CARMEN McRAE - Live at Century Plaza (1975-1991) Mp320k

The inimitable jazz vocalist Carmen McRae toplined this live set at the Los Angeles Century Plaza Hotel's Hong Kong Bar in late December 1968. The concert took place not long after McRae recorded two excellent, underrated LPs for Atlantic Records -- Portrait of Carmen (1967) and Sound of Silence (1968). Atlantic set up and contractually licensed the rights to the Century Plaza show, but inexplicably waited years to do anything with the material, until label executive Nesuhi Ertegun finally produced a truncated version in 1975. That delay may well be attributable to the lack of stylistic cohesion present in McRae's set; over the course of one evening, first backed by a swinging jazz trio and then on solo piano, she segues without abandon between bluesy standards, bossa nova, jaunty uptempo pop, late-'60s Top 40 tunes (also covered on the two aforementioned albums), and much more. The stylistic variegation feels jarring at first, but those willing to adjust to McRae's interest in traversing multiple genres will feel enormously satisfied by the material here. And through it all, McRae puts forth a valiant effort to make each song her own. Not all of the cuts are memorable -- McRae adds little to the Beatles' "Yesterday" and Ron Miller's "For Once in My Life," for instance, and her interpretation of "Satin Doll" is a chore to sit through -- but those are rare exceptions. The rest of the selections are brilliantly conceived and executed and offer a spectacular array of surprises -- as in McRae's magnificent cover of the uptempo "Spread to All," where her crescendoes in the last few refrains grow so ambitious and far reaching that she begins to aurally mirror a brass instrument. Equally wonderful is her delicate interpretation of the wistful ballad "Midnight Sun," with vocal riffs that draw out the song's poetic lyrics in such a smooth and ingenious way that they actually invite comparison to Sinatra's most intuitive readings of standards. McRae's cover of Paul Simon's "Sound of Silence" is also unexpectedly fine -- she parades ferociously through the dense lyrics, backed by a throbbing bassline that recalls some of Randy Newman's inventive studio arrangements for Peggy Lee during the same period. Fans of McRae are strongly encouraged to seek out this recording, but should be advised that it actually exists in two versions: the 1975 edit, which is only available on vinyl and includes 15 tracks, and an extended release, issued in 2005 to Japanese radio DJs as a "demo" compact disc, that couples the original LP tunes with nine "bonus" numbers taped during the 1968 show. Though it is extremely difficult to find, this is far and away the preferable version to obtain, as it not only includes wonderful tunes that Atlantic deemed unworthy of inclusion in 1975, but leaves in some of McRae's patter to attendees, which showcases her unique personality and delightful sense of humor, and her ability to instantly put an audience at ease. Nathan Southern  
Tracklist :
1    Elusive Butterfly
2    Midnight Sun
3    For Once In My Life
4    Yesterday
5    Spread To All
6    The Right To Love
7    If You Never Fall In Love With Me
8    I'm Always Drunk In San Francisco
9    Introduction
10    Why Shouldn't I
11    I Thought About You
12    The Sound Of Silence
13    Away, Away, Away
14    Did I Ever Love
15    On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
16    Sweet Pumpkin
17    Introduction
18    No More Blues
19    Miss Otis Regrets
20    Satin Doll
21    Never Let Me Go
22    My Ship
23    Never Will I Marry
24    September In The Rain