CARMEN McRAE - Live At Sugar Hill San Francisco
Realm Records RM 194 Released 1962
Carmen McRae (vcl), Norman Simmons (pno), Victor Sproles (bs), Stewart Martin (drs)
Side A) Sunday 3m 19s, What Kind Of Fool Am I 3m 56s, A Foggy Day 1m 07s, I Left My Heart In San Francisco 6m 03s, I Didn't Know What Time It Was 4m 12s.
Side B) Let There Be Love 3m 28s, This Is All I Ask 4m 03s, Thou Swell 1m 04s, It Never Entered My Mind 4m 28s, Make Someone Happy 3m 18s
Carmen McRae, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, was born on April 8th 1922 in Harlem, she died in Beverley Hills aged 72 on November 10th 1994. There surely is some poetic justice somewhere in that! Seven years younger than her lifelong idol Billie Holiday and mentored by pianist Teddy Wilson, she first came to prominence from the age of seventeen for her performances at the legendary "Mintons" jazz club alongside the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter and drummer Kenny Clarke, who she later married in 1944. With a recording career spreading over 76 album releases and numerous highly successful live performances, she was a force to be reckoned with for over three decades, culminating in her last ever gig at The Blue Note in New York in May 91. She also featured in four films, most notably playing herself in The Subterraneans based on the 1958 novel by Jack Kerouac. In most people's minds she is well within the top echelon of jazz vocalists in the history of the music. Whenever The Sugar Hill Blues Club at North Beach San Francisco is written about, there is always a reference to Carmen McRae's performances over two nights as a pair of very best in the club's history. For the gig in 1962 she was joined by two Chicago based musicians, pianist Norman Simmons who also worked with Anita O'Day and Betty Carter, alongside bass man Victor Sproles who enjoyed accompanying such diverse musicians as Chet Baker and Sun Ra. The drum chair was filled by a young Stew' Martin, noted for his performances with Quincy Jones and Oliver Nelson among others.
There was a crackling atmosphere from the very enthusiastic audience right from the start as bassist Victor Sproles hit a great groove on the Jule Styne swinger Sunday. The vocal was relaxed, the piano accompaniment was superb, there was a little portion of scat in the final bars, it was an ideal opener and set the pattern perfectly for the whole set. A modern classic of the time, the Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse tune What Kind Of Fool Am I from "Stop The World I Want To Get Off" was taken at the slowest of tempos with perfect diction and subtle trio support, it brought the house down, as the quartet segued into a tearaway sixty seven seconds of A Foggy Day. Tony Bennett made the George Cory, Douglas Cross tribute number to San Francisco his own, many people, particularly residents of that west coast city have grown to thoroughly despise it, but at the time of this performance it was still top of the Billboard ratings and therefore was given a sympathetic hearing both as the main performance finished, and again at the end of a perhaps over enthusiastic reprise. Roger's and Hart's I Didn't Know What Time It Was with its easy swinging performance by all gained rapturous applause and provided a fitting close to side "A "of the album. The light, but in some respects still muscular vocal approach to Let There Be Love, another Billboard chart hit at the time for Nat King Cole and George Shearing, kept the crowd happy before the highlight from a pure musical point of view, Gordon Jenkins romantic ballad This Is All I Ask was listened to in stunned silence, reflecting the total intensity of the performance. Another rocket fueled outing, this time on the popular Thou Swell heralded the crowd pleaser It Never Entered My Mind yet another classic from the pens of Rogers and Hart, that has been clung to the bosoms of the jazz fraternity over many decades, before a mid tempo rendering of Make Someone Happy from the 1960 Broadway musical Do Re Mi brought proceedings to an appropriate conclusion.
Overall, this album makes pleasant listening for most fans of the female jazz voice. There are many highs to be enjoyed, plus a couple of lows to be endured. All in all a worthwhile addition to any jazz collection.
Reviewed by Jim Burlong
This review is in regard to the original vinyl LP. It is also available as a CD on American Classics 99072, among others and on some digital platforms.
Realm Records RM 194 Released 1962
Carmen McRae (vcl), Norman Simmons (pno), Victor Sproles (bs), Stewart Martin (drs)
Side A) Sunday 3m 19s, What Kind Of Fool Am I 3m 56s, A Foggy Day 1m 07s, I Left My Heart In San Francisco 6m 03s, I Didn't Know What Time It Was 4m 12s.
Side B) Let There Be Love 3m 28s, This Is All I Ask 4m 03s, Thou Swell 1m 04s, It Never Entered My Mind 4m 28s, Make Someone Happy 3m 18s
Carmen McRae, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, was born on April 8th 1922 in Harlem, she died in Beverley Hills aged 72 on November 10th 1994. There surely is some poetic justice somewhere in that! Seven years younger than her lifelong idol Billie Holiday and mentored by pianist Teddy Wilson, she first came to prominence from the age of seventeen for her performances at the legendary "Mintons" jazz club alongside the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter and drummer Kenny Clarke, who she later married in 1944. With a recording career spreading over 76 album releases and numerous highly successful live performances, she was a force to be reckoned with for over three decades, culminating in her last ever gig at The Blue Note in New York in May 91. She also featured in four films, most notably playing herself in The Subterraneans based on the 1958 novel by Jack Kerouac. In most people's minds she is well within the top echelon of jazz vocalists in the history of the music. Whenever The Sugar Hill Blues Club at North Beach San Francisco is written about, there is always a reference to Carmen McRae's performances over two nights as a pair of very best in the club's history. For the gig in 1962 she was joined by two Chicago based musicians, pianist Norman Simmons who also worked with Anita O'Day and Betty Carter, alongside bass man Victor Sproles who enjoyed accompanying such diverse musicians as Chet Baker and Sun Ra. The drum chair was filled by a young Stew' Martin, noted for his performances with Quincy Jones and Oliver Nelson among others.
There was a crackling atmosphere from the very enthusiastic audience right from the start as bassist Victor Sproles hit a great groove on the Jule Styne swinger Sunday. The vocal was relaxed, the piano accompaniment was superb, there was a little portion of scat in the final bars, it was an ideal opener and set the pattern perfectly for the whole set. A modern classic of the time, the Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse tune What Kind Of Fool Am I from "Stop The World I Want To Get Off" was taken at the slowest of tempos with perfect diction and subtle trio support, it brought the house down, as the quartet segued into a tearaway sixty seven seconds of A Foggy Day. Tony Bennett made the George Cory, Douglas Cross tribute number to San Francisco his own, many people, particularly residents of that west coast city have grown to thoroughly despise it, but at the time of this performance it was still top of the Billboard ratings and therefore was given a sympathetic hearing both as the main performance finished, and again at the end of a perhaps over enthusiastic reprise. Roger's and Hart's I Didn't Know What Time It Was with its easy swinging performance by all gained rapturous applause and provided a fitting close to side "A "of the album. The light, but in some respects still muscular vocal approach to Let There Be Love, another Billboard chart hit at the time for Nat King Cole and George Shearing, kept the crowd happy before the highlight from a pure musical point of view, Gordon Jenkins romantic ballad This Is All I Ask was listened to in stunned silence, reflecting the total intensity of the performance. Another rocket fueled outing, this time on the popular Thou Swell heralded the crowd pleaser It Never Entered My Mind yet another classic from the pens of Rogers and Hart, that has been clung to the bosoms of the jazz fraternity over many decades, before a mid tempo rendering of Make Someone Happy from the 1960 Broadway musical Do Re Mi brought proceedings to an appropriate conclusion.
Overall, this album makes pleasant listening for most fans of the female jazz voice. There are many highs to be enjoyed, plus a couple of lows to be endured. All in all a worthwhile addition to any jazz collection.
Reviewed by Jim Burlong
This review is in regard to the original vinyl LP. It is also available as a CD on American Classics 99072, among others and on some digital platforms.
