Carmen McRae

Carmen McRae
Portrait by Zita Cypress, circa 1949
Background information
Birth name	Carmen Mercedes McRae
Also known as	"The Singer's Singer"
Born	(1920-04-08)April 8, 1920
Origin	Harlem, New York City, New York, United States
Died	November 10, 1994(1994-11-10) (aged 74) Beverly Hills, California, United States
Genres	Vocal jazz, bebop, traditional pop
Occupations	Singer, pianist
Instruments	Vocals, piano
Years active	1939–1991
Labels	Decca, Verve, Atlantic, Novus, Columbia, Blue Note, Concord, Buddah
Associated acts	Sammy Davis, Jr. Billie Holiday Cal Tjader George Shearing Dave Brubeck

Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. 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. McRae drew inspiration from Billie Holiday, but established her own distinctive voice. She went on to record over 60 albums, enjoying a rich musical career, performing and recording in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Biography

McRae was born in Harlem. Her father, Osmond, was originally from Costa Rica, and her mother, Evadne McRae, an immigrant from Jamaica. She began studying piano when she was eight, and the music of jazz greats like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington filled her home. She met singer Billie Holiday when she was just 17 years old. As a teenager McRae came to the attention of Teddy Wilson and his wife, the composer Irene Kitchings Wilson. One of McRae's early songs, "Dream of Life", was, through their influence, recorded in 1939 by Wilson’s longtime collaborator Billie Holiday. McRae considered Holiday to be her primary influence.

In her late teens and early twenties, McRae played piano at a New York club called Minton's Playhouse, Harlem's most famous jazz club, sang as a chorus girl, and worked as a secretary. It was at Minton's where she met trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, bassist Oscar Pettiford, and drummer Kenny Clarke, had her first important job as a pianist with the Benny Carter's big band (1944), worked with Count Basie (1944) and made her first recording as pianist with the Mercer Ellington Band (1946–1947). 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.

In 1948 she moved to Chicago with comedian George Kirby. She played piano steadily for almost four years before returning to New York. 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." 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 Down Beat magazine. MacRae married twice: to drummer Kenny Clarke in 1946, and to bassist Ike Isaacs in the late 1950s; both marriages ended in divorce.

Among her most interesting recording projects were Mad About The Man (1957) with composer Noël Coward, Boy Meets Girl (1957) with Sammy Davis, Jr., participating in Dave Brubeck's The Real Ambassadors (1961) with Louis Armstrong, a tribute album You're Lookin' at Me (A Collection of Nat King Cole Songs) (1983), cutting an album of live duets with Betty Carter, The Carmen McRae-Betty Carter Duets (1987), being accompanied by Dave Brubeck and George Shearing, and closing her career with brilliant tributes to Thelonious Monk, Carmen Sings Monk (1990), and Sarah Vaughan, Sarah: Dedicated to You (1991).

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.

McRae sang in jazz clubs throughout the United States — and across the world — for over fifty years. She was a popular performer at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival (1961–1963, 1966, 1971, 1973, 1982), performing with Duke Ellington's orchestra at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1980, singing "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1989. She left New York for Southern California in the late 1960s, but appeared in New York regularly, usually at the Blue Note, where she performed two engagements a year through most of the 1980s.. She withdrew from public performance in May 1991 after an episode of respiratory failure only hours after she completed an engagement at the Blue Note jazz club in New York.

Death

On November 10, 1994 McRae died at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif at the age of 74. She had fallen into a semi-coma four days earlier, a month after being hospitalized for a stroke.

Awards

Carmen McRae Grammy Award Recognitions
Year	Category	Title	Label	Result
1971	Best Jazz Performance - Soloist	Carmen McRae	Atlantic	Nominee
1977	Best Jazz Vocal Performance	Carmen McRae at the Great American Music Hall	Blue Note	Nominee
1984	Best Jazz Vocal Performance	You're Lookin' at Me (A Collection of Nat King Cole Songs)	Concord Jazz	Nominee
1987	Best Jazz Vocal Performance - Female	Any Old Time	Denon	Nominee
1988	Best Jazz Vocal Performance - Duo or Group	The Carmen McRae-Betty Carter Duets	Great American Music Hall	Nominee
1988	Best Jazz Vocal Performance - Female	Fine and Mellow	Concord Jazz	Nominee
1990	Best Jazz Vocal Performance - Female	Carmen Sings Monk	Novus	Nominee

Carmen McRae Awards
Year	Organization	Category	Result
1993	NAACP	NAACP Image Awards	Winner
1994	National Endowment for the Arts	NEA Jazz Masters	Winner

Filmography

Movies

• 1956: The Square Jungle, herself
• 1960: The Subterraneans, played herself
• 1967: Hotel, played Christine
• 1986: Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, played the grandmother

Television

• 1976: "Soul"
• 1976: "Sammy and Company"
• 1979: "Carmen McRae in Concert"
• 1979: "Roots: The Next Generations", played Lila
• 1980: "From Jumpstreet"
• 1981: "At the Palace"
• 1981: "Billie Holiday. A Tribute"
• 1982: "L. A. Jazz"

Partial Discography

Year	Title	Label
1954	Carmen McRae	Bethlehem
1954	Easy to Love	Bethlehem
1955	Torchy	Decca
1956	Blue Moon	Decca
1957	After Glow	Decca
1958	Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport (Released 2001)	Verve
1958	Boy Meets Girl (with Sammy Davis, Jr.)	Decca
1960	Book of Ballads	Kapp
1961	Take Five Live	Columbia
1961	Carmen McRae Sings Lover Man and other Billie Holiday Classics	Columbia
1962	The Real Ambassadors	Columbia
1962	Something Wonderful	Columbia
1965	Alive!	Columbia
1967	For Once in My Life	Atlantic
1967	Sounds of Silence	Atlantic
1967	Portrait of Carmen	Atlantic
1970	Just a Little Lovin'	Atlantic
1972	The Great American Songbook	Atlantic
1975	Live at Century Plaza	Atlantic
1975	I Am Music	Blue Note
1977	At The Great American Music Hall	Blue Note
1980	Two for the Road (with George Shearing)	Concord Jazz
1982	Heat Wave (with Cal Tjader)	Concord Jazz
1983	You're Lookin' at Me (A Collection of Nat King Cole Songs)	Concord Jazz
1987	What Do The Words Say (with Ray Brown)	Blue Music Group
1987	The Carmen McRae-Betty Carter Duets (Live, with Betty Carter)	Great American Music Hall
1988	Fine and Mellow: Live at Birdland West (Live)	Concord
1988	Carmen Sings Monk	Novus
1990	Sarah: Dedicated to You	Novus

External links

• Carmen McRae Full Discography
• Carmen McRae Discography
• Filmography
• Carmen McRae's Artist Page
• Carmen McRae at the Internet Movie Database