The Audience with Betty Carter

The Audience with Betty Carter is a 1979 (see 1979 in music) live double album by the American jazz singer Betty Carter. It is considered by some critics to be the finest jazz vocal performance ever recorded.

The album's first track, "Sounds (Movin' On)", is 25 minutes in length and features an epic scat solo. "The Trolley Song" is a nod to the city of San Francisco, where the album was recorded. The second half of the album features several songs written by Carter. The penultimate track is a fresh take on Rodgers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music, echoing the revolutionary rendition by John Coltrane on his 1960 album of the same name. The set ends with the plaintive "Open the Door," Carter's signature tune.

The Audience With Betty Carter was first released on Carter's own Bet-Car Records and later reissued on Verve.

Track listing

Disc One

1. "Sounds" (Movin' On) (Betty Carter) – 25:20
2. "I Think I Got It Now" (Carter) – 3:33
3. "Caribbean Sun" (Carlos Garnett) – 4:17
4. "The Trolley Song" (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – 3:37
5. "Everything I Have Is Yours" (Harold Adamson, Burton Lane) – 6:16
6. "I'll Buy You a Star" (Dorothy Fields, Arthur Schwartz) – 2:12

Disc Two

1. "I Could Write a Book" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – 3:41
2. "Can't We Talk It Over"/"Either It's Love or It Isn't" (Doris Fisher, Allan Roberts)/(Ned Washington, Victor Young) – 7:26
3. "Deep Night" (Charles Henderson, Rudy Vallée) – 2:45
4. "Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most" (Fran Landesman, Tommy Wolf) – 7:22
5. "Tight" (Carter) – 3:44
6. "Fake" (Carter) – 4:16
7. "So..." (Carter) – 7:03
8. "My Favorite Things" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Rodgers) – 4:39
9. "Open the Door" (Carter) – 5:09

Personnel

Recorded December 6 - 8, 1979, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco:

• Betty Carter - vocals
• John Hicks - piano
• Curtis Lundy - double bass
• Kenny Washington - drums

References