Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer.
Early life and education
McRae was born in
Harlem, New York City, United States.
Her father, Osmond, and mother, Evadne (Gale) 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.
[Larkin, Colin, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness, p. 2650 (1995). ][Brian Berger, "Carmen McRae", HiLobrow, April 8, 2015.] McRae considered Holiday to be her primary influence.
Early career
In her late teens and early twenties, McRae played piano at Minton's Playhouse, 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 big band (1944), worked with
Count Basie (1944) and under the name "Carmen Clarke" (having married Clarke)
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 Records'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."
[ Jazz Forum, No. 2, 1990.]
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. McRae married twice: to drummer
Kenny Clarke from 1944 to 1956, though they separated in 1948; and to bassist Ike Isaacs from 1956 to 1967. 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 tributes to Thelonious Monk, Carmen Sings Monk (1990), and Sarah Vaughan, (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.
Performances
McRae sang in jazz clubs throughout the United Statesand across the worldfor more than fifty years.
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.
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.
[ 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.
Awards
+ Carmen McRae Grammy Award Recognitions |
|
| 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 | | Concord Jazz | Nominee |
| 1990 | Best Jazz Vocal Performance - Female | Carmen Sings Monk | Novus | Nominee |
|
| + Carmen McRae Awards |
|
| 1993 | NAACP | NAACP Image Awards | Winner |
| 1994 | National Endowment for the Arts | NEA Jazz Masters | Winner |
|
|
Discography
- Studio albums
Filmography
Films
-
1955: The Square Jungle - Herself
-
1960: The Subterraneans - Herself
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1967: Hotel
-
1985: McRae's rendition of You Took Advantage of Me backed the title credit sequence of Real Genius
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1986: Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
Television
-
1976: Soul
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1976: Sammy and Company
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1979: Carmen McRae in Concert
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1979:
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1980: From Jumpstreet
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1981: At the Palace
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1981: Billie Holiday. A Tribute
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1982: L. A. Jazz
Further reading
External links
