Maybe you don’t know Sloane’s name, but Concord Records sold a whole lot of her albums in the early 1990s (before the label shifted its focus in “hipper” directions). She also appeared on The Tonight Show many times in the early 1960s (but often during the optional 15-minute openings many stations did not carry). She also befriended both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, neither of whom did much of anything to further her career, but her greatest cheerleader, Oscar Peterson, certainly did. There were definitely a lot of missed opportunities in her career, but she was still far from unknown.
Unfortunately, she was also held back by personal problems, including a troubled relationship with Jimmy Rowles (the renowned jazz accompanist) and caring for her husband Buck, during his slow demise. As her friend, executive producer Stephen Barefoot puts it, she had a lot of ups and downs—and her downs really got down there.
However, it would be a mistake to consider her a name from obscurity. You don’t just book Birdland by cold-calling. She was on Columbia Records when they were the most important label in America and a jazz powerhouse. She subbed for Annie Ross in Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Jazz listeners always knew her. It is just the media that is culturally illiterate.
