“I was doing all right, but I’m doing much better now.”
When Carolyn Dolan sings the George Gershwin tune, “I Was Doing All Right,” she could be describing the musical epiphanies that advanced her career, which this month culminates with the release of an album, “How Deep is The Ocean,” by Carolyn Dolan and Peter Supersano. It has 13 songs that celebrate 60 years of music. The songs can be considered standards but also have unique arrangements.
She celebrates the release of the album on Sunday, Sept. 13, with a performance from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Beacon Bar and Grill in South Lake Tahoe.
“It should be great weather, and I’m hoping for a good turnout,” she said.
It will be Dolan’s seventh and final CD release party show of the summer. She scheduled the show for after Labor Day weekend in order to make it a locals’ event.
“This is it,” she said. “I’ve been pumping all summer and I’m whupped. It’s been good, but it’s been a lot of work,. I’m looking forward this Sunday and just hanging with everybody, all locals at the Beacon. It will be really fun.”
The summer also included news that Dolan will be inducted into the Western Swing Society’s Hall of Fame in Sacramento this October. The society recognized Dolan’s time fronting the band the Outpsyders.
Provided by Carolyn Dolan
A South Lake Tahoe singer and multi-instrumentalist, Dolan’s musical journey began when as a fifth-grader she shocked her mother by asking to go to summer school to play clarinet in the school band.
The first epiphany occurred as she learned piano.
“As soon as I learned piano, I understood harmonies and bass lines,” she said. “It opened up the world.”
Dolan was fascinated again with an inside album cover of California country pioneer Linda Ronstadt wearing a long skirt and cowboy boots. “I said, ‘I’m going to do that,’ ” recalled Dolan, who 15 years later wore a long skirt and cowboy boots as a singer and harp player with a Tahoe Western swing and rockabilly band, the Outpsyders.
During her college days as a fine art major, Dolan learned to appreciate the blues, and especially the harmonica-guitar country blues duo of Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. Her exploration into the blues led to an edgy club in Sacramento where the band was Little Charlie and the Nightcats. The band was fronted by Rick Estrin, a clever and charismatic harp master with thick glasses and a pompadour.
“Rick Estrin is my mentor,” Dolan said. “He’s like God to me.”
Dolan lived briefly at Tahoe, then moved away before deciding return to the lake for good. That’s an epiphany shared by many.
She worked as a camera girl at the Caesars (now MontBleu) showroom, taking photos of attendees of dinner and cocktail shows with stars such as Smokey Robinson and Red Skelton. Dolan went on to become a stagehand, and she worked behind the scenes with the Temptations and many others.
Her first band at Tahoe was a rock group called the Wize Guyz. Then she was in a folk trio, Three Way Street, a play on “4 Way Street,” the first live album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Then came a long run with the Outpsyders and its guitarist Johnny Fingers from the Reno band the Saddle Tramps.
“We played ‘Texadelic’ rockabilly, Western swing, country and bluegrass,” Dolan said. “It was really nutty and it was really fun. …
“I liked country, blues and R&B, then I ventured into jazz. I grew up listening to my parents’ big band swing albums. I met Peter Supersano and got into the Reno jazz scene. As long as you have your charts, you can show up and play.”
To play shows closer to home, Dolan more than a decade ago started her own band, Big Red, named after two red-headed band mates, who have since left. Now the “Red” can be referenced to Mick Clarke’s red Gibson 335 guitar.
In July 2014 an anonymous donor provided the opportunity for Dolan and Supersano to make a jazz album, and they cut no corners in the process. Esteemed recording engineer Tom Gordon offered his services and his Imirage Sound Lab in Sparks. Top jazz artists in the region contributed, including many members of the Reno Jazz Orchestra.
“I had a lot of suggestions and I picked the ones that I could get into,” Dolan said. “Some had been doing for a long time.”
The first song they recorded is a ballad that became the title track, “How Deep is the Ocean,” which was written by Irving Berlin in 1932. As the project grew, it became a retrospective with a new take of music of the past 60 years. There’s big band swing with Stevie Wonder’s “Another Star,” pop vocal jazz with Michael Frank’s “Eggplant,” 1960’s Memphis Horns R&B with “You Got What it Takes” by Joe Tex, a Bossa Nova “So Nice,” a funk-jazz rendition of Bob Marley’s “Waiting in Vain,” and a Mambo-influenced “Everybody’s Talking,” a folk tune made famous in the movie “Midnight Cowboy.”
The day after the album’s release, Dolan said her first Internet sale was from Australia. She also moved a lot of the CDs at the release shows, the highlight being the Carson City Jazz Festival.
“There was a big crowd and it was there for a concert,” she said. “The summer feels almost like a dream because we were moving so fast.”
- ‘How Deep is The Ocean’
CD Release End of Summer Party for Locals
Sept. 13, 1-5 p.m., the Beacon, South Lake Tahoe
Band: Paul Covarelli, guitar
Joe Dolister, bass (on the album)
Steve Self , drums
Peter Supersano, keyboards
Doug Coomler, saxHow Deep is the Ocean
- “What if I Loved You” 2 minutes, 37 seconds
Written by Joey Gian. Copyright Joey Gian Music and United Lion Music
Lead Vocal and Harmonica: Carolyn Dolan
Piano: Peter Supersano
Drums: Andy Heglund
Upright Bass: Hans Halt
Horn Section: Ron Starr – Tenor Sax; Andrew Woodard – Trumpet; Rich Lewis – Trombone
- “You Got What it Takes” 4:24
Written by Joe Tex. Copyright Sony/ATV Tree Publishing
Lead Vocal and Harmonica: Carolyn Dolan
Piano and Hammond B3: Peter Supersano
Drums: Andy Heglund
Upright Bass: Hans Halt
Guitar: David Grantham
Horn Section: Ron Starr – Tenor and Baritone Saxes; Andrew Woodard – Trumpet; Rich Lewis – Trombone
3. “How Deep is the Ocean” 4:41
Written by Irving Berlin. Copyright Irving Berlin Music Company
Lead Vocal: Carolyn Dolan
Piano and Hammond B3: Peter Supersano
Drums: Andy Heglund
Upright Bass: Hans Halt
Guitar: David Grantham
Tenor Sax: Ron Starr
- “Summer Soft” 4:29
Written by Stevie Wonder. Copyright Black Bull Music and Jobete Music Co. Inc.
Lead Vocal: Carolyn Dolan
Piano and Rhodes: Peter Supersano
Drums and Percussion: Tony Savage plays Zildjian® Cymbals and Vic Firth® Drumsticks exclusively
Upright Bass: Joe Dolister
David Grantham: Guitar
Shaker: Tom Gordon
- “I Was Doing All Right” 4:38
Written by George and Ira Gershwin. Copyright Wb Music Corp.
Lead Vocal and Harmonica: Carolyn Dolan
Piano: Peter Supersano
Drums: Andy Heglund
Upright Bass: Hans Halt
Guitar: David Grantham
Horn Section: Ron Starr – Tenor Sax; Andrew Woodard – Trumpet; Rich Lewis – Trombone
- “Everybody’s Talking” 3:50
Written by Fred Neil. Copyright Third Palm Music
Lead Vocal and Harmonica: Carolyn Dolan
Piano, Rhodes and Synthesizer: Peter Supersano
Drums and Percussion: Tony Savage
Upright Bass: Joe Dolister
Dustin Budish: Violin and Viola
- “Waiting in Vain” 4:51
Written by Bob Marley. Copyright Blue Mountain Music LTD.
Lead and Background Vocals: Carolyn Dolan
Rhodes and Hammond B3: Peter Supersano
Drums: Tony Savage
Bass: Joe Dolister
Guitar: David Grantham
- “Eggplant” 4:31
Written by Michael P. Franks. Copyright Mississippi Mud Music Co.
Lead Vocal: Carolyn Dolan
Piano and Hammond B3: Peter Supersano
Drums and Vibes: Andy Heglund
Upright Bass: Hans Halt
Guitar: David Grantham
Tenor Sax: Ron Starr
- “But Beautiful” 6:01
Written by Johnny Burke & James Van Heusen
Copyright Bourne Co-Burke & Van Heusen Bourne Co-Burke & Van Heusen and Dorsey Brothers Music
Lead Vocal: Carolyn Dolan
Piano: Peter Supersano
Upright Bass: Hans Halt
Drums: Andy Heglund
- “Another Star” 5:23
Written by Stevie Wonder. Copyright Jobete Music Co. Inc. and Black Bull Music
Lead Vocal: Carolyn Dolan
Piano: Peter Supersano
Drums: Andy Heglund
Upright Bass: Hans Halt
Guitar: David Grantham
Horn Section: Ron Starr – Tenor Sax; Andrew Woodard – Trumpet; Rich Lewis – Trombone
Finger Snapers: Carolyn, Peter, Rich, Hans, Ron and David
11. “So Nice” (Summer Samba) 2:58
Written by Norman Gimbel, Marcos Valle & Paulo Vallecopyright Words West Lic and Songs of Universal,Inc. Obo Duchess Music Corporation
Lead Vocal: Carolyn Dolan
Piano: Peter Supersano
Drums and Vibes: Andy Heglund
Upright Bass: Hans Halt
Percussion: Tony Savage
12. “Blue Light Boogie” 4:35
Written by Jessie Mae Robinson. Copyright Cherio Corp. Kobalt Music Pub America Inc. (BMI)
Lead and Background Vocals: Carolyn Dolan
Harmonica: Carolyn Dolan
Piano and Hammond B3: Peter Supersano
Drums: Andy Heglund
Upright Bass: Hans Halt
Guitar: David Grantham
Horn Section: Ron Starr – Tenor and Baritone Saxes; Andrew Woodard – Trumpet, Rich Lewis – Trombone
13. “Peace” 4:58
Written by Horace Silver. Copyright Ecaroh Music Inc.
Lead Vocal: Carolyn DolanSteinway Piano: Peter Supersano
