Liane Carroll is a jazz singer, pianist and composer from London, raised in Hastings. Born in 1964, she starts piano at the age of three and studies under concert pianist Phyllis Catling. Both of her parents are singers, and she grows up in a household that encourages music after her parents’ divorce.

Career

By the age of 15, she is appearing with different bands in Hastings as a singer, pianist and composer. In 1988 she joins Trevor Watts’ Moire Music, alongside Liam Genockey, Nana Tsiboe and Simon Picard, and tours internationally with the group. After leaving, she works with a range of line-ups, including the Dave Holdsworth band with bassist Roger Carey and drummer Dave Trigwell.

In 1990 she forms her own trio and marries Roger Carey, who becomes the trio’s resident bass player. She also continues to work with visiting musicians and tours with Gerry Rafferty, Jerry Donahue and Long John Baldry. Around this period she also works and tours with guitarist and songwriter Peter Kirtley, joining a band with Steve Lamb on bass and Greg Leppard on drums. That unit later records the charity song “Little Children,” written by Kirtley, with Sir Paul McCartney for children in Brazil.

Recordings and regular venues

From 1993 she appears as a headline act at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London and records two live albums for the club’s Jazz House label. She also remains a regular performer at the 606 Club in Chelsea.

Her first solo album, Billy No Mates, is released on Splash Point Records in 2003. It combines standards and originals, becomes her biggest-selling release, and wins two BBC Jazz Awards in 2005. She is the only musician to receive two BBC Jazz Awards in the same year.

In 2005 she releases Standard Issue on Splash Point, recorded at Abbey Road Studios, with her trio and guests Ian Shaw and Bobby Wellins. The album leads to the Marston Pedigree Jazz Award in 2006. She later features in an hour-long BBC television programme that includes a performance with her trio at the Brecon Jazz Festival.

Her second solo album, Slow Down, is also released on Splash Point and launches to a sell-out audience at the 606 Club. A track from the album is included in Mojo magazine’s “Mojo’s Top 10” playlist selection, and the Sunday Times names it among its top five jazz albums of the year.

She also releases the DVD Liane Carroll Trio LIVE, launched at the South Bank’s Purcell Room, and receives the 2008 Parliamentary Jazz Award for Musician of the Year.

London Elektricity

In 2001 she joins the live drum and bass act London Elektricity, later touring in New Zealand, Brazil and at Glastonbury Festival. The group performs to a large crowd in Brazil and releases two CDs and DVDs during her time with the project. Her trio at this point comprises Carroll on vocals and piano, Roger Carey on electric bass, and Mark Fletcher on drums.

Style and repertoire

Although she is identified with jazz, her early interests also include soul. Her work ranges from trio performances and solo piano sets to collaborations with jazz, soul and drum and bass projects.