Latest Release
- 12 APR 2024
- 71 Songs
- The Carmen McRae - Betty Carter Duets (Live At The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco / 1987) · 1987
- Vocal Encounters · 1960
- Torchy! · 1955
- Book of Ballads (Remastered) · 2009
- Boy Meets Girl: On Decca · 1957
- Carmen Sings Monk · 1988
- Carmen Sings Monk · 1988
- 100 + Essential Jazz Ballads (Masterpieces of Smooth and Relaxing Jazz) · 1956
- Blue Moon · 1956
- 100 + Essential Jazz Ballads (Masterpieces of Smooth and Relaxing Jazz) · 1958
Essential Albums
- 1998
- 1988
About Carmen McRae
Carmen McRae always had an intriguing, smoky voice but it was her lithe, behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretations of lyrics that made her most memorable. She had her first important job singing with Benny Carter's big band (1944), but it would be another decade before she recorded as a leader, and by then she had absorbed the influences of Billie Holiday and bebop into her own style. Championed in the '50s by Ralph Gleason, Carmen McRae was eventually the recipient of seven Grammy nominations between 1971 and 1990. She retired in 1991.
- HOMETOWN
- Harlem, NY, United States
- BORN
- 8 April 1920
- GENRE
- Jazz