Search - Carmen McRae :: Art of Carmen Mcrae: For Once in My Life

THE ULTIMATE CARMEN MC RAE COLLECTION!!!

Bradly Briggs | TOLUCA LAKE, CALIFORNIA | 04/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fresh from the success of Carmen McRae's definitive version of "Alfie", Miss McRae signed to the legendary Atlantic Records to record six of the best albums ever to be recorded by a female "jazz" vocalist and among the finest of her brilliant career! Carmen's Atlantic Records debut was recorded in England with Johnny Keating arranging a diverse brilliant collection of songs that were all given masterful readings by Miss McRae who is clearly in peak vocal form throughout this incredible set!! Opening with a glorious version of "For Once In My Life", it is clear that this is going to be a magical and satisfying listening experience unlike any other!! Hauntingly romantic is Carmen in the sublime "Don't Talk" and vocal magnificence make "Until It's Time For You To Go" the definitive version of this great classic. Carmen earlier had recorded a memorable version of "And I Love Him" and here does a stirring and soulful "Got To Get You Into My Life" that show Carmen equally commanding with rhythm numbers as she is with ballads. Genuine pathos create a stunning "Our Song" while excitement in a new romance is exhilarating in "Come Live With Me"! Lushly gorgeous is a wonderful take on the Burt Bacharach classic "The Look Of Love" while a Johnny Keating original "It's Not Going That Way" is one of Carmen's most heartfelt and beautifully melancholy vocals ever that will spin around in your head long after its over! "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" is a Beach Boys song that is so perfect for Carmen that it is hard to imagine that it wasn't written specially for her as she turns this song inside out and completely owns it!! Romantic and passionate is a whirling "Worlds Of Time" while Carmen soars and makes a classic out of Leiber-Stoller's "Flying". Never has an artist and material been more perfectly matched than Carmen McRae is in this extraordinary classic vocal album!!! Luckily the second disc in this collection is a "Best Of" from Carmen's six-year stint with Atlantic Records and the selections are incredible and as a fan from that period who also had the pleasure of experiencing Carmen in Concert numerous times from 1967 to 1991, I couldn't have made better selections myself!! Highlights fill the generous seventy-plus minutes on this disc and "Didn't We" with guitar only with Carmen from the classic "Just A Little Lovin'" album is sublime and unforgettable...classics like "Day By Day" have never been better and originals like Al Cooper's funky "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" will amaze and stun listeners who think of Carmen as just an "old school" singer!! Carmen was adventuresome like Peggy Lee and Nancy Wilson who also stretched from the tight boundries that the traditional jazz community tried to hold them to and did amazing and inspired work that shows how incredibly creative is the artistry of these great ladies!! Many times over the years I have read negative writings on how this type of material was "wrong" for Carmen, Nancy, and Peggy Lee but I always felt that the opposite was true and that it was really so right and satisfying and this "Baby Boomer" always preferred the more daring works from these extraordinary vocal artists who also define what a classic "Diva" is all about! Funky and fun is Carmen in "I'm Always Drunk In San Francisco" and supremely magnificant with the definitive version of "Here There And Everywhere" that must have made Lennon and McCartney smile. A haunting and dark "Gloomy Sunday" is chilling and "Elusive Butterfly" takes flight and is a complete tour-de-force on a magically enchanting vocal that is at its peak here and throughout this great collection of masterful performances...enjoy as this is truly "The Art Of Singing" in its greatest form...thank you Carmen McRae!!!!"