''Carmen McRae'' is a 1955 album by Jazz singer

Carmen McRae Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. 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 interpre ...

. It was McRae's second album and was released on the

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

label exclusively as 10" monoaural LP.> The album was reissued on LP in 1976 as ''The Finest of Carmen McRae: You'd Be So Easy to Love,'' with an additional track, "Too Much in Love to Care". In 1994 Betlehem had digitally remastered the recordings and released a CD with six additional tracks, alternate takes of songs from the original sessions.

Reception

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles an ...

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 of it that "Overall the music is pleasing but not too memorable and one wishes there were more variety".

Track listing

# "

You'd Be So Easy to Love "(You'd Be So) Easy to Love" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for William Gaxton to sing in the 1934 Broadway show ''Anything Goes''. However Gaxton was unhappy about its wide vocal range and it was cut from the musical. Porter re-wrote it ...

" (

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to ...

) - 2:26 # "If I'm Lucky (I'll Be the One)" ( Chuck Darwin, Paulette Girard) - 3:17 # "

Old Devil Moon "Old Devil Moon" is a popular song composed by Burton Lane, with lyrics by Yip Harburg for the 1947 musical '' Finian's Rainbow''. It was introduced by Ella Logan and Donald Richards in the Broadway show. The song takes its title from a phrase in ...

" ( E.Y. "Yip" Harburg,

Burton Lane Burton Lane ( Levy; February 2, 1912 – January 5, 1997) was an American composer and lyricist primarily known for his theatre and film scores. His most popular and successful works include '' Finian's Rainbow'' in 1947 and ''On a Clear Day You ...

) - 2:40 # "Tip Toe Gently" (Mat Mathews, Girard) - 2:40 # "You Made Me Care" (Darwin, Girard) - 2:09 # "Last Time for Love" (Carmen McRae) - 3:05 # "Misery" (

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was an English film director and producer. He was known for directing highly successful action and thriller films such as ''Top Gun'' (1986), ''Beverly Hills Cop II'' (1987), ''Day ...

) - 3:53 # "Too Much in Love to Care" (

Carroll Coates Carroll Coates (born 23 September 1929 in Old Bridge, Huntingdon, England) is a songwriter, composer and lyricist whose works have been produced commercially from the 1950s to the 1990s. His songs have been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Carmen McRae ...

, James J. Kriegsmann) - 2:33 ;Alternate takes released on 1994 CD reissue #

"Too Much in Love to Care" (Alternate take) - 3:19 # "Old Devil Moon" (Alternate stereo) - 2:37 # "You Made Me Care" (Alternate stereo) - 2:09 # "Too Much in Love to Care" (Alternate stereo) - 2:20 # "Last Time for Love" (Alternate stereo) - 3:03

Personnel

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 ...

;Tracks 1-4 *

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (incl ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

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 ...

Mat Mathews Mat Mathews, born Mathieu Hubert Wijnandts Schwarts (June 18, 1924 – February 12, 2009), was a Dutch jazz accordionist. Early life Mathews was born in The Hague and learned to play accordion while the Netherlands was still under the Nazi r ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

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 ...

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 ...

Wendell Marshall Wendell Marshall (October 24, 1920 – February 6, 2002) was an American jazz double-bassist. Marshall was Jimmy Blanton's cousin. He studied at Lincoln University, then served in the Army during World War II. Following his discharge, he perfor ...

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 ...

Kenny Clarke Kenneth Clarke Spearman (January 9, 1914January 26, 1985), nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-ha ...

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 ...

;Tracks 5-8 *

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

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 ...

(on "Misery") *

Dick Katz Richard Aaron Katz (March 13, 1924 – November 10, 2009) was an American jazz pianist, arranger and record producer. He freelanced throughout much of his career, and worked in a number of ensembles. He co-founded Milestone Records in 1966 with Or ...

- piano *Skip Fawcett - double bass *

Osie Johnson James "Osie" Johnson (January 11, 1923, in Washington, D.C. – February 10, 1966, in New York City) was a jazz drummer, arranger and singer. Johnson studied at Armstrong Highschool where he was classmates with Leo Parker and Frank Wess. He fir ...

- drums

References

{{Authority control 1955 debut albums Carmen McRae albums Bethlehem Records albums