As a self-taught singer, Lodi Carr, also known as Ladybird, has an unusually poignant jazz flair that draws in the listener. It is enthralling and it makes her work a listening pleasure. She was born in Marquette, Michigan, on September 13, 1933, to a family of amateur singers. Being raised in Detroit since she was three, she joined her school’s glee clubs from the moment she could sing. As soon as she started high school, Lodi began supplementing her chorus practice with weekly jam sessions.

Detroit in the late 1940s was thriving with jazz musicians. “I had a charmed childhood in Detroit,” she said. “There was an innocence there because we were all so in love with music.” Her first nightclub appearance was at the Blue bird Inn with Roland Hanna on piano. “I played my first professional gig there when I was about 15 with Roland Hanna. I was changing keys, and Roland made it sound like an arrangement… He’s been so helpful tome. ”Her sense of style and talent launched her into a welcoming jazz community.

Over the next several years, Lodi was seen hanging out at the local clubs, singing in as many jams as she could find, until in 1953 she began sitting in at the legendary Tuesday night concerts at the World Stage Theater. They were organized by the New Music Society, and the effort was headed by Kenny Burrell and Pepper Adams, two of the many leading Detroit figures who first recognized her talent. Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, Paul Chambers, Thad and Elvin Jones, Milt Jackson, Kirk Lightsey, Yusef Lateef, and Billy Mitchell, all part of the main core of men who were powering the resurgence of modern jazz in the Motor City, also saw something in Carr. In the company of such inspiring musicians, she grew to her full potential. “I was like a little sister in paradise in Detroit,” she said. “Everybody there was so phenomenal.”

Eventually she began working regularly when she joined the trio of pianist Otis “Boo Boo” Turner at the after-hours sessions at Blair’s, the bar of the West End Hotel, and traveled East with him, with engagements in Jersey and Brooklyn. She finally decided to try New York in 1957 on her own. “My first night in town, I sang at Birdland with Tommy Flanagan.” Flanagan was also a newcomer in the Big Apple back then. He had driven into the city in 1956 accompanying Kenny Burrell. Thad Jones and Billy Mitchell were among the Detroiters that preceded them. Elvin Jones was playing with Bud Powell at Birdland, and when Powell was missing one night, Flanagan went in after a concert with Gil Fuller and filled in. He also finished their two-week engagement at the club. After Flanagan, Lodi performed at Page Three in Greenwich Village accompanied by pianist Duke Jordan. “He had given me a lot of work when I first arrived here from Detroit.”

And still, thingswere not always easy. Money was tight at first, while she was trying to make it in New York, and it was also one of the reasons she decided to return to Detroit to see her family in March 1958. Shortly after her arrival, she was engaged for a long stint at Blair’s accompanied by the Yusef Lateef quartet with Kirk Lightsey on piano, Alvin Jackson on bass and Roy Brooks on drums. About the audience reaction, Donald Stone wrote in Down Beat: “Their appreciation for Lodi’s singing was made apparent by their attentiveness,” and the review concluded: “There is no substitute for ungimmicked, quality jazz singing. She appears to have the necessary potential and ambition. If these are an accurate measure she would have little trouble finding commercial success.”

Despite these promising accolades, her parents had never been enthusiastic about Lodi becoming a full-time singer, and difficulties working regularly led to her accepting a job in a lawyer’s office. But by August 1959 she had quit, and Lodi was back in New York, a decision that jumpstarted her career. Thanks to her friend singer Sheila Jordan, Lodi got a job with Duke Jordan at the Page Three once again. Jordan was just back from Paris, and the fact that friend Sheila happened to be Duke’s wife surely helped Lodi’s chances. The Page became her usual haunt for a while, and there she gained the recognition of the NYC jazz community, as well as a great many loyal fans. Then she tried a new experience when she agreed to go on tour with the Claude Thornhill orchestra. It was a steady job and a nice change of pace.

Recorded in the summer of 1960, "Ladybird" was her first and only album for Laurie Records. By the time her recording debut had come around, it is obvious that Lodi was already an experienced singer. Nothing in it feels frantic. Her voice is deep, husky and rich, and she singswith a good sense of time and rhythm. And although her range is not exceptional by anymeans, her tone is warm and flexible, and her phrasing reminiscent of Billie Holiday at times. On up-tempo tunes like Ladybird and Deed I Do, she feels and swings with consistent beat and fine intonation. And yet, it is on ballads like The Masquerade Is Over, When I Fall In Love and If I Should Lose Youwhere she brings out her personality through a unique take on the standards that practically turns them into solos. Stan Free’s sextet provides Lodi with some well-conceived and functional background arrangements, and for two tracks she is backed by the Jerry Segal Trio bringing versatile and swinging rhythmic accompaniment that doesmuch to enhance this album’s appeal.

In October 1960 Lodi had begun singing weekends at Trude Heller’s Versailles nightclub, but by November it had become a regular gig. The following year she joined the Larry Elgart orchestra, but not to perform during the sets. Larry had her go out front after every set to sing several numbers, almost as an entertainment break.

Things were going well, but in 1961 she decided to take a break from singing professionally so that she could start a family. She married, had a son and moved to London, quite the change for somebody used to Detroit and New York. She was away from the music scene for more than two decades to concentrate on her family, but eventually her marriage failed, and she decided to move back to familiar grounds. It was 1970. “I wanted to sing,” she said, “but I felt that I didn’t fit in anymore, with all of these talented kids out there writing so much music and doing somuch. Finally, my kid talked me into coming back.”

So at the beginning of 1985 she rejoined the New York jazz scene. Although her return wasn’t easy, her distinctive, straight-ahead delivery —galvanized by extraordinary feeling, a keen understanding of lyrics and good taste— allowed her to be on track again, singing with some of the best jazz musicians in the city who welcomed and celebrated her return. In July she was working in various concerts with her Detroit friends, Pepper Adams and Sir Roland Hanna, at the West End Café on 2911 Broadway at 114th St., and had gigs with pianist Bob Dorough and Hank Mobley as well.

In November 1985 she was engaged to perform two nights at a Chelsea restaurant with jazz called the Angry Squire, located at 216 Seventh Ave., where she began assembling a support system that could resuscitate the most jaded of jazz lovers. “I immediately called Hank Mobley, with whom I had worked recently in Philadelphia,” said Carr. She appeared two nights with Mobley, the 22nd and 23rd. Then followed performances in December with Duke Jordan, and the High Society Trio.

Lodi’s appearances at the Angry Squire took place all through 1986. She appeared again in January with Hank Mobley, and at the end of the month with Pepper Adams. Since they could not afford a cabaret license, which would have required new architectural plans and sprinkling systems, clubs like the Angry Squire and the West End Café could only have three people playing at the same time atmost. If they feature a singer, there could be only one accompanist. That’s why these and other small clubs were making do with trios and duos or comedy acts to keep in business.

In May 3, 1986, she was singing again with Hank Mobley at the Upstairs jazz club in Philadelphia in one of the last gigs of the great saxophonist who died at the end of that month of May from pneumonia.

That summer she performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival at The Hague with Dave Pike and the Rein De Graaff Trio, as well as with Roland Hanna at the West End Café. In early September, Lodi began singing with pianist Chris Anderson’s trio, which featured Victor Sproles on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums. Together, they performed at the Jazz Cultural Center on 368 Eighth Avenue. The group’s performances became a staple all through 1987.

In October 1986, a large segment of the jazz community gathered at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York City to pay respects to Pepper Adams, who had died of cancer after a long 18-month battle. It was Lodi Carr and Tommy Flanagan, who coordinated the farewell. The service itself included loving words from a number of people including author Ira Gitler. For the musical section of this heartfelt homage, Flanagan, George Mraz (b) and Eddie Locke (d) joined Lodi Carr in what was the emotional and musical highlight of the afternoon, a tearful rendition of Yesterdays.

Her heart, as much as her voice, has always helped Lodi to attract distinguished musicians to her engagements. In April 1987, she was heard again at the Angry Squire in the company of pianist Richard Wyands and bassist Paul West. From June to October, she performed Sunday afternoon sessions at Manhattan’s Carlos I Restaurant (at 432 Sixth Ave.) alongside Kirk Lightsey, Reggie Workman, and Al Harewood. In November of 1987 she appeared at the Count Basie Theater, in Red Bank, New Jersey, as the guest singer in a group featuring Kenny Barron, Bob Cranshaw, Mickey Rocker and Sahib Shihab. “I Just Want to Sing —that’s all I ever wanted, since I was three years old,” she said. “There’s notmuch bread in it, so at least themusic has to be good. That’s why I always get the best cats to play it.” In December Lodi’s trio appeared at the Cornerstone in Asbury Park, N.J.

In May 1988, she returned to the Angry Squire for a weekend engagement. She put together a groupwith her old friend Duke Jordan, Sahib Shihab, Reggie Workman and Victor Lewis. In July she was invited again to appear at the North Sea Jazz Festival. Then, in September she sang at the Angry Squire again, a weekend backed by a trio including Hugh Lawson, Bob Cranshaw and Keith Copeland. In November she went to downtown Montreal —another weekend gig— where she appeared at Chez Antoine Bar, inside Le Grand Hotel. It was her first time performing in Canada, and it was a success. Back in New York, her next engagement was Monday nights at the Village Gate, and it lasted several months.

At the end of February 1989, she traveled to Montreal again, hired to sing once more at Chez Antoine as part of the Len Dobbin Jazz Festival, but she also appeared at Biddles Jazz and Ribs, where she sang accompanied by the Bernard Primeau Trio. In July, Lodi was the featured vocalist of a 20-piece band led by Sahib Shihab, who offered a jazz concert in Long Island. In November 17, she sang at the Westchester Conservatory of Music in White Plains, accompanied by Norman Simmons, Lyn Christie (b) and Joe Chambers. Late in the year she returned to Montreal’s Chez Antoine oncemore, this time with her own quartet, as she hadmanaged to gain a large following in the city.

From 1991 to 1993 she was the featured singer at the Village Gate weekend sessions, in a trio with Herman Foster and, for a time, with drummer Jeff Ballard. She also appeared accompanied by the Dave Kikoski trio. After another decade-long pause in her singing career, in 2005 she traveled to Montreal, invited to performat Upstairs Jazz Bistro.

Lodi Carr has continued to sing and deliver well-remembered performances, such as the one's at Lafayette Bar in Easton, New Jersey in 2009 and 2010, with groups including an outstanding array of musicians like bassist Gene Perla, drummer Michael Stephans or trombonist Dick Griffin. Lodi’s appearances, although sporadic in the past few years, have never stopped delighting her longtime fans.

—Jordi Pujol (From the inside liner notes of FSRV 134)