Home » Jazz Articles » Play This! » Carmen McRae: At the Great American Music Hall

Carmen McRae: At the Great American Music Hall

By Joseph Vella
February 1, 2023
View read count

From 1977, this live recording is one of the finest jazz vocal albums of all time. It captures Carmen McRae at her height performing a standout repertoire of standards and popular songs of the day in a small group setting (with special guest Dizzy Gillespie). Capturing Carmen's true brilliance as a jazz singer, her impeccable timing, dynamics, interpretative genius, and intimate lyrical storytelling is on full display here along with her magnetic rapport with the audience. Musicians of any genre should study this recording inside and out. Carmen's ability to interpret the lyric with such believable nuance makes you feel like she's singing just to you. The tunes with Dizzy are the icing on the cake. Big shout out to her superb backing trio of Marshall Otwell, Ed Bennett and Joey Baron.

Contact Joseph Vella on All About Jazz.
Creator of Jazz Online/Vella Interactive (produces Tom Scott's Podcast Express among other things).

Contribute to Play This! Recommend a favorite song, album, or performance and we'll share it with your fellow All About Jazz readers. Submit it here.

PREVIOUS / NEXT

ECM Records Touchstones: Part 2
< Previous

David Binney: Barefooted Town
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.