Her first public performance on piano, at the age of 17, was at UCLA's Royce Hall, sharing billing with Edgar Bergen, Jo Stafford and Paul Weston.

My grandfather said he'd give $50 to any of his grandchildren who could play "Maple Leaf Rag" [...] I told my piano teacher that I wanted to learn it, but she refused to teach it to me.

[6][7][8] There she met trumpeter Jackie Coon, a Los Angeles studio musician, who encouraged her and pointed Basie drummer Harold Jones her way when he was substituting at Disneyland.

In the early 1980s Carmichael lived in New York and California, keeping the Disney gig and working in Los Angeles and Manhattan clubs and European festivals.

Carmichael told The New York Times,[10] "What made me unusual when I started doing that was that all the people playing stride were big men, and I was a surfer girl from California."

Reviewing her 1980 first album, Two-Handed Stride, Scott Yanow wrote: "The recording debut of pianist Judy Carmichael was a major, if somewhat unheralded event.

For this set, originally released on Progressive and reissued on CD, Carmichael was joined by altoist Marshall Royal, guitarist Freddie Green, bassist Red Callender, and drummer Harold Jones, which Yanow felt gave some of the music a Count Basie feel.

Carmichael has been a guest performer on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, and radio broadcasts on NPR's Morning Edition.

I don't think welcoming means a smoky club atmosphere with dishes crashing in the background and musicians with an off-putting attitude.Carmichael made her recording debut on Progressive in 1980.

Her debut album, Two Handed Stride, was recorded with Basie sidemen Marshal Royal, Freddie Green, Red Callender, and Harold Jones and was nominated for a Grammy Award.

On I Love Being Here With You, her first all-vocal CD, released in 2013, the piano parts were played by Mike Renzi (formerly music director for Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, Tony Bennett and Sesame Street).

[citation needed] She has appeared with Joel Grey, Michael Feinstein, Dick Hyman, Marcus Roberts, Steve Ross, and the Smothers Brothers.

[citation needed] At her first major European jazz festival in Nice, France, she performed two piano concerts with John Lewis, Francois Rilhac and Joe Bushkin.

The show, now in its 23rd year, is carried on NPR and SiriusXm.https://www.jazzinspired.com/[citation needed] Carmichael received several grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).