“He was friendly with everybody,” she said. That’s how Catherine befriended Charlie Mingus. On the 1950s New York jazz scene, it was not uncommon to rub elbows with the performers. One of their favorite songs was Love for Sale.” “Everyone was just fine with it because it was money, money, money,” she said. Catherine said it was a popular place frequented by gangsters. Noll also sang at the Le Ruban Bleu, owned by Cy Walters, the father of broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. “But I thought, ‘we can trim this down.’ ”

“His playing was a little too florid for my taste,” Catherine said. She finally hired George Cory, whose later claim to fame was composing the music for “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” When English left, Catherine auditioned many other pianists, including Mose Allison. As the Village Voice put it, “he plays in a very enlightened style that helps Cathy to get across the song in the way it was entitled to be sung.” Pianist Jack English was Catherine’s favorite accompanist. If somebody was making noise, the audience would cuss them out.” When you went to hear somebody, you heard them. When I came on to sing, no drinks were served. In those days nightclubs respected the artists and did not serve drinks when they were performing, only during the breaks. When the owner decided to close the Upstairs, Catherine and George offered to manage a nearby club, the Mezzanine at the Complex. She first worked at Upstairs at the Duplex on what’s been called the most iconic block in Greenwich Village. George was born in Manhattan and showed Catherine around New York. Her husband introduced her to the man who eventually became her second husband, George Karlson. In 1956 she moved to New York “to save an unsave-able marriage.” She sang mostly Caribbean-type music and was barefoot.” She was so proud of her bottom, she would design dances to show it off.

“Very tall and very slim everywhere except her bottom. They got a gig at the Purple Onion, which she described as “kind of a fancy-schmancy place.” Among her many adventures, she met Maya Angelou who worked at the Onion. It never occurred to me to do anything with it until Forest.” “That’s where I gained some confidence,” said Catherine. “I don’t know if it was in the shower or what,” she said.īrothe asked her to come sing with him. One of her fellow boarders was jazz pianist Forest Brothe. Committed to her classical musical education, she went to San Francisco to study with the concertmaster for the San Francisco symphony. She left for San Francisco when she was 18 because “I wanted to live!” she exclaimed. And I can do that better if I’m as unnoticeable as possible.”Ĭatherine was born in Baker City and moved to Portland when she was 11. “I thought, ‘I don’t want to be that way.’ What I’m trying to do is bring some life to a song. “A lot of entertainers I knew would gussy themselves up, so that all you would notice when they came on stage was them, with their glitter,” she said. She always wore black, so that her attire did not detract from the song. As the Village Voice put it, “she has a large supply of songs that are never sung enough: “Inch Worm,” “Come by Sunday,” “Lilac Wine,” “Mountain Greenery,” “Smoking my Sad Cigarettes.” Her voice is as mellow and warm as her smile or as cool and sad as her frown.”Ĭatherine respected the music. But in her 20s, she sang jazz in San Francisco and New York nightclubs, and later, in Portland.Ĭatherine distinguished herself by singing unusual, little-known songs. To Oregon classical music enthusiasts, she was the second violinist in the Oregon Symphony for 25 years. 27, 1957)Ĭatherine Lawrence became Catherine Noll. “Some very nice-looking people are having a ball listening to a very beautiful girl sing the sort of songs everyone wishes some beautiful girl would sing at parties. Yet it caught the attention of the Village Voice, which gushed about her singing and her beauty. Her repertoire is not the usual standards sung in smoky Village bars. In a dark room, the overhead spotlight rivets the audience’s attention on the singer. At the newest nightclub in the Village, an attractive young woman dressed in black steps up to the microphone. But in her 20s, she sang jazz in San Francisco and New York nightclubs, and later, in Portland. WALKER // To Oregon classical music enthusiasts, Catherine Noll was the second violinist in the Oregon Symphony for 25 years. Catherine Noll: From the Purple Onion to Pizzicatoīy PAULA M.

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