When a certain type of studio rhythm section was needed for rhythm & blues, doo wop, or early rock & roll,
Frank Carroll was one of the bassists that would get the call. His associations are many, but include recordings under the leadership of
Otis Blackwell, whose success as a songwriter greatly overshadowed his own recordings of his material. It is hard to imagine rock & roll developing as it did without the presence of
Blackwell's material' at least, artists such as
Elvis Presley would have had to spend more time looking under rocks for hit records. When
Blackwell himself went into the studio under the auspices of producer Joe Davis, both for RCA and Davis' own Jay-Dee label,
Carroll was an essential aspect of rhythm sections that included master timekeepers such as drummer
Panama Francis and pianist
Frank Signorelli. Tracks such as "Papa Rolling Stone" boasted grooves that were ahead of their time, fodder for hitmakers of subsequent generations.
Like many bassists, however,
Carroll was not associated with just one style of music, either out of his own interest or economic necessity. He worked with jazz vocalists such as
Sarah Vaughan, handled gospel sessions with
Mahalia Jackson, and was on hand for country & western through the years, from old-timer
Wilf Carter to quasi-rockabilly dude
Billy "Crash" Craddock. As he became further and further established on the studio scene,
Carroll also began to function as a contractor for sessions, putting together his own ensembles depending on the nature of the tracks to be cut. He is sometimes confused with the reggae artist
Frank Carroll, with whom he has one thing in common: they both play bass. ~ Eugene Chadbourne