1972 · Album
The Great American Songbook
Recorded 1972 (live) · Personnel: Carmen McRae (vocals), Jimmy Rowles (piano), Joe Pass (guitar), jazz quartet
A Live Moment with the Right Players
McRae sounds quite enthusiastic about both her accompaniment and the strong repertoire she's working with.
Carmen McRae came to this 1972 session with a clear sense of what she wanted: the right musicians in a live setting, no overdubs, no second takes to hide behind. Jimmy Rowles was her first choice on piano—she admired him enough to write in the liner notes that he was "the guy every girl singer in her right mind would like to work with." Joe Pass on guitar completed a tight, responsive rhythm section that could follow her choices and anticipate her phrasing. A live, spontaneous jazz set was still unusual in 1972, even for an established artist. Most singers of her generation were used to studio work where you could patch things together. But McRae wanted the energy of a real performance, the kind where mistakes stay in the tape and everyone has to commit.
What's striking about the album is how relaxed it feels. AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow noted that McRae "had what was at the time a rare opportunity to record a live, spontaneous, jazz-oriented set," and you can hear her leaning into that freedom. The repertoire—classic American songs—gave her room to shape interpretations without the pressure of newer material. Rowles even brought his humorous country and western song "The Ballad of Thelonious Monk" into the set, which says something about the spirit in the room: playful, confident, willing to take risks.
Billboard called it a "sensational performance," and the praise meant something because live albums by singers weren't automatically celebrated. Years later, Diana Krall would say she wished she'd been in that room, remembering it as a time when jazz singers approached the music through how they phrased and interpreted, not by whether they could scat or hit technical marks. That's what this album documents—a working session where McRae and her accompanists understood each other well enough to let the songs breathe.
Who's playing
Where next?
More by Carmen McRae
Live at Bubba's 1988
By Special Request 1956
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Take Five at Basin Street East 1961
Carmen Sings Monk 1990
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
