Carmen McRae

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Carmen McRae (April 8, 1920 - November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer, considered one of the most important of the 20th century

Carmen McRae was born in Harlem in 1920, and studied piano as a child. As a teenager she came to the attention of Teddy Wilson and his wife, the composer Irene Kitchings Wilson. Through their influence, one of McRae’s early songs, “Dream of Life”, was recorded by Wilson’s longtime collaborator Billie Holiday.

By the late 1940s she was well known among the modern jazz musicians who gathered at Minton’s Playhouse, Harlem’s most famous jazz club, where she was the intermission pianist. But it was while working in Brooklyn that she came to the attention of Decca’s Milt Gabler. Her five year association with Decca yielded 12 LPs, many considered jazz vocal classics.

Her live 1987 duets with Betty Carter are highly regarded (see Duets: Live at the Great American Music Hall).

The musicians she sang with include Benny Carter, Mercer Ellington, Count Basie, Sammy Davis Jr., Dave Brubeck, and Louis Armstrong. As a result of her early friendship with Billie Holiday, she never performed without singing at least one song associated with Lady Day.

She was married once (and briefly), to drummer Kenny Clarke.

(from Wikipedia)

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Top Tracks

1	How Long Has This Been Going On (MJ Cole remix) full track	500
2	The Very Thought of You	308
3	How Long Has This Been Going On full track	228
4	Dream of Life full track	184
5	Exactly Like You full track	135
6	When I Fall in Love full track	119
7	You Took Advantage of Me full track	101
8	My Funny Valentine full track	99
9	Nice Work If You Can Get It full track	85
10	All the Things You Are full track	84
11	Love Is Here to Stay full track	57
12	New York State of Mind	55
13	My Foolish Heart full track	52
14	The Christmas Song full track	51
15	Straighten Up and Fly Right full track	48

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SANGLETO wrote:
last month

PRETTY WOMAN!! AND PERFECT VOICE!!

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Menervna wrote:
May 2008

She is a discovery, and definitely unappreciated. Amazing artist and first of all, although most of the singers like her have profound and unique voice, she has that sound that is just soothingly perfect (for me at least). I’m so glad that I discovered her. And the interesting thing is that I first heard of her, here on Last FM. And I worship Nina Simone, and never heard of Carmen McRae. Can’t figure out why she doesn’t have highly appreciated reputation.

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dantiger wrote:
December 2007

I was very fortunate to be front and center and see Miss McRae at a little club in Redondo Beach CA. She was incredable and we sang Happy Birthday to her. I was her last.

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JudeFawley wrote:
November 2007

She's been a great singer, strangely underrated by many critics and jazz listeners. One of her last cds (Carmen Sings Monk) is a vocal jazz masterpiece made in 1989, a few years before her passing at 74.

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MusicNurse wrote:
November 2007

very good music

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chymera311 wrote:
October 2007

I Can't Escape From You from her ablum Afterglow was one of the key songs that made me fall truly and madly in love with jazz. Carmen and Ella will always be my two favorites...

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MrStyle wrote:
September 2007

Body and Soul! Wow! Amazing

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Similans wrote:
April 2007

She's amazing with surprisingly very low total listeners. -*-

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alan_strang wrote:
January 2007

she's got a great and quite contemporary voice and singing style.

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me_cotterill wrote:
January 2007

His brother's a really good driver too.

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AlenaRosa wrote:
January 2007

Carmen McRae is brilliant and highly underrated.

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