Carroll Coates

September 23, 1929 to October 21, 2023

 

Carroll was born at his parent’s home in Uxbridge, just outside London, England. He was named after his godfather, the famous American band-leader and songwriter Carroll Gibbons (“Garden In The Rain”, etc.). As a young boy during World War II, he spent as much time as possible, between air-raids, listening to Gibbons’ BBC broadcasts and recordings. The young namesake soon found himself strongly drawn to the “standards” genre of music. Among many talented “inspirators”, Carroll includes the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers with Hart and Hammerstein, and the teams of Burke and Van Heusen and Cahn and Styne.

 

After attending Ellesmere College in Shropshire, Carroll briefly considered moving on to Oxford or Cambridge. But his Muse drew him to London and, he hoped, a career making music.

 

His first London job, in the mailroom of an international merchant banking firm, was far from that ambition. He remembers writing music on the backs of ledgers “preferring musical notes to bank notes”.

 

Carroll’s tendency to arrive at work after the firm’s Directors, and then take extended piano-practicing lunch hours, led to his departure from that London firm after his first six months. Remarkably, he was given a generous six months’ severance pay with the explanation, “Your interests do not lie with us, but more in the musical world – good luck to you!”

 

Even though he had but a few informal lessons from his godfather’s pianist, Carroll was accomplished enough to get a job playing piano for a 16-week tour of Noel Coward’s “Private Lives,” starring Peter Graves and film star Margaret Lockwood. Upon returning to London, he was hired for his first steady piano gig at The White Room, a private club off Piccadilly Circus, although he recalls, “I was actually too young to even be admitted there!”

 

As he walked around London, new tunes and lyrics continued to tug at his consciousness — and some made it out into the world. While he was still in his late teens, his song “Walking Around In a Dream” was sung on the BBC by Adelaide Hall, an internationally famous diva.

 

At The White Room, Carroll’s repertoire, along with popular songs of the day, included his then unpublished and unknown “London By Night”. Heard by an interested club member, the song soon made its way to Julie Wilson, a visiting American cabaret star, who decided to feature it in her act at London’s Embassy Club. One night, Frank Sinatra, who had just performed at the London Palladium, came in with his entourage to have a late supper and catch Julie’s show, which she regularly closed with “London By Night”.

 

Carroll happened to be there as well, staring in awe from afar— until “Mr. S” invited the very nervous 20-year-old songwriter to his table and said, “I want to take that song back to America and record it!”

 

With the first release of “London By Night”, Sinatra launched Carroll’s seven-decade musical career. (Soon after, the song was released again in England on a special single with a foreword by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in support of his charity, the National Playing Fields Association.) Sinatra recorded the song three times over the years, with orchestral arrangements by Axel Stordahl, Billy May and Robert Farnon.

 

On one of his return trips to London, Sinatra met with Carroll again and encouraged him to come to America, assuring him “I’ll help you there”. Sinatra kept his promise, as the two would meet several more times over the coming years.

 

But for now, Carroll enthusiastically embraced the heady smoke-filled and alcohol-bathed music scene in England, and then in Bermuda, where he signed a year’s contract to play piano at The Reefs Club. At the end of that engagement, he returned to England to continue his writing and piano-playing while working to get more of his songs published.

 

During this period, he was tapped to write songs for the musical “Excitement” at the London Casino Theater. The show was produced by Robert Nesbitt, an impresario known for his spectacular, Ziegfeld-like shows. Carroll was also hired to write songs for the movie “Two On The Tiles”. Working in the London entertainment world brought him into contact with many stars of the day, including Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, comedian Max Miller, and others.

 

In 1952, finally heeding Frank Sinatra’s advice, Carroll emigrated to America. Upon his arrival in New York, the local press, having heard of his recent successes in England, were waiting to interview him while he was still on board the ocean liner Queen Mary.

 

He spent his first year in New York making the rounds of the Brill Building publishers and playing piano at the Embers Jazz Club and other venues. He succeeded in getting his songs recorded by Sarah Vaughn, Doris Day, Carmen McRae, The Chordettes, and others. When he and Sinatra reconnected at CBS studios, Carroll was again encouraged to keep writing.

 

Carroll’s next move was to Hollywood in the early 1950s. He arrived with lots of connections, but no job. But then Sam Weiss, a respected veteran in the music publishing business, gave Carroll’s and Hub Atwood’s song “No One Ever Tells You” to Frank Sinatra — who announced he would record it the next day! At the recording session the ink was barely dry on Nelson Riddle’s arrangement.

 

The song was included in Sinatra’s album “A Swinging Affair” and was released as a single as well. A steady piano gig soon followed, when Sinatra gave Carroll a job playing piano at his Hollywood restaurant, the Villa Capri.

 

Sam Weiss knew everyone in the entertainment business and opened more doors for Carroll by introducing him to the legendary film composer Lionel Newman, then the musical director for 20th Century Fox. Lionel was writing the title song for the upcoming movie “A Kiss Before Dying” (1956), starring Robert Wagner and Joanne Woodward, but he was having understandable difficulty finding anyone to write the lyrics to that title. After fielding unsuccessful attempts by “A” list lyricists, Lionel asked Carroll to tackle it, with a tight deadline: “three or four days”. To the astonishment of both Lionel and Sam, Carroll met that challenge. His fortunes changed. Lionel and Carroll began an ongoing collaboration, with Carroll writing the lyrics to Lionel’s music for many more movie songs during the 1950’s and early 60’s.

 

In 1962, Frank Sinatra again recorded “London By Night” for his album “Great Songs from Great Britain”. In 1963, Carroll wrote the lyrics to Peter Nero’s music for “Sunday In New York” for the movie of the same name starring Jane Fonda. The song, sung by Mel Tormé, became a hit and earned Carroll and Peter a Golden Globe nomination.

 

While finding success with his music, Carroll also embraced an L.A. playboy lifestyle. It took a toll. In the late 60’s, he and his wife Elvie divorced and Carroll moved to Palm Springs, where he played piano at hotels. Though his songs continued to be performed and recorded, his previously prolific songwriting all but stopped.

 

Sinatra was spending time in Palm Springs during this time. Seeing Carroll by chance, he admonished him, “Where are the new songs, kid?”

 

In the early 70’s, Carroll moved back to Southern California, this time to Laguna Beach. There he became committed to establishing a place for jazz in Orange County. He also became a single parent to his son and daughter for several years. It was at this time that he decided to stop drinking, which he did, permanently, in 1976.

 

Carroll embarked on a dizzying schedule, taking on the new roles of artistic director and producer. Under the pseudonym of Ashton Lord, he wrote a column, called “Jazz Matters”, for the magazine This Week in Laguna, and was himself often sought out for print and radio interviews.

 

Serving as the artistic director for the Laguna Beach jazz venue The White House and later at the Jazz Pot in Corona Del Mar, Carroll engaged a steady flow of jazz talents, many of whom stayed at his home during their engagements. These included Carmen McRae, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Burrell, Mose Allison, and Cal Tjader, among dozens of others. During this time he also started his own jazz record label, JazzWorks. Between 1977 and 1979, he produced three annual “Friends of Jazz” festivals at the Irving Bowl, plus a special concert there featuring guitarist Laurindo Almeida and pianist Peter Nero, accompanied by a full orchestra.

 

Carroll next changed directions, putting his musical career on hold. He enrolled at Irvine University, earned a certification in alcoholism counseling, and then put his new skills to work for several years as a counselor/therapist at Southern California hospitals.

 

But in 1985, the Muse called again. After 16 years in Southern California, Carroll moved to the San Francisco Bay area and turned back to his songwriting. His music began to flow again, resulting in new recordings by Diane Schuur, Jackie Ryan, Natalie Cole, Chanticleer, Cleo Laine, Carmen McRae, Rebecca Parris, Buddy Connor, Shirley Horn, and others. During this time, Carroll also wrote “One For Monterey”, which was recorded by several artists and adopted by Jimmy Lyons as the radio theme song for his Monterey Jazz Festival.

 

On April 28, 1996, Carroll was honored with performances of his music at “Songfest, A Celebration of Bay Area Songwriters”.

​

In 1997, Carroll moved to Carmel, California. There he met, and two years later married, the former Carol Wieben. Carroll and Carol Coates made their home in Carmel for the rest of Carroll's life.

 

Carroll’s songs continue to be recorded worldwide. He was especially honored when in 2012 Karen Marguth beautifully recorded 20 of his songs on a double CD, which earned her one of the top spots on the jazz charts.

 

Carroll always found pleasure in writing. More than 70 of his years were intertwined with music, sometimes at the forefront of his life, sometimes waiting patiently to be summoned. Carroll’s memories of his musical life remained clear. Often a piece of music would surface with a story about its creation, inspiration or performance. When, after his 90th birthday, he was reminded of having written songs in 1951 for the movie “Two On The Tiles”, he went to his piano and played one of the songs, note for note!

 

He continued to acknowledge the new melodies he was given, completing them with lyrics and then adding them to his tunes “in the trunk”, yet to be recorded. Carroll said, “My songs are also my children. I raise them and release them with love into the world, trusting they will give pleasure through the efforts of the many talented artists who choose to record them.”