[Dixielandjazz] Judy Carmichael interviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

A little late but...

Judy Carmichael to Perform in Fundraiser Concert on Long Island
by Steve Parks
Newsday, September 11, 2014
Jazz masters took Judy Carmichael seriously. Count Basie nicknamed her "Stride" for
the challenging style of ragtime piano immortalized by Eubie Blake and Fats Waller.
But it wasn't always so, says the Sag Harbor pianist and singer-songwriter who celebrates
both the 15th anniversary of her NPR show, "Jazz Inspired," and the release of her
"I Love Being Here With You" CD with a champagne luncheon recital Sunday at her hometown's
American Hotel.
"I was an anomaly -- white, female, much younger than everybody playing back then,"
Carmichael, 56, recalls. "It was hard for them to take a California surfer girl seriously."
But when someone, anyone, who knew jazz listened to her play stride, anomalies turned
into advantage. "They'd remember me," she says. But when she sent a demo to jazz
saxophonist Benny Carter, her breakthrough pressed the pause button. Carter liked
what he heard but misplaced Carmichael's contact information. When he caught her
in a live show months later, Carter exclaimed (she quotes him): "'That was you!'
And then he put the word out."
The word reached Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan, who advised Carmichael to move to
New York, where her career flourished. Nor did she waste her studies at California
State University, Fullerton -- acting and foreign service. Carmichael was the first
jazz artist sent to China by the U.S. government, later touring as a U.S. Information
Agency musical ambassador. Her brief acting career -- "I did some commercials," she
says -- helped her feel at ease interviewing guests on "Jazz Inspired." Ranging beyond
recording artists -- Tony Bennett and Billy Joel among them -- her guests include
celebrities who say their life was changed by jazz: Robert Redford, Seth MacFarlane,
Chevy Chase, Blythe Danner, John Lithgow and even cosmologist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Among her upcoming radio guests are banjoist Bela Fleck and pianist Chick Corea.
Carmichael's new CD is a departure -- her first in which she sings without touching
a keyboard. "I get to unleash my inner Peggy Lee," she says. Emmy and Grammy winner
Mike Renzi, once Lee's music director, accompanies on piano, joined by saxophonist
Harry Allen and bassist Jay Leonhart. Carmichael and Allen, who co-wrote songs they'll
introduce at the American Hotel, are joined by guitarist Chris Flory. You can catch
Carmichael on another Sag Harbor stage Oct. 10 as part of Bay Street Theatre's "Three
Nights of Divas," with her quartet: Flory, Tommy Melito on drums and Pat O'Leary
on bass. Judy Gold, Oct. 11, and Betty Buckley, Oct. 12, are the other "divas."
Sunday's concert is a fundraiser for Jazz Inspired Inc., which supports the radio
show and "Jazz: Listening for Life," a music education program. "Everyone's wearing
headphones these days," Carmichael complains. "No one's listening."
Good thing someone once listened to her.
-30

-Bob Ringwald
Bob Ringwald Solo Piano, duo, Trio, Quartet
Fulton Street Jazz Band
916/ 806-9551
Amateur (ham) Radio K 6 Y B V


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