
Artist
Carmen McRae
Carmen McRae is a jazz artist from American. 55 releases are catalogued on Riffiter.
Jazz · American · Best jazz albums
- 55
- Releases
- 1961–2024
- Active years

Artist
Carmen McRae is a jazz artist from American. 55 releases are catalogued on Riffiter.
Jazz · American · Best jazz albums

Most popular
Carmen Sings Monk
2001

Birds of a Feather
1989

For Once in My Life
1967

Ballad Essentials
2020

Any Old Time
1988

Dream of Life
1998

Sings Great American Songwriters
1993

Here To Stay
1992
Body & Soul
—

Classics
2024

Great Women Of Song: Carmen McRae
2024

Porgy And Bess
2023

Blue Moon
2022

Something To Swing About
2019

Priceless Jazz 17: Carmen McRae
2019

Boy Meets Girl: Sammy Davis Jr. And Carmen McRae On Decca
2018

When You're Away
2018

Carmen McRae Sings Lover Man And Other Billie Holiday Classics
2018

The Look of Love
2017

At The Great American Music Hall
2014

Can't Hide Love
2014

I Am Music
2014

After Glow
2013

Carmen For Cool Ones
2013

By Special Request
2011

Standards (Great Songs/Great Performances)
2010

Torchy!
2010

At Newport (Expanded Edition)
2007

Carmen McRae For Lovers
2006

Mad About The Man
2005

Bittersweet
2005

The Sound Of Silence
2005
Boy Meets Girl
2005

Best Of/20th Century
2004

The Great American Songbook (International Release)
2004

Just A Little Lovin'
2004

The Great American Songbook
2004

Diva
2003
Book of Balads
2003
Blues in My Heart
2002
A Whole Lot of Human Feeling
2001
Sound of Silence / Portrait of Carmen
2001

Carmen McRae’s Finest Hour
2000
Sings Lover Man and Other Billie Holiday Classics
1997

The Carmen McRae - Betty Carter Duets (Live At The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco / 1987)
1996

I'll Be Seeing You: A Tribute To Carmen McRae
1995
Afterglow
1995
For Lady Day, Volume 1
1995

Sarah - Dedicated to You
1991
Fine and Mellow (live at Birdland West)
1988

Heat Wave
1982

Two For The Road
1980
Ms Magic
1971
Take Five at Basin Street East
1961
Carmen McRae always had a nice voice (if not on the impossible level of an Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan) but it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretations of lyrics that made her most memorable. She studied piano early on and had her first important job singing with Benny Carter's big band (1944), but it would be another decade before her career had really gained much momentum. McRae married and divorced Kenny Clarke in the '40s, worked with Count Basie (briefly) and Mercer Ellington (1946-1947), and became the intermission singer and pianist at several New York clubs. In 1954 she began to record as a leader' and by then she had absorbed the influences of Billie Holiday and bebop into her own style. McRae would record pretty steadily up to 1989 and, although her voice was higher in the '50s and her phrasing would be even more laid-back in later years, her general style and approach did not change much through the decades. Championed in the '50s by Ralph Gleason, McRae was fairly popular throughout her career. Among her most interesting recording projects were participating in Dave Brubeck's the Real Ambassadors with Louis Armstrong, cutting an album of live due…