Carmen McRae

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Carmen McRae
Background information
Birth name	Carmen Mercedes McRae
Also known as	"The Singer's Singer"
Born	April 8, 1920
Origin	Harlem, New York City, United States
Died	November 10, 1994 (aged 74)
Genre(s)	Vocal jazz
Years active	1944–1993
Label(s)	Decca, Verve, Atlantic, Novus

Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920–November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics, that made her memorable.^[1]

Contents 1 Early career 2 Partial discography 2.1 Bethelem Records 2.2 Decca Records 2.3 Kapp Records 2.4 Columbia Records 2.5 Atlantic Records 2.6 Verve Records 2.7 Novus Records 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Early career

McRae was born in Harlem, New York City on April 8, 1920, to West Indian parents. She began studying piano as a child. As a teenager she came to the attention of Teddy Wilson and his wife, the composer Irene Kitchings Wilson. Through their influence, one of McRae’s early songs, "Dream of Life", was recorded by Wilson’s longtime collaborator Billie Holiday.

By the late 1940s she was well known among the modern jazz musicians who gathered at Minton's Playhouse, Harlem's most famous jazz club, where she was the intermission pianist. But it was while working in Brooklyn that she came to the attention of Decca’s Milt Gabler. Her five year association with Decca yielded 12 LPs.

Her live 1987 duets with Betty Carter are highly regarded (see The Carmen McRae-Betty Carter Duets).

The musicians she sang with include Benny Carter, Mercer Ellington, Count Basie, Sammy Davis Jr., Dave Brubeck, and Louis Armstrong. As a result of her early friendship with Billie Holiday, she never performed without singing at least one song associated with Lady Day.

She was married to drummer Kenny Clarke and the double bassist Ike Isaacs.

[edit] Partial discography

[edit] Bethelem Records

• Carmen McRae (1954)

[edit] Decca Records

• Blue Moon (1956)
• Mad About The Man (1957)
• Birds of a Feather (1958)
• Boy Meets Girl: Sammy Davis Jr. & Carmen McRae (1958)

[edit] Kapp Records

• When You're Away (1960)
• Book of Ballads (1961)

[edit] Columbia Records

• Take Five (1961)
• Sings Lover Man and other Billie Holiday Classics (1962)

[edit] Atlantic Records

• The Great American Songbook (1972)

[edit] Verve Records

• Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport (Reissued with tracks featuring McRae in 2001)
• The Carmen McRae-Betty Carter Duets (1987)

[edit] Novus Records

• Carmen Sings Monk (1988)
• Sarah: Dedicated to You (1990)

[edit] References

• Carmen McRae's All Music Profile

[edit] External links

• The Complete Carmen McRae Discography