Carmen Mcrae Best Album

[Vangele Ioannidis]

McRaewas born in Harlem, New York City, United States.[1] Her father, Osmond, and mother, Evadne (Gayle) McRae, were immigrants from Jamaica. She began studying piano when she was eight, and the music of jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington filled her home. When she was 17 years old, she met singer Billie Holiday. As a teenager McRae came to the attention of Teddy Wilson and his wife, the composer Irene Kitchings. One of McRae's early songs, "Dream of Life", was, through their influence, recorded in 1939 by Wilson's long-time collaborator Billie Holiday.[3][4] McRae considered Holiday to be her primary influence.[5]

In 1948, she moved to Chicago with comedian and impressionist George Kirby, with whom she had fallen in love. At the end of the relationship, she worked as a pianist and singer at the Archway Lounge. She played piano steadily for almost four years at a number of clubs in Chicago before returning to New York in 1952. In Chicago she developed her own specific style. Those years in Chicago, McRae told Jazz Forum, "gave me whatever it is that I have now. That's the most prominent schooling I ever had."[6]

Back in New York in the early 1950s, McRae got the record contract that launched her career. She was voted best new female vocalist of 1954 by DownBeat magazine. MacRae married twice: to drummer Kenny Clarke from 1944 to 1956, though they separated in 1948; and to bassist Ike Isaacs from 1956 to 1967.[7] Both marriages ended in divorce.[8][9]

As a result of her early friendship with Billie Holiday, she never performed without singing at least one song associated with "Lady Day", and she recorded an album in 1983 in her honor entitled For Lady Day, which was released in 1995, with songs including "Good Morning Heartache", "Them There Eyes", "Lover Man", "God Bless the Child" and "Don't Explain". McRae also recorded with some of the world's best jazz musicians in albums such as Take Five Live (1961) with Dave Brubeck, Two for the Road (1980) with George Shearing, and Heat Wave (1982) with Cal Tjader. The latter two albums were part of a notable eight-year relationship with Concord Jazz.

List of the best Carmen McRae albums, including pictures of the album covers when available. This Carmen McRae discography is ranked from best to worst, so the top Carmen McRae albums can be found at the top of the list. To make it easy for you, we haven't included Carmen McRae singles, EPs, or compilations, so everything you see here should only be studio albums. If you think the greatest Carmen McRae album isn't high enough on the list, then be sure to vote for it so it receives the credit it deserves. Make sure you don't just vote for critically acclaimed albums; if you have a favorite Carmen McRae album, then vote it up, even if it's not necessarily the most popular.

If you want to know, "What is the Best Carmen McRae album of all time?" or "What are the top Carmen McRae albums?" then this list will answer your questions. Albums on this list include Two for the Road and Sings Lover Man and other Billie Holiday Classics.

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CARMEN McRAE, the definite website

This site is a tribute to one of the best if not THE best jazz singers in the history of the genre.

Eight years younger than her idol, Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae was a contemporary of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. Ella and Sarah were already well established by the time Carmen came onto the scene, but it wasnt long before Carmen was considered their artistic equal, although she never achieved their wide popularity. She never had a huge hit nor did she ever receive a Grammy. But, on the other hand, she never made a bad record nor compromised her high standards.

Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan inspired awe with their vocal prowess. Ella with her perfect pitch and unerring sense of time could reproduce any instrumental jazz riff, and Sarah with her multi-octave range and ultra-flexible voice could change octave and color on a single note. Carmen, however, could bring a tear to the eye or a lump to the throat, with her reading of a lyric. That was her great talent. She combined the ability to project the emotional connotations of a song with a musical intelligence that was derived in part from her knowledge of the piano.This site strives to present a complete picture of Carmen McRae the artist. The biography is approached in several ways from the perfunctory listing in the Grove Dictionary of Jazz to a timeline from Leslie Gourses book, Miss Jazz, to audio clips from NPR interviews with Carmen. Carol Sloane and Hammond Guthrie tell charming stories of their first encounter with the singer and colleagues such as Mundell Lowe, who played guitar on Carmen's first major recording, and John Clayton, who led his orchestra on one of her last albums, speak about her artistry. (See Friends and Fans.)

Carmens recording history is described in detail, with critical analysis interspersed with album listings.

(For example, Norman Simmons, Carmens accompanist and musical director during the 1960s, makes particularly astute observations about her unique style.) A page is devoted to each of the 51 original albums, with a photo of the cover and musician and track listings. (See List of Original Albums)

The Press section contains historical articles from Down Beat,The New York Times and Time, beginning in 1954, when Carmen was named Best New Female Jazz Singer by Down Beat and ending with a 1991 interview in the same magazine in which the veteran singer looks at the current jazz scene with a jaundiced eye. That was the year her career ended, with what would be her last recording (Sarah) and final performance (at the Blue Note.)

There are dozens of musical sound bites, savory reminders for fans and an introduction to the unacquainted of Carmen's many moods. Sweet and sassy, soulful and swinging, reverent and raunchy, youll hear them all. And every one, wonderful.

We hope that, after delving into this site, you will come away with a new or reinforced appreciation of this remarkable artist. And if you ARE inspired, check out our list of recommended CDs.

(See Starter Set.)

Happy exploring!

"Carmen McRae is indisputably one of the greatest vocalists the idiom has ever produced." Will Friedwald, author of Jazz Singing

"Shes always given me the feeling that she respects lyrics at least as much as she does music, and that, I think, is the secret of her strength: the balance she maintains between the two." Gene Lees, jazz writer, lyricist

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This release presents two outstanding albums featuring Carmen McRae at her best. On For Cool Ones, shes backed by various studio groups, all directed by cellist Fred Katz, on which she sings a dozen tunes with a mature, natural style that epitomized her approach. Aware at all times of the lyrics and what theyre about, she invests them with the kind of significance a great singer and interpreter of songs can bring to them.

On Mad About the Man, she explores a dozen Coward tunessome romantic, some touchingly perceptive, and all sophisticatedthis time backed by three studio groups directed by Jack Pleis, with with her own rhythm section (Ray Bryant, piano; Ike Isaacs, bass; Specs Wright, drums) in place throughout. She makes the most of the sometimes insouciant airiness of Cowards creations and invests all his songs with her own warmth and rigorous attention to detail.

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In the past few years I've had the opportunity to reproduce some significant historical jazz artists from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Starting with Doris Day "With Love" I have produced a total of six of these albums including the latest, Carmen McRae, "Let There Be Love." All of these albums are special to me because they gave me a chance to exercise my adoration of orchestration that includes supporting harmony and counter-point.

Starting when I received the original recordings from Hindsight Records, I contacted esteemed Jazz writer, Scott Yanoh. I sent Scott the playlist that represented all of the songs that I had access to, including a folder of songs that had not been previously un-released. This collection was recorded with the Norman Simmons trio and covered some of the best loved Jazz standards ever written. I won't go into too much detail in regards to the songs that we chose, but only to point out that Scott Yanoh guided me to a song list that captivated me from beginning to end.

After listening to the recordings for about a week, I starting thinking about the additional orchestration that I would be adding. Carmen's band on this project was the Norman Simmons Trio. Typical of piano based trios, I had to work with the chord harmony provided by the piano. I felt that by adding a vibraphone, I could effectively extend the harmonic platform of each song to support additional orchestration without changing each songs original intent. I treated the vibes with RC-20 Retro Color by XN Audio. This softened the top end of the vibes and gave them a "wiggle," typical of many older tape recordings. The rest of the orchestration was based on strings and winds typical of the size used by Claus Ogerman for Frank Sinatra or more recently, Diana Krull. Other overdubs included various percussion instruments to augment the drums already recorded with the trio.

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