Carol Kidd

In 1990 I had the rare privilege of dining with Frank Sinatra in London. We got to know each other fairly well - I had interviewed him in 1953 on Radio Luxembourg, I introduced him in a concert at the Festival Hall in London in 1961 and had been to his house in Palm Springs in 1988. He liked to talk about singers, and as far as i could tell, his favourites were Tony Bennett, Mel Torme and Vic Damone. When I asked him about British singers he immediately said Matt Monro was our best male singer - then he said there was in fact a female singer called Carol Kidd who he referred to as "the best kept secret of British jazz." It seems the Sinatra camp had seen Carol perform at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival and they sent him one of her CDs. Sinatra immediately liked what he heard and personally chose her to open the first half of his concert at the Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow later that year.

Almost immediately she was invited to appear at the internationally acclaimed Ronnie Scott's Club in London. Tony Bennett was singing in London at the time and made a point of going to hear her, later declaring "You should be world-famous. Where've you been?". To mark the occasion Tony, who is a fine painter, presented Carol with a sketched portrait of herself. Tony's prophecy was to come true, for carol is now famous throughout the world. She has been voted Best Vocalist at the Cannes International Awards, Edinburgh Festival Jazz Awards and Best Jazz Recording at the UK Music Retailers Awards. But perhaps her greatest honour came when the Queen invited her to Buckingham Palace in 1998 to receive an MBE for Services to Jazz.

In 1999 she starred at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival's 80th birthday tribute to George Shearing and even more recently she has become very famous in the Far East. Her recording When I Dream was used as the background music to the Korean film Swiri which was an absolute blockbuster, outgrossing even Titanic. Carol was invited to Korea for a promotional tour and her recording topped the charts for eight weeks. She headlined a private milennium party for 15,000 international guests in Singapore - billed as 'An Evening With The Stars'. Carol was asked to records a brand new song for this event, which had been written especially for the occasion.

This, her latest CD, is a great joy, backed by the Robert Farnon Orchestra, his arrangements bringing out every facet of her singing style. Listen to the wistful Rodgers & Hart song Little Girl Blue and you'll want to stay right through to the last note of the final track, another wistful Rodgers & Hart song Bewitched. With Frank Sinatra in mind she performs Put Your Dreams Away just as the master would wish it to be sung. Go up-tempo with Carol as she swings through I've Got You Under My Skin and The Sunny Side Of The Street. Sit back and wallow in the gorgeous Farnon strings for Ray Noble's The Very Thought Of You.

There are twelve tracks in all and each one, like Carol Kidd herself, has, as the title suggests, 'A Place In My Heart'.

© David Jacobs