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1976 · Album

Can't Hide Love

↑ Carmen McRae

Blue Note Records · Released: 1976 · Album Position: Carmen McRae's third and last album for Blue Note Records
Can't Hide Love

When the Orchestra Drowns Out the Singer

McRae's voice remains compelling even when the music around it works against her.

Can't Hide Love arrives as a lush, orchestral session—strings swelling, brass sections moving in coordinated waves, everything polished and distant. It sounds expensive and professionally arranged, the kind of production that was supposed to elevate a jazz singer into the pop mainstream. But listen close and you notice what's missing: individual voices. The trumpet section sits in formation, never stepping forward for a solo. The rhythm section provides support without conversation. McRae herself sounds like she's singing through velvet curtains, her phrasing as assured as ever, but working against material that doesn't suit her. "Only Women Bleed" and "I Wish You Well" feel wrong coming from her—pop songs that needed a different context, a different intention. Scott Yanow, reviewing the album for AllMusic, called it "the type of session that killed Blue Note the first time around," pointing out that McRae "gamely tries to interpret unsuitable and inferior pop tunes" while backed by "an all-star but faceless orchestra that is given nothing to do." By this point in her career, McRae deserved better. This was her last Blue Note record, and it reads like a label trying to chase commercial appeal rather than trusting what made her essential in the first place—her interpretive intelligence, her ability to find meaning in a lyric, her willingness to bend a melody until it revealed something true.

Who's playing
Chuck Berghoferbass
Joe Mondragonbass
Artie Kanepiano
Marshall Otwellelectric piano
Dennis Budimirguitar
Larry Carltonguitar
Pete Christliebsaxophone
Don Menzasaxophone
Jack Nimitzsaxophone
Jerome Richardsonsaxophone
Ernie Wattssaxophone
Oscar Brasheartrumpet
Blue Mitchelltrumpet
Bobby Shewtrumpet
Snooky Youngtrumpet
Al Aaronstrumpet
Buddy Childerstrumpet
George Bohanontrombone
Grover Mitchelltrombone
Maurice Spearstrombone
Ernie Tacktrombone
Lew McCrearytrombone
Ken Shroyertrombone
Ian Underwoodsynthesizer
Harvey Masondrums
Larry Bunkerpercussion
Joe Samplekeyboard
William Greenreeds
Harry Kleereeds
Lanny Morganreeds
Abe Mostreeds
Bill Perkinsreeds
Dave Grusinkeyboard
Listen next
By Carmen McRae
Live at Bubba's 1988
Larry Carlton's own record
Larry Carlton 1978
Larry Carlton plays guitar here
More Bebop
Hello Herbie 1970
Herb Ellis
Recording Info
Track listing
1Can't Hide Love3:54
2The Man I Love4:16
3Only Women Bleed4:57
4I Wish You Well3:17
5All by Myself6:03
6Music3:32
7Lost Up in Loving You4:38
8You're Everything2:51
9Would You Believe4:09
10A Child Is Born3:25
Musicians
Further Reading
Read more

Where next?

More by Carmen McRae
Live at Bubba's 1988
By Special Request 1956
♫
Take Five at Basin Street East 1961
Carmen Sings Monk 1990
All 44 albums →
The musicians on this record
Larry Carlton 1978
Larry Carlton
plays guitar here
Voices in the Rain 1981
Joe Sample
plays keyboard here
Their own records, close in time
More Bebop
Hello Herbie 1970
Herb Ellis
Free Ride 1977
Dizzy Gillespie
Magnificent! 1969
Barry Harris
The Drum Sessions 1975
Shelly Manne
All 89 Bebop artists →

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