Carol McLaughlin began his professional career working with various musical groups in his native Jamaica. He also was a studio musician at a local tv station there.
From 1961 to 1975 he was Music Director for the Eastern Steamship Line and following that, spent two years as Band Leader with the Carnival Cruise Ship Line. He also appeared in concert with Ruth Brown, Brook Benton , Johnny Mathis and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Before arriving in Buffalo, New York in 1977, he studied jazz composition and arranging at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. He also studied classical performance on flute and saxophone at the State University of Buffalo, New York and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Mr. McLaughlin has appeared with the Buffalo Jazz Workshop and performed with his group "Magnitude" for 10 years at the Anchor Bar. He also played several times at the Calumet Arts Cafe and the Tralfamadore Cafe, as well as performing at the M & T Plaza Noontime Series and the Albright Knox Jazz series.
Mr. McLaughlin: "I have always been fascinated by the full mellow sound of the big band. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Gerald Wilson Rod McConnel's brass and others. But because of economics I was forced to use small combos of four, five and sometime three musicians on jobs. But deep down in my heart I invariably heard thes screams of the high brass instuments, the low growl of the five saxes typical of a full band sax section, the plaintive moan of four lusty trombones as they meander through the narrow opening in-between sax and trumpet sections."
