Judy Carmichael

Judy Carmichael (born November 27, 1952)^[1] is a Grammy-nominated jazz pianist and vocalist who is one of the few jazz pianists honored as a Steinway Artist.^[2][3]

She specializes in a rare form of pre-1950's jazz, stride piano, where the pianist plays the bass line of the music with their left hand.^[4][5][6] and swing jazz.

"What made me unusual when I started doing that was that all the people playing stride were big men, and I was a surfer girl from California," she told the New York Times.^[5]

Carmichael is listed in American Women in Jazz, Who’s Who in American Woman, Who’s Who in the East, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry in America, Who’s Who in the World and in the “Encyclopedia of Jazz”.

On radio, Ms. Carmichael has been a guest performer on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, and also made radio appearances on NPR’s Morning Edition. She primarily appears on radio as the host of Public Radio's Judy Carmichael's Jazz Inspired, a radio program that interviews creative people from all walks of life who talk about their creative process, and how their interest in jazz has affected that process.^[7]

On television, she has appeared on Entertainment Tonight and CBS Sunday Morning, both with host Charles Kuralt and with Charles Osgood.^[8]

Her show appears on American public radio, as well as Sirius/XM's NPR Now channel.^[7] She also writes articles for JazzTimes.^[9] She also produced and hosted a fifteen-part series for public radio: “Pet Style Radio with Judy Carmichael.”^[3]

Biography

Carmichael was born Judith Lea Hohenstein in suburban Southern California on November 27, 1957,^[10] although other sources attribute her birth year to 1952 without a month and day.^[6][11] Carmichael was taught piano by her mother beginning around age 4. She performed for vocalist Jo Stafford when she was just 10 years old.^[10]

She began playing piano as a child. Her love of Ragtime began when her grandfather offered $50 to his first grandchild who could play "Maple Leaf Rag."

"My grandfather said he'd give $50 to any of his grandchildren who could play 'Maple Leaf Rag,'"Miss Carmichael told the New York Times in 1982. "I told my piano teacher that I wanted to learn it, but she refused to teach it to me. She said I wasn't good enough. So I taught myself. I learned it note by note. As soon as I'd learned it, I played it for my grandfather, took the $50 and quit taking lessons."^[12]

Her first professional gig happened at age 19 when a friend told her about a gig on a boat in Newport (CA) harbor. She subbed and played weekends on the ship.

She attended California State University and became a Ragtime pianist in her mid 20's. In 1972 she worked three piano jobs seven days a week, taking all work that came her way.^[12]

She performed at Disneyland for five summers, playing Ragtime piano at Casey's Corner, the Disneyland's Roaring '20s hot dog restaurant, where she played five days a week, seven hours a day.^[11][13][12]

There she met trumpeter Jackie Coon, a well known Los Angeles studio musician who played with the Count Basie Orchestra who was playing a big band gig for Disney, who played with her, then pointed Basie drummer Harold Jones her way at Disneyland. Through Jones, she met legendary figures like guitarist Freddie Greene and vocalist Sarah Vaughn. She joined their golf foursome, and all of them, Vaughn in particular, encouraged her to make a record.^[12]

That first record, "Two Handed Stride," recorded with Basie regulars Marshal Royal, Green, Red Callender and Jones, which ultimately went on to be nominated for a GRAMMY® was not immediately well received by the New York producer at a major record label whom she originally tried to have pick it up.^[12][10] She did, however, on that trip, introduce herself to Roy Eldridge at Jimmy Ryan's. After hearing her play, Eldridge arranged for her to sit in with Dick Wellstood at Hanratty's a restaurant with a great lineup of jazz pianists, and Tommy Flanagan" at Bradley's.

She didn't stay in New York, opting to return to California for another two years of working at Disney on the weekdays and club dates on the weekends.

Carmichael tried to break into the Jazz scene in Los Angeles, but most of the jazz clubs she found were male-dominated, intimidating, and a little unsafe to be a female musician.

She was a protégé of jazz legends Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie. She met Basie through her connections from Disney. He encouraged her to look deeper into jazz history and take up stride.^[5][13] Basie dubbed her "Stride" for her unique mastery of one of Jazz's most difficult piano techniques.^[6]

Count Basie urged her to move to New York City.^[13]

She did, in the 1980s and established herself as one of the few artists playing Stride and Ragtime, most often in small clubs or restaurants. She settled in Sag Harbor in 1992.^[13]

Carmichael has toured the world on major tours and on cruise ships. A trip sponsored by the United States Information Agency sent her to India, Portugal, Brazil and Singapore. In 1992, the United States Government sponsored her as the first jazz musician to tour China.^[6]

With traditionalist saxophonist Michael Hashim she performed a unique jazz duet of piano and saxophone without a rhythm section.^[14]

She made her debut as a vocalist on September 10, 1996 at the Tavern on the Green restaurant in New York City.^[5]

Carmichael received several grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). With them, her noteworthy projects include a documentary of early jazz musicians, and a project to discuss with college students nationwide the history and development of jazz piano.^[10]

Ms. Carmichael has served on a variety of music panels at the NEA. She has spoken before the National Council on the Arts and she hs been a tireless advocate for fellowship grants for individual performers.^[3] She oversaw music education activities for the Port Jeff Education and Arts Conservancy, a community center in Port Jefferson, New York, near her home of Sag Harbor.^[13]

She is mentioned in a Haughton Murphy mystery story, "Murder Times Two" as “the stride pianist Judy Carmichael,” the favorite piano player of the chief suspect.^[15]

Carmichael, particularly as ambassador and revivalist of a form of jazz that peaked in its mainstream popularity with artists with colorful names like Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, Maceo Pinkard and Willie "The Lion" Smith and Jelly Roll Morton, faded in the memory of all but the most dedicated of jazz aficionados, is known for being one of the most accessible jazz pianists in the business.

"I pride myself in making my concerts user-friendly," she told the New York Times. "I want to make the concert seem like I'm playing in their living room. I don't think welcoming means a smoky club atmosphere with dishes crashing in the background."

Discography

In 1980, Carmichael made her recording debut on Progressive and has gone on to record eleven albums to date. She released four albums in the 1980s, five in the 1990s.^[16] Two have been for larger labels. The majority are released on her private C&D PRODUCTIONS label.

Her Southern Swing in 2008 was recorded live at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz.^[17]

1980s

• Two Handed Stride, (Progressive), 1980 *GRAMMY Nominee^[18]
• Jazz Piano, 1983
• Old Friends (C&D PRODUCTIONS), 1985
• Pearls, (Jazzology) 1985

1990s

• Trio (C&D PRODUCTIONS), 1993
• Basie Called Her Stride (C&D PRODUCTIONS), 1994
• Chops (C&D PRODUCTIONS), 1994
• Judy (C&D PRODUCTIONS), 1994
• High on Fats and Other Stuff (C&D PRODUCTIONS), 1997

2000s

• Southern Swing (Australian Broadcasting Corporation/C&D PRODUCTIONS), 2008
• Come and Get It (C&D PRODUCTIONS / CD Baby), 2008

Major Performances

• Carnegie Hall, New York City
• Jazz Festival 2008 Brazil^[19]
• Jazz at Lincoln Center's Fats Waller Festival^[19]
• Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice, Italy
• Tanglewood Jazz Festival^[19]
• 92d Street Y's Jazz in July^[20]

Private Recitals for

• Rod Stewart
• Robert Redford
• President Bill Clinton
• Gianni Agnelli

Appearances with

• Joel Grey
• Michael Feinstein
• Dick Hyman
• Marcus Roberts
• Steve Ross
• The Smothers Brothers

Sidemen

Carmichael often performs alone, but has also performed as the Judy Carmichael Trio and the Judy Carmichael Quintet most often with jazz traditionalist saxophonist Michael Hashim of the Widespread Jazz Orchestra, and guitarist Chris Flory, who has also been a member of Scott Hamilton's jazz combo. Other sidemen who have appeared with her:

• Red Callender
• Freddie Greene
• Harold Jones
• Marshall Royal
• Jeff Rupert

Music Books

Carmichael has authored two books on stride piano:

• You Can Play Authentic Stride Piano^[21]
• Introduction to Stride Piano^[22]

Her arrangement of "Ain't Misbehaving" also appears in an anthology of Jazz Standards :

• Steinway & Sons VOL 4: Piano Stylings of the Great Standards - Ain't Misbehaving^[23]

Articles

Judy Carmichael is a prolific author, with numerous articles about jazz music, history, and culture that appear in JazzWeek and elsewhere.

Radio Host

Carmichael is also the nationally-syndicated host of Judy Carmichael’s Jazz Inspired, a National Public Radio show that debuted in 1993 and broadcast on over 170 stations throughout North America. It is also broadcast on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio's NPR NOW Channel and abroad. The show celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2013.^[6] She has interviewed numerous celebrities, including an interview with Raiders of the Lost Ark actress Karen Allen, actor Chevy Chase, singer Tony Bennett, rock pianist Billy Joel, actors John Lithgow, Robert Redford, F. Murray Abraham, and many more.

References