In 1947, Leonard Feather dubbed Barbara Carroll “the first girl ever to play bebop piano.” In a career that has spanned more than half a century (she played her first New York engagement opposite Dizzy Gillespie’s big band at the Downbeat Club in 1947), Ms. Carroll is an elegant jazz pianist, composer and vocalist, long recognized as one of the premier players of swinging jazz piano. Her inventive piano playing and totally unique vocal sound leads her into transforming any composition into her own art with her trademark emotional directness and respect for the tune, its lyrics and its many possibilities.