Carmen McRae

Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer.[1] She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretation of lyrics.[2] McRae was inspired by Billie Holiday, but she established her own voice. She recorded over sixty albums and performed worldwide.

Carmen McRae
Portrait by Zita Cypress, c. 1949
Background information
Birth nameCarmen Mercedes McRae
Born(1920-04-08)April 8, 1920
Harlem, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 10, 1994(1994-11-10) (aged 74)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
GenresJazz, vocal jazz, traditional pop
Occupation(s)Singer, musician
InstrumentsVocals, piano
Years active1939–1991
LabelsDecca, Kapp, Columbia, Mainstream, Atlantic, Blue Note, Concord, Novus
Associated actsJack Pleis, Sammy Davis, Jr., Billie Holiday, Norman Simmons, Cal Tjader, George Shearing, Dave Brubeck

Early life and education

McRae was 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] She was a lifelong active Democrat.[6]

Early career

In her late teens and early twenties, McRae played piano at a New York City 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 Benny Carter's big band (1944), worked with Count Basie (1944) and under the name "Carmen Clarke" (having married Kenny Clarke)[4] made her first recording as pianist with the Mercer Ellington Band (1946–47). 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.

Chicago interlude

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."[7]

Return to New York

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 in the late 1950s. Both marriages ended in divorce.[8][9]

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 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.[10]

Performances

McRae sang in jazz clubs throughout the United States—and across the world—for more than fifty years.[1] She was a popular performer at the Monterey Jazz Festival (1961–63, 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.[11] 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. In May–June 1988, she collaborated with Harry Connick Jr. on the song "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" (S. Clare & S. Stept) in New York City at the RCA Studios, for Connick's debut album, 20.[9] 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, California, at the age of 74.[1] She had fallen into a semi-coma four days earlier, a month after being hospitalized for a stroke.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Carmen McRae among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[12]

Awards
Carmen McRae Grammy Award Recognitions[13]
Year Category Title Label Result
1971 Best Jazz Performance - Soloist Carmen McRae Atlantic Nominee
1977 Best Jazz Vocal Performance 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

Discography

Films

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

References
  1. Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 826/7. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  2. Carmen McRae at AllMusic
  3. Larkin, Colin, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness, p. 2650 (1995). ISBN 1-56159-176-9
  4. Brian Berger, "Carmen McRae", HiLobrow, April 8, 2015.
  5. "HOME BIOGRAPHY Grove Dictionary Ms". Carmenmcrae.com.
  6. "Democrats Hope to Get $6 Million in Telethon". The Washington Post.
  7. Jazz Forum, No. 2, 1990.
  8. Kernfeld, Barry (1999). "Clarke, Kenny". American National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1802594.
  9. Stephen Holden (November 12, 1994). "Carmen McRae Is Dead at 74; Jazz Career Spanned 5 Decades". The New York Times.
  10. "Carmen McRae Biography". Musicianguide.com.
  11. "Montreux Jazz Festival". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on November 9, 2007.
  12. Rosen, Jody (June 25, 2019). "Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  13. "The Envelope: Hollywood's Awards and Industry Insider". Latimes.com.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Further reading
  • Bauer, William R. (1987). Open the Door: The Life and Music of Betty Carter. Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press. ISBN 978-0-47-206791-6.
  • Gourse, Leslie (2000). Carmen McRae: Miss Jazz. New York: Billboard Books. ISBN 978-0-8230-7904-9.
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