“Vienna Carroll...a unique story of America, sung by an incredible voice. Simply stunning. ”
— Woody Lewis, Composer
Reviews and Interviews
Jazz Lives - “A WINNING HONESTY…deep, unaltered, aimed directly at the listener.”
Chunedesk - “Vienna Carroll & Folk confirm a glimpse of a planet where songs of liberation from the past become anthemic for the future.”
Gospel Chapter - “a vibrant fusion of old-world charm and new-world influences.”
Woody Lewis, Medium - “Vienna Carroll bears witness to America's shame and glory.”
Blues Matters! - “genuinely listenable and enjoyable, but also extremely educational and yes, political”
Neon Jazz: Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino - "Harlem-based Vocal Powerhouse Vienna Carroll"
New York Music Daily - "politically-charged reinventions of classic blues and gospel themes"
Red Hook Star Revue - “downright inspirational”
Howard Jordan, Jordan Journal - "Vienna Carroll brought the house down"
Jazz & Blues Report - "superb recording"
Downloadable Files
Press Photos
David Powell
Marcelo Montealegre
“Vienna is a powerhouse and loving soul. She gave a terrific class presentation and subsequent public concert, all virtually, and deeply impactful. She is generous in the ways she invites us all into forgotten history, weaving personal and found stories with rousing song and images. The students were truly motivated and inspired by her charge to listen to their own passions, and I woke up the next morning, still singing with her! ” - Peter Kyle
— Choreographer and Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance, Trinity College, CT
Acapella version
BIO
Vienna Carroll’s rich soulful sound takes you back to her first music love, the Black church. She tells forgotten stories of Black heroes and presents those old songs through a modern lens to make: Afro-Future Roots Music.
Vienna learned music from the Black Ladies of her youth, including her fearsome great grandmother who played guitar to Grand Ole Opry radio on Saturday nights but only proper Pentecostal chords on Sundays. When visiting her maternal grandmother’s 125-acre Alabama farm, Vienna joined in the Sunday church services an hour’s drive away down a dusty road, where singing was often accompanied only by the hand clapping and shouting of its fervent members.
Vienna formalized her studies of early Black music at Yale University with a BA in African American Studies. Her influences are Ray Charles, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nina Simone and the Black church.
NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted packed performances of Vienna and her band The Folk in February 2023. The band debuted their soon to be released CD, Harlem: Afro-Future Roots including the single ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’, to celebrate The Met’s Seneca Village exhibit.
The new CD honors tradition and is also shot through with today’s rhythms and grooves via her stellar band: Keith Johnston (Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Jon Hendricks) on guitar; Stanley Banks (George Benson) on bass; Washboard XT/Newman Taylor Baker (Matthew Shipp, McCoy Tyner, Henry Grimes) on washboard; with a guest appearance by Robert Stern (Gil Gutierrez) on violin. It is a special collection of Spirituals honoring the shackled-and-chained 31 ancestors who in 1826, on a boat from Baltimore to deep south death, threw their captors overboard and escaped to freedom.
Vienna’s Harlem Field Recordings CD was released at NYC Lincoln Square’s American Folk Art Museum and is Black Roots music that features Vienna, Stanley Banks, Washboard XT/Newman Taylor Baker, Keith Johnston, and guests Nioka Workman (Anthony Braxton, David Murray) on cello; Melanie Dyer (Joe Bonner, Reggie Workman) on viola; and Henrique Prince (Ebony Hillbillies, Sun Ra Arkestra) on violin. The cover artwork is by Ken Daley.
Vienna's first album, Singin Wid A Sword in Ma Han, reprised tunes from her award-winning play of the same name in collaboration with Washboard XT.
Her next album Vienna Carroll Live was a live recording celebrating Blues and Black Roots music at NYC’s famous Living Room and featured Washboard XT, Michael O’Brien (Harry Connick Jr, Ruben Blades) on bass, Melanie Dyer and Keith Johnston.
Mary Had a Baby is Vienna’s Christmas EP infused with holiday spirit, including jazz standards and the traditional Spiritual of the title’s name. It is dedicated to Harriet Tubman and the United States Colored Troops who together rescued nearly 800 enslaved people during the Combahee River Raid in 1863. Though it was in June, it was Christmas for them!
Mary Had a Baby features Vienna, Dan Furman (Primordial Jazz Funktet) on piano; Michael O’Brien, and Keith Johnston on background vocals and percussion. The cover artwork is by Adjoa Burrowes.
Vienna also released a digital jazz Valentine’s CD, Love to You, with Bruce Edwards (Sun Ra) on guitar. A regular on NYC’s jazz scene, she is accompanied by Edwards or Michael Howell (Dizzy Gillespie
Other Projects: Mary Had a Baby a story which commemorates Harriet Tubman and the United States Colored Troops who rescued nearly 800 people from slavery. CT Sea Music Festival, Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival | SHALLOW BROWN: Thessalonia and the Free Sailor, First Langston Hughes Playwright Showcase, Harlem NY | Valor In The Hills, award-winning series about a free Black NY community during the Civil War. Hudson River Museum, Yonkers NY | First NYC Underground Railroad Festival Juneteenth Celebration, Plymouth Church of the Pilgrim, Brooklyn NY | Singin Wid A Sword In Ma Han, NYC Fringe Festival Audience Favorite Award.
Vienna lives in Harlem with her wife Katharine, her garden and window boxes.