Gift of Jazz Centennial Concert Series: Celebrating 100 Years of Carmen McRae presented by Myra Warren, vocals and Eric Gunnison on piano. Live streaming on YouTube and Facebook from Mighty Fine Productions.
Carmen McRae is one of jazz’s most beloved vocalist. Her style was so unique among her contemporaries. Although she came to prominence after Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn, she quickly established her own style that was always deeply connected to the lyrics. McRae grew up playing piano as her initial musical background but matured musically in the 1940’s singing with great swing bands such as Count Basie Orchestra and Benny Carter’s Big Band. During the height of bebop, McRae was the intermission pianist at Minton’s Playhouse. This is likely where she heard Thelonious Monk for the first time, which hugely influenced her signature style and scat improvisations. Her vocal career took off after cutting her first record as Carmen Clarke (while she was married to drummer Kenny Clarke) in 1953. Since then she has been in the upper echelon of jazz vocalists with the likes of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn, but she crafted her own musical style that is still deeply loved to this day.