Bittersweet (Carmen McRae album)

Last updated
Bittersweet
Bittersweet (Carmen McRae album).png
Studio album by
Released1964 (1964)
RecordedMay 20, 1964 [1]
Genre Vocal jazz
Length43:10
Label Focus
Producer Mort Fega
Carmen McRae chronology
Live at Sugar Hill
(1963)
Bittersweet
(1964)
Second to None
(1964)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Bittersweet is a studio album by American singer Carmen McRae, released in 1964 on producer Mort Feghi's independent label Focus Records and distributed by Atlantic Records. The album received critical acclaim. [2] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Contents

Track listing

  1. "When Sunny Gets Blue" (Marvin Fisher, Jack Segal) – 3:50
  2. "How Did He Look?" (Gladys Shelley, Abner Silver) – 3:08
  3. "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne) – 3:36
  4. "The Meaning of the Blues" (Bobby Troup, Leah Worth) – 2:49
  5. "If You Could Love Me" (Norman Simmons) – 2:08
  6. "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" (Fran Landesman, Tommy Wolf) – 6:21
  7. "Second Chance" (Dory Langdon, André Previn) – 3:37
  8. "If You Could See Me Now" (Tadd Dameron, Carl Sigman) – 2:52
  9. "Here's That Rainy Day" (Johnny Burke, James Van Heusen) – 2:44
  10. "I'm Gonna Laugh You Right out of My Life" (Cy Coleman, Joseph McCarthy) – 3:23
  11. "Ghost of Yesterday" (Arthur Herzog Jr., Irene Kitchings) – 3:09
  12. "I'm Lost" (Otis René) – 2:53
  13. "Come Sunday" (Duke Ellington) – 2:40

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmen McRae</span> American jazz singer (1920–1994)

Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretation of lyrics.

<i>Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport</i> 1958 live album by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday

Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport is a 1958 live album by Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, recorded at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clifford Jordan</span> American jazz saxophone player

Clifford Laconia Jordan was an American jazz tenor saxophone player and composer. Originally from Chicago, Jordan later moved to New York City, where he recorded extensively in addition to touring across both Europe and Africa. He recorded and performed with Art Farmer, Horace Silver, Max Roach, J.J. Johnson, and Kenny Dorham, among others. In later years, performed with Cedar Walton's quartet Eastern Rebellion, and led his own groups, including a big band.

<i>The Runaways</i> (album) 1976 studio album by the Runaways

The Runaways is the debut studio album by American rock band the Runaways, was released on March 16, 1976, through Mercury Records.

<i>Carmen McRae Sings Lover Man and Other Billie Holiday Classics</i> 1962 studio album by Carmen McRae

Carmen McRae Sings Lover Man and Other Billie Holiday Classics is a 1962 studio album by Carmen McRae, recorded in tribute to McRae's idol, Billie Holiday, who had died two years previously.

<i>Ask a Woman Who Knows</i> 2002 studio album by Natalie Cole

Ask a Woman Who Knows is a 2002 jazz album by vocalist Natalie Cole with guest Diana Krall. It received four Grammy Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Simmons (musician)</span> American musician (1929–2021)

Norman Simmons was an American musician, arranger, composer, educator, and most prominently a pianist who worked extensively with Helen Humes, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Anita O'Day, and Joe Williams among others.

<i>Portrait of Carmen</i> 1968 studio album by Carmen McRae

Portrait of Carmen is a 1968 studio album by Carmen McRae, with arrangements by Oliver Nelson, Shorty Rogers, Benny Carter and Gene Di Novi.

<i>Jingle Bell Jazz</i> 1962 compilation album by various artists

Jingle Bell Jazz is a collection of jazz versions of Christmas songs recorded between 1959 and 1962 by some of the most popular artists on the Columbia label. It was released on October 17, 1962.

<i>Heat Wave</i> (Cal Tjader and Carmen McRae album) 1982 studio album by Cal Tjader and Carmen McRae

Heat Wave is a 1982 studio album by vibraphonist Cal Tjader and jazz singer Carmen McRae. Tjader died four months after the completion of Heat Wave, it was his final recording.

<i>Any Old Time</i> (album) 1986 studio album by Carmen McRae

Any Old Time is a 1986 studio album by Carmen McRae, featuring the tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan. McRae was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female at the 30th Annual Grammy Awards for her performance on this album.

<i>Woman Talk</i> 1966 live album by Carmen McRae

Woman Talk is a live album by jazz vocalist Carmen McRae featuring tracks recorded at the Village Gate in New York in November 1965 and originally released on the Mainstream label the following year. The second half of the concert came out in 1968 as "Live" & Wailing. The whole recording was compiled on a double LP in 1973 under the title Alive!.

<i>Carmen McRae</i> (1955 album) 1955 studio album by Carmen McRae

Carmen McRae is a 1955 album by Jazz singer Carmen McRae. It was McRae's second album and was released on the Bethlehem label exclusively as 10" monoaural LP. The album was reissued on LP in 1976 as The Finest of Carmen McRae: You'd Be So Easy to Love, with an additional track, "Too Much in Love to Care". In 1994 Betlehem had digitally remastered the recordings and released a CD with six additional tracks, alternate takes of songs from the original sessions.

<i>The Great American Songbook</i> (Carmen McRae album) 1972 live album by Carmen McRae

The Great American Songbook is a 1972 live album by Carmen McRae, accompanied by a jazz quartet including Jimmy Rowles and Joe Pass. McRae was a great fan of Rowles and described him in the liner notes to the album as "the guy every girl singer in her right mind would like to work with". Rowles's humorous country and western song, "The Ballad of Thelonious Monk", is featured on the album.

<i>At the Great American Music Hall</i> 1977 live album by Carmen McRae

At the Great American Music Hall is a 1976 live album by Carmen McRae, recorded at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. McRae is joined on several tracks by the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and backed by her jazz trio of pianist Marshall Otwell, bassist Ed Bennett, and drummer Joey Baron. McRae was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 19th Annual Grammy Awards for her performance on this album.

<i>Tonight Only!</i> 1961 studio album by Dave Brubeck and Carmen McRae

Tonight Only! is a 1961 album by the Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring the singer Carmen McRae.

Sugar Hill, also known as Sugar Hill: Home of the Blues was a blues and jazz club in San Francisco's Broadway in the North Beach district of San Francisco, California. It was established by Barbara Dane, in May 1961, with the idea of creating a venue for the blues in a tourist district where a wider audience could hear it. There Dane performed regularly with her two most constant musical companions: Kenny "Good News" Whitson on piano and cornet and Wellman Braud, former Ellington bassist. Among her guest artists were Jimmy Rushing, Mose Allison, Mama Yancey, Tampa Red, Lonnie Johnson, Big Mama Thornton, Lightnin' Hopkins, T-Bone Walker, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry.

<i>Time for 2</i> 1962 album by Anita ODay and Cal Tjader

Time for 2 is a 1962 album by Anita O'Day and Cal Tjader.

<i>Live at Sugar Hill</i> (Carmen McRae album) 1963 live album by Carmen McRae

Live at Sugar Hill is a live album by American singer Carmen McRae, recorded in the fall of 1962 during a series of concerts at the Sugar Hill Nightclub in San Francisco with the participation of pianist Norman Simmons, bassist Victor Sproles and drummer Stu Martin. The album was released in 1963 on the Time Records label, and in 1972 it was reissued by Mainstream Records under the title In Person and with a new cover.

<i>Second to None</i> (Carmen McRae album) 1964 studio album by Carmen McRae

Second to None is a studio album by American singer Carmen McRae, released in 1964 by Mainstream Records.

References

  1. "Carmen McRae - The 1960's". Jazz Discography. August 22, 2006. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Dryden, Ken. "Bittersweet Review". AllMusic . Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  3. Larkin, Colin (2011). "McRae, Carmen". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-1561592371.
  4. "Albums Reviews". Billboard . Vol. 76, no. 30. July 25, 1964. ISSN   0006-2510.
  5. "Cash Box Album Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box . July 18, 1964. ISSN   0008-7289.
  6. "Album Reviews" (PDF). Record World . July 18, 1964. p. 10. ISSN   0034-1622.
  7. Williams, Ted (June 12, 1965). "New LP's of Note" (PDF). Record World . p. 9. ISSN   0034-1622.
  8. Hentoff, Nat (November 1964). "Carmen McRae: The Best in Jazz Today" (PDF). Hi Fi/Stereo Review . Vol. 13, no. 4. p. 68. ISSN   0039-1220.
  9. Gleason, Ralph J. (1964). Bittersweet (liner notes). Carmen McRae. US: Focus Records. FM 334.