Carmen McRae

(1922-1994)

^{She was in a class by
herself. A pure stylist with a dedication to the lyric and an
accomplished musician. To have seen her perform live was a memorable
treat that will stay with me forever. Most notably was a performance
at a club in San Francisco called "Sugar Hill" in 1961 where she had
appreared with a trio. It was a mesmerizing experience to havebeen
witness to one of America's all time great jazz singers}

Carmen McRae has little of the virtuosic range and uses few of the extroverted effects of Sarah Vaughan or Dinah Washington, yet she's their equal. A skillful pianist, she's a dramatist in the Billie Holiday tradition, but one with her own sense of rhythm. Rather than imitate the Holiday lilt of the thirties, Carmen McRae introduces effectively organized rhythmic variations that illuminate the lyrics. With her transparent diction, and her clipped phrasing, she seems to be placing words like darts. Her voice isn't lush. She makes up for that with melodic and rhythmic improvisations that sound unforced because they accentuate the mood of the song and the meaning of its lyrics.

Her career developed late. Born in 1922, she too won the Apollo talent contest. In 1944, she sang with Benny Carter's orchestra, and then with Mercer Ellington's short-lived band. When that broke up in 1947, she stayed in New York, worked in various day jobs, and listened to bop. She recorded for the first time as a leader in 1954. (In 1955, Down Beat ran an article on her entitled "Carmen McRae Looks Back on her First Big Year.") Her recordings of that year included the "Just One of Those Things" she made for Decca. It is typical McRae. She articulates clearly in the first chorus, using a broad vibrato at the end of phrases, emphasizing the one possibly obscure word--"gossamer." In the up tempo second chorus, she seems in fact to be slowing down--with consummate skill, she delays before "one--of--those things" in the first eight bars, and rearranges the rhythm of the chorus with both intelligence and charm.

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