associated with golden age Ellington. Peplowski brings out his tenor for “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be.” Carroll sings again, updating “How About You” with references to Derek Jeter and Barak Obama, (the latter replacing Jimmy Durante in the original). She has a running conversation with Peplowski’s clarinet. Carroll takes the album’s title tune, “Something To Live For” solo. Continuing the mood, she and Peplowski share Billy Strayhorn’s melancholy, “Lotus Blossom.” She closes out the set in a nod to Dizzy Gillespie with a steaming “A Night In Tunisia.” In 1947 Carroll and her trio (guitarist Chuck Wayne and bassist Clyde Lombardi) had opened for Dizzy’s Big Band at the Downbeat Club on 52nd Street. Sixty years later, she certainly left her audience on an upbeat in that Christmas week show at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola." - Amazon reviewer 

Track List

1    All I Need Is the Girl
2    Lonely Town
3    I Wanna Be Yours
4    How Could You Do a Thing Like That to Me?
5    Single Petal of a Rose
6    In a Sentimental Mood
7    Mood Indigo
8    Things Ain't What They Used to Be
9    How About You?
10    Something to Live for
11    Lotus Blossom
12    A Night in Tunisia