Carmen McRae Swings Timeless Standards
McRae and Jordan prove that there's still plenty of life in the Great American Songbook.
Any Old Time finds Carmen McRae in comfortable territory — a collection of standards arranged for her voice and Clifford Jordan's tenor saxophone, recorded when McRae was in her mid-fifties and still singing with real command. This isn't McRae at her most adventurous. Instead, it's her doing what she'd done for decades: picking smart songs, phrasing them with precision, and letting her intimate delivery carry the weight. Jordan is the perfect partner here — he doesn't overshadow her, but he doesn't disappear either. He plays with enough presence to give the music air and texture without crowding the vocal.
What makes the album worth hearing is exactly that restraint. McRae and Jordan understood that standards don't need reinvention. They need respect and good musicians. The album has a living-room quality, like two seasoned players enjoying each other's company on a Tuesday night. McRae's voice shows some wear by this point in her career, but that's honest — she bends phrases around the damage, using her limitations as part of the interpretation. The songs breathe. There's no rush, no attempt to prove anything.
This sits in McRae's later catalog as a solid, unflashy effort. It's not the place to start if you're new to her — go back to her Blue Note records from the 1950s for that. But if you already know her work and want to hear her in a relaxed setting, trading ideas with a thoughtful horn player, Any Old Time delivers. The Grammy nomination she received for this work acknowledges what listeners already knew: there was still song left in her.
Who's playing
Scott Colleydouble bass
Eric Gunnisonpiano
John Collinsguitar
Clifford Jordantenor saxophone
Mark Pulicedrums
