When Synia Carroll takes the Side Door stage this Friday night for her “Synia Sings Sarah (Vaughan)” concert, it will represent the completion of a personal journey for the Sarasota-based jazz singer.
“I felt called to do this show,” Synia told me during a phone interview this week. “Sarah’s essence, whatever that spirit is she put in her music has motivated me and helped me discover something in myself that was always there, but I never uncovered it until now.”
Synia and Billy Marcus
For a woman who has been singing all her life, but who came late to jazz, Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan, has been more than an influence. She hears Vaughan’s inflections in her own singing and she’s had fans tell her they hear traces in Sarah in her style.
“They tell me – ‘you’ve got some of that Sarah thing’.” She says.
Synia found herself drawn into jazz, after a life of singing folk, pop and latin styles, when she moved to the bay area four years ago. She started dropping in on jazz jams just to meet other musicians and the music captivated her.
“I’ve spent the past three and a half years of focusing on jazz. And this music has messed me up. I still love folk music, but there is such freedom in jazz. I love singing it.”
Synia Carroll
She’s also built a fan base both in Sarasota and St. Pete and met a lot of top drawer musicians. She’ll have four of them with her Friday night: Billy Marcus, on piano, Jeremy Carter, sax, Billy Pillucere, bass, and Stephen Bucholtz on drums. All have been featured on the Side Door stage.
An interview with Synia will air Wednesday night on WUSF’s All Night Jazz at 89.7. Expect to hear it soon after the 9 p.m. start of the show, Synia said. If you miss it, it should be up on the WUSF website as a podcast soon after.
Tickets are going very fast for this special show. To get yours call our box office at 727-822-3590, or follow this link for on-line tickets.
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