''Birds of a Feather'' is a 1958 album by Carmen McRae. The album was arranged by

Ralph Burns Ralph Joseph P. Burns (June 29, 1922 – November 21, 2001) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Early life Burns was born in Newton, Massachusetts, United States, where he began playing the piano as a child. In 1938, he attend ...

, and features the saxophonist Ben Webster. All the songs on the album reference

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s in some way.

Reception

John Bush reviewed the album for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

and wrote that "Fortunately, there are plenty of good songs on the subject, and it's not so narrow that all the focus hinges on birds themselves." Bush praised Ben Webster's solo on "Bob White (Watcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)". Webster's biographer, Frank Buchmann-Moller, wrote that his performances on the album alternate between "routine and inspired", and likened his work on "Flamingo" to the "beating wings of a landing bird".

Track listing

# " Skylark" ( Hoagy Carmichael,

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

) # "Bob White (Watcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)" (

Bernie Hanighen Bernard D. Hanighen (April 27, 1908 in Omaha, Nebraska – October 19, 1976 in New York City, New York) Attended Hackley School (Tarrytown, New York) - Class of 1926, also attended Harvard University - Class of 1930. He was an American songwrit ...

, Johnny Mercer) # " A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" (

Eric Maschwitz Albert Eric Maschwitz OBE (10 June 1901 – 27 October 1969), sometimes credited as Holt Marvell, was an English entertainer, writer, editor, broadcaster and broadcasting executive. Life and work Born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, and desc ...

, Manning Sherwin) # "Mister Meadowlark" ( Walter Donaldson, Johnny Mercer) # " Bye Bye Blackbird" (

Ray Henderson Ray Henderson (born Raymond Brost; December 1, 1896 – December 31, 1970) was an American songwriter. Early life Born in Buffalo, New York, United States, Henderson moved to New York City and became a popular composer in Tin Pan Alley. He was o ...

Mort Dixon Mort Dixon (March 20, 1892 – March 23, 1956) was an American lyricist. Biography Born in New York City, United States, Dixon began writing songs in the early 1920s, and was active into the 1930s. He achieved success with his first published ef ...

, Gene Austin) # " Flamingo" (

Ted Grouya Ted Grouya (31 July 1910 – 14 April 2000) born Teodor Gruia in Bucharest, Romania, was a composer who studied composition with Nadia Boulanger. He wrote the jazz standard "Flamingo" (1940), first recorded by Herb Jeffries and Duke Ellington. ...

, Edmund Anderson) # "Eagle and Me" (

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ...

E.Y. Harburg Edgar Yipsel Harburg (born Isidore Hochberg; April 8, 1896 – March 5, 1981) was an American popular song lyricist and librettist who worked with many well-known composers. He wrote the lyrics to the standards "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" ( ...

) # "

Baltimore Oriole The Baltimore oriole (''Icterus galbula'') is a small icterid blackbird common in eastern North America as a migratory breeding bird. It received its name from the resemblance of the male's colors to those on the coat-of-arms of 17th century L ...

", (Hoagy Carmichael,

Paul Francis Webster Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907 – March 18, 1984) was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Original Song, and was nominated sixteen times for the award. Life and career Webster was born in New York City, United St ...

) # "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along" ( Harry Woods) # "Chicken Today and Feathers Tomorrow" ( Johnny Marks) # "

When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano" is a song written by Leon René and first recorded by The Ink Spots featuring Bill Kenny in May 1940. The Ink Spots' recording of the song reached No. 4 on the US charts. Background René wrote the song ...

" (

Leon René Leon René (February 6, 1902 – May 30, 1982) was an American music composer of pop, R&B and rock and roll songs and a record producer in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. He sometimes used the songwriting pseudonym Jimmy Thomas or Jimmie Thoma ...

) # " His Eye Is on the Sparrow" (

Civilla D. Martin Civilla Durfee Martin (August 21, 1866 – March 9, 1948) was a Canadian-American writer of many religious hymns and gospel songs in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Biography Civilla Durfee was born in Jordan, Nova Scotia on A ...

Charles H. Gabriel Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (August 18, 1856 – September 14, 1932) was a writer of gospel songs and composer of gospel tunes. He is said to have written and/or composed between 7,000 and 8,000 songs, many of which are available in 21st century hym ...

)

Personnel

* Carmen McRae -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, conductor * Ben Webster as "a tenorman" -

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

* Al Cohn - tenor saxophone (2, 7-10, 12) *

Marky Markowitz Irvin "Marky" Markowitz (aka Irwin Markowitz, Irving Markowitz; December 11, 1923 - November 18, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter. Born the youngest of seven children of Russian-Jewish immigrants who disembarked in Baltimore, and settled on ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

*Dick Berg, Donald Corrado, Fred Klein and Tony Miranda -

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

(1, 3-6, 11) *

Don Abney John Donald Abney (March 10, 1923 – January 20, 2000) was an American jazz pianist. Early life Abney was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He studied piano and french horn at the Manhattan School of Music. He joined the United States Army where he ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Mundell Lowe James Mundell Lowe (April 21, 1922 – December 2, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist who worked often in radio, television, and film, and as a session musician. He produced film and TV scores in the 1970s, such as the ''Billy Jack'' soundtrac ...

or Barry Galbraith (2, 8, 12) -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Aaron Bell Aaron Bell may refer to: * Aaron Bell (musician) Samuel Aaron Bell (April 24, 1921 – July 28, 2003) was an American jazz double-bassist. Career Bell was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, on April 24, 1921. He played piano as a child and learned to pl ...

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

*Ted Sommer, Don Lamond (2, 8, 10) or

Nick Stabulas Nicholas Stabulas (December 18, 1929 – February 6, 1973) was an American jazz drummer. Career After working in commercial music, Stabulas was a member of Phil Woods group from 1954 to 1957. He did extensive work as a sideman in the 1950s, ...

(7, 9, 12) -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

- choral arrangements (12)

References

{{Authority control 1958 albums Albums arranged by Ralph Burns Decca Records albums Carmen McRae albums Concept albums Music about birds