Carmen McRae

Considered by jazz aficionados to be among the top ten female vocalists of all time, Carmen McRae's distinctive behind-the-beat phrasing, impeccable vocal control, and witty, sometimes acerbic way of conveying a lyric are what set her apart as a singularly great singer. She considered jazz great Billie Holiday to be a musical mentor. But this Queen of Cool had her own sound and style; including an amazing ability to scat. The versatile McRae could swing hard when it was called for; next she could draw out a ballad, savoring each note and syllable without losing audience attention, she was in a class by herself.

McRae was fortunate enough to have been raised by a family prosperous enough to afford a piano and lessons. Early on she expressed a strong interest in an acting career. By age twenty, her interest in music had taken over and she began singing as well as playing the piano. Even at a young age, she was a woman with something to say and throughout her life was recognized not only for her musical talents but for her immense love for verbal expression through musical lyrics.

Her first break was getting hired as an intermission pianist at Harlem's world-famous Minton's Playhouse, a jazz club. She became acquainted with many of the top modern jazz musicians of the time. An important influence was songwriter Irene Wilson, who introduced her to Billie Holiday. Wilson continued to encourage McRae to write music; one of McRae's first attempts at songwriting, "Dream of Life," was recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939.

McRae’s first important engagement as was as vocalist for Benny Carter's orchestra in 1944, she then went on to work with the Count Basie and Earl Hines bands between 1944-46.The periods of 1946-47, she appeared and recorded with Mercer Ellington's band (Recorded under the name of "Carmen Clarke.") She entered into a brief marriage to bebop innovator Kenny Clarke in 1946-49, where she also embraced the technically difficult bebop style as only a few vocalists could at the time.

Although she was working regularly in front of combos and accompanying herself on piano at Minton's, she was at a gig in Brooklyn when she was discovered and signed by Decca Records. Decca released her first album as lead, “Carmen McRae,” in 1954 which led to Down Beat Magazine voting her "Best new female vocalist of 1954," a year when there was plenty of competition for that slot.

Her five-year association with Decca served both to make her a bona fide singing star and to yield what would ultimately prove to be the most consistently excellent series of recordings of her entire forty-year career. These twelve LPs, indeed, rank among the greatest vocal records of all time. McRae is simultaneously cool and cutting-edge sharp, relaxed and swinging, putting over all manner of material in all manner of settings. These range from trios led by pianist Ray Bryant on “After Glow,” or her own piano “By Special Request,” to swinging big bands led by Tadd Dameron on “Blue Moon,” Ralph Burns on “Torchy,” or Ernie Wilkins on “Something to Swing About,” a full-sized string orchestra “Book of Ballads,” “When You’re Away,” and experimental jazz groups boasting such unusual accoutrements as accordion “By Special Request,”and cello “Carmen for Cool Ones.” She also tackles such unusual subjects for a jazz singer as, on “Mad About the Man,” the songs of Noël Coward, and, on “Birds of a Feather,” songs about our feathered friends.

As the years wore on, she developed an increasingly world-weary attitude in her singing. Contrastingly, the freshness and vitality of these, her earliest notable recordings, is remarkable. These tracks announced the coming of a major new artist, one whose light would be hidden no more, and nearly fifty years later they retain their power.

She would go on to record prolifically at a steady clip averaging at least one record per year until 1990. At Decca, Carmen McRae established herself as a versatile perfectionist. Whether the material was outré hard-bop or classics from the Great American Songbook, she made the difficult business of communicating with the listener on a deeper level sound like it was easy.

Carmen's career reached great heights, no little feat for a jazz musician. She recorded, performed nationally and toured internationally in Europe and Japan. She was tapped to participate in Dave Brubeck's audacious jazz operetta "The Real Ambassadors." other performers on this singular opus which was basically a political protest against war and in support of civil rights included Louis Armstrong and the harmony trio of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. "God Bless the Child," Brubeck's "Take Five," and "I've Got You Under My Skin" became her signature tunes as she cultivated a large international fan base.

The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco was the site of two of her last great recorded achievements. 1987 brought a critically acclaimed live album of duets with avant-garde jazz singer Betty Carter., and she also did “Fine and Mellow, Live at Birdland West,” the same year. One of her final great recordings was 1988's "Carmen Sings Monk," she followed that with a tribute to her close friend Sarah Vaughan, “Sarah, Dedicated to You,” in 1990. She left a recorded legacy of over fifty albums up to the time of her death, and then there are over twenty more released since then, well over seventy five total, quite impressive by any standard.

A lifelong smoker, diagnosed with emphysema, she announced her retirement in 1991, after she collapsed after a performance at New York's venerable Blue Note jazz club. She survived merely four more years, dying in 1994.

In January of 1994, Carmen received the Jazz Master Award by the National Endowment for the Arts. She was an expert of rhythm, deft phrasing, and personal, bittersweet ballads. Her enigmatic, dark contralto voice relied upon the ironic interpretation of lyrics that has placed her among the pantheon of female jazz singers.

Source: James Nadal
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Spring Releases From Jordan VanHemert, Andrea Wolper, Sarah Jerrom, Idit Shner, Melissa Aldana, Fay Victor, Birthday Shoutouts & More

by Mary Foster Conklin
April 22, 2024

Midway through Jazz Appreciation Month, this broadcast continues the celebration with new releases from from Jordan VanHemert, Andrea Wolper, Sarah Jerrom, Idit Shner & Mhondoro, Melissa Aldana and Fay Victor, with birthday shoutouts to Marilyn Maye, Barbara Lea, Carmen McRae, Haruna Fukazawa, Michele Brourman and Rosa Passos, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and online. Purchase their music so they can continue to distract, comfort, provoke and inspire.Playlist ...

First Time I Saw

Carmen McRae

by Carol Sloane
August 23, 2023

It was in the early 1960's. I had by that time lived in New York's Greenwich Village for a couple of years, and went to hear Carmen McRae when she made an appearance at one of the holy shrines of jazz located in my neighborhood, a club with a relaxed, friendly atmosphere and great Italian food. This was the Half Note, and, although it was one of the best places to nosh and listen to music, it did not provide ...

Play This!

Carmen McRae: At the Great American Music Hall

by Joseph Vella
February 1, 2023

From 1977, this live recording is one of the finest jazz vocal albums of all time. It captures Carmen McRae at her height performing a standout repertoire of standards and popular songs of the day in a small group setting (with special guest Dizzy Gillespie). Capturing Carmen's true brilliance as a jazz singer, her impeccable timing, dynamics, interpretative genius, and intimate lyrical storytelling is on full display here along with her magnetic rapport with the audience. Musicians of any genre ...

Radio & Podcasts

Big April Birthdays & More

by Marc Cohn
May 1, 2020

April birthdays this week on G&M with the Carmen McRae centennial, along with the 90th birthdays of Herbie Mann, pianist Frank Strazzeri (who toured in the 1970's with Elvis!), Claude Bolling and Richard Davis (the latter 2 still with us); as well as the 80th birthdays of George Adams and the very much alive Herbie Hancock! Of course, there's more: Charles Mingus, Rodney Kendrick, Willis Jackson, Jimmy Giuffre, Walt Dickerson, Joe Henderson, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Jimmy McGriff ...

Radio & Podcasts

Celebrating Carmen McRae's Centennial

by Mary Foster Conklin
April 20, 2020

The broadcast includes new releases from Duchess, Kandace Springs, Nina Simone and Carla Hassett with birthday shoutouts to Carmen McRae on her centennial, Alberta Hunter, (who was not only a superb performer but also a professional health care worker for more than 20 years), Billie Holiday, guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe and pianist Marian McPartland. Playlist Cynthia Sayer “Bango Tango" from Attractions: With Bucky Pizzarelli (Self released) 00:00 Alexis Cole & Bucky Pizzarelli “On the Sunny Side of the ...

Radio & Podcasts

McRae, Bird @ 100, Newk & More

by Marc Cohn
March 13, 2020

This week we celebrate the centennial of singer Carmen McRae with three selections from her stupendous 1961 recording, Carmen McRae Sings Lover Man. We put on our 'professor's hat' and do a compare and contrast with primarily Billie Holiday on each tune and guest appearances from Dianne Reeves and Shirley Horn. Fascinating to hear how each singer uses rhythm and phrasing to put a unique stamp on these tunes. Oh, and also the first recording of “Them There Eyes" from ...

Radio & Podcasts

A Musical Tribute To Caffeine

by H William Stine
August 4, 2019

Caffeine—voted the #3 most popular way to stay awake during my show—right after thinking of words that rhyme with “constellation" and reliving your latest root canal (I'll let you figure out the order). Two hours of songs about coffee and tea and the singers who enjoy them, plus, to sweeten the cup, I've tossed in several startling, incredible, and highly-caffeinated performances. Playlist Cody Owen Stine “Paris Mismatch (Theme Music)" from (Unreleased Master) (Self Produced) 00:00 Carmen McRae, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Carmen McRae

Source: Michael Ricci
April 8, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Carmen McRae's birthday today!

Video / DVD

Video: Carmen McRae With Clarke/Boland

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 9, 2022

Another day of Carmen McRae at JazzWax, which means you're in for another treat. Today, Bill Kirchner sent along a link to a 1970 taped performance for German TV by McRae with the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band. It seems the taping was done without an audience. My guess is audience applause was overdubbed for the actual broadcast. Here's the 40-minute performance (dig the arrangement for I Wish I Were in Love Again)... Bonus: Here's Carmen McRae's November Girl album ...
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Video / DVD

Carmen McRae: 'After Glow'

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 8, 2022

Carmen McRae's 1950s Decca recordings remain among her most formative and exquisite. Recorded between 1954 and 1958, the label's nine McRae albums and roughly two dozen singles uniformly captured her voice in solid form, while it was still bouncing around in the midrange before it dropped in the 1960s. After Glow, backed mostly by the Ray Bryant Trio, is one of my favorites. Captured in Decca's studio on March 6 and 7 in 1957, McRae was accompanied by Bryant (p) ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Carmen McRae

Source: Michael Ricci
April 8, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Carmen McRae's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Carmen McRae

Source: Michael Ricci
April 8, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Carmen McRae's birthday today!

Video / DVD

Carmen McRae: London, 1961

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 10, 2020

In May 1961, singer Carmen McRae was booked into London's popular Flamingo jazz club for a two-week run. The Flamingo, at 33 Wardour Street in Soho, was a dodgy basement nightspot that on the weekends remained open until 6 a.m. On the bright side, the club was known for its sterling sound system. Just over a year later, in October 1962, the club would be the site of a knife fight between a former and current boyfriend of Christine Keeler, ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Carmen McRae

Source: Michael Ricci
April 8, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating Carmen McRae's birthday today!

Video / DVD

Carmen McRae: At Ratso's

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 27, 2019

Ratso's was one of Chicago's leading jazz restaurant-clubs in the 1970s. It stood on Lincoln Avenue, between West Altgeld and West Montana streets. Bob Briggs owned the club from 1969 to 1977 and named the place after Ratso Rizzo, the Dustin Hoffman character in Midnight Cowboy. By 1975, several major Chicago jazz clubs had folded, including Mr. Kelly's, the Happy Medium and the London House. Ratso's was among those that had diversified by showcasing jazz as well as other music ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Carmen McRae

Source: Michael Ricci
April 8, 2019

All About Jazz is celebrating Carmen McRae's birthday today!

Considered by jazz aficionados to be among the top ten female vocalists of all time, Carmen McRae\'s distinctive behind-the-beat phrasing, impeccable vocal control, and witty, sometimes acerbic way of conveying a lyric are what set her apart as a singularly great singer. She considered jazz great Billie Holiday to be a musical mentor. But this Queen of Cool had her own sound and style; including an amazing ability to scat... Read ...
read more

Music Industry

Missing Iconic Photo of Carmen McRae Found and Restored

Source: All About Jazz
April 15, 2018

The photo sat in an antique frame in the subject's guest room in Beverly Hills, California. Canadian author Robert Joseph Greene recalls how mesmerized he was by it. “The technique, the pose, and her whole persona. It really encompassed how I visualized my cousin singing," said Greene. Greene had just graduated from the University of San Francisco and was staying with his cousin while interning for Warner Bros. His cousin was not just any singer, but the iconic ...
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