Carol Welsman

Having relocated to the Los Angeles vicinity, Carol Welsman nevertheless commands her widest recognition in Canada, her country of origin. Although commonly associated with smooth jazz, she has also committed vintage standards to disc and proves equally capable of swinging within straight-ahead jazz environments. An ardent jazz devotee, her father maintained an expansive record collection that first acquainted his daughter with the idiom. From the age of twelve she regularly accompanied him to concerts, cultivating a particular affinity for the vocal approaches of Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, and Mel Tormé. She had already begun playing guitar at ten, initially supporting her own renditions of bossa novas and folk material. Only in her late teens did she start emphasizing jazz in her performances. Welsman spent the 1980-1981 school year at Berklee College of Music and later studied voice in France with Christiane Legrand. Back in Toronto she founded the Welcar Music label and released her debut album, Lucky to Be Me, in 1995. She appeared extensively across Canada and served on the faculty of the University of Toronto as a jazz vocal instructor. During 2004-2005 she toured Japan, Italy, and Brazil besides her usual Canadian itinerary, while also working intermittently in Los Angeles as a singer and pianist. Despite enjoying household-name status in Canada, she has yet to achieve comparable visibility in the United States.